Author Archives: Soo Youn Bae

This video shows the brief history of education in Ethiopia, education now, and the future of education in Ethiopia. Hope you enjoy!

Ethiopia Art

Ethiopia is engaged in myriad art forms such as music, dance, iconography, calligraphy, embroidery, and manuscript illumination. Ethiopian art can be divided into two sectors. First comes a tradition of Christian art, which consists of mostly depiction of churches in the form of painting, crosses, icons, illuminated manuscripts, and other metalwork such as crowns. Favorite subjects to paint are incidents from the lives of Mary and Jesus from the Bible. They are typically shown bordered by angels. One of the most popular art form is the depiction of the Flight into Egypt, which is an important subject as it serves as a reminder that Africa sheltered the Holy Family from the persecution in Israel. Most of the paintings are found in religious settings such as in the church walls and bibles. For example, Debre Berhan Selassie is a painting famed for its angel-covered roof and murals that date from the late 17^th century. Furthermore, some of the historic churches cover the interior with mural, some hang the icons on canvas on the wall, and some hold historic illuminated manuscripts. Secondly, Ethiopian Art consists of arts and crafts consisting of textiles, jewelry and basketry, which depict the traditions closest to the region. Although the paintings, and icons are closely related to the Byznatine Christian art and simplified Coptic version of Late antique, they are highly distinctive in Ethiopia. For instance, they are usually simple, with cartoon figures with large, almond-shaped eyes; the colors are typically bright and vivid.

Despite the rich history of the Ethiopian Art, the buying and selling of the modern and contemporary art of Ethiopia was non-existent until recently. For instance, the Makush Art Gallery & Restaurant, which is located in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa serves to show to how the progression of Ethiopian Art and its influence in the greater world. The art gallery consists of about 70 artists and a collection of more than 650 paintings from which customers can choose. The owner of the art gallery testified that while, after noticing the lack of galleries in his homeland while living in the US, he moved back to his homeland 12 years ago to open his personal gallery. He opened Makush, starting with15 artists, which combines an art gallery and an Italian-style restaurant. Despite the restaurant compartment, the gallery made more profit with the painting with the revenue exceeding 6m birr ($300,000, £183,000), more than double the restaurant’s takings.

Nowadays, every wall in Makush is depicted with vivid Ethiopian paintings showing scenes ranging from monks praying in the dawn to the bustling markets and images of wide-eyed, elongated women. Young Ethiopians are not only opening businesses but also buying paintings; new international organizations are coming to the city. 65% of the customers are foreigners and tourists, and the remaining 35% is made up with wealthy members of the Ethiopian locals. Nevertheless, there is a potential increase in revenue and increase in economy trend in Ethiopia as the art in Ethiopia is gaining greater interest and attention. In fact, Ethiopians are starting to give paintings as gifts for weddings and special occasions instead of giving photographic portraits in poster-size frame and gold jewelry.

Prior to researching about the art in Ethiopia, I wasn’t cognizant of how much art plays a role not only in economic growth in Ethiopia but also how much other countries have been show interest. Researching in to the Ethiopian Art helped me to realize that art is depicted in varied forms, and convey different messages and ideas. For instance, the Ethiopian Art uses different mediums such as the manuscript, textiles and jewelry to represent significant symbols from the Bible. Furthermore, as more art galleries and stores are opening up, I am confident that both the traditional and the modern Ethiopian Art form will proliferate, gain greater interest, and ultimately help boost the economy. Nevertheless, I believe that art is perceived as sophisticated and desirable in Ethiopia with the ever-changing economy.

The Anticolonial movements in Africa was a result of European imperialism on the continent in the late 19^th and the 20^th century. There were varied forms to resist the colonialism from the European countries. For instance some of the nonviolent forms of anticolonial included indigenous press, trade union, organized religion, associations, literary and art forms. In 1935, the Italian community in Ethiopia was small for only 200 Italians lived in Ethiopia; however, by 1940 there were nearly 40,000 italians resident. In 1936, the Italians attempted to colonize Ethiopia for 5 years. In 1869, the battle of Adwa took place in which the Italian and the Ethiopian Empire fought near the town of Adwa, Ethiopia. This was an important battle of the first Italo-Ethiopian War concerning the security of the Ethiopian sovereignty from the Italy.

The emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, is celebrated for defeating Italy at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. He was the king of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death, and throughout his reign, and he continuously struggled for various claimants to the Imperial throne. In 1880, Menelik II signed a treaty at Wuchale in Wollo in which acknowledged the establishment of the new Italian colony of Eritrea with Asmara. This colony was previously part of northern Tigrean terriotires, which the Ras Mangasha generally supported. In the end, however, the Italian colony weaked the Ras. Despite the treaty, it was soon found out that the Italian and the Ethiopian version of the treaty articles were different. For instance, on one the treaty of articles found in Italy, it indicated that the Ethiopian empire was under the Italian domination. However such statement was not written on the Ethiopian version of the treaty. Hence, Menelik denounced such act and tried numerous negotiations, but failed. Nevertheless this led Italy to declare war and to invade from Eritrea.

The War of Edema was a tool to advocate Ethiopia’s resistance against the Italian power. The Italian army was comprised of approximately 17,000 men while the Ethiopian army comprised of 73,000 and 120,000 men. The Italian general Baratien planned to surprise the Ethiopian force in the morning, when they were asleep. However, the Ethiopians woke up early for Church services and Menelik released his reserve of 25,000 men, destroying the Italian brigade. The victory of the war resulted from not only the large number of forces, but also Menelik’s strategic acumen. While the Italians occupied the city of Adigat for over a year before Menelik confronted them, he used that delay to import European weapons that outclassed to those of Italians. Accordingly, Menelilk is shown to be a complex, engaging historical figure as well as a crafty politician. Menelik furthermore had to navigate, and receive support from his wife Empress Taytu, linking the marriage from southern Shoa (Menelik) and northern Tigray (Taytu) regions of Ethiopia.

In the end, it was only Ethiopia who was able to decisively resist the European power, and to maintain its independence. Menelik secured the Treaty of Addis Ababa in which outlined the borders of Eritrea and enforced Italy to recognize the independence of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a region that has a long history, has some of the earliest human populations and possibly the region where people expanded and evolved out of Africa to populate the rest of the world 1.8 years ago. The period begins with the Australopithecus, the ancient hominoids which extend to the early inhabitants of the pre-Aksumites. It is also the period with the arrival of Ge’ez and Judaism. It is believed that the Cushitic language speakers have been the original inhabitants of Ethiopia; however, they were driven out of the region in the 2nd millennium B.C. Accordingly, the Ethiopian kingdom was founded (10th cent. B.C.) by Solomon’s first son, Menelik I. However, it is documented that the first kingdom was Aksum (Axum), a kingdom that probably emerged in the 2nd century A.D. The First Ethopian Kingdom, Aksum was a very advanced civilization, for they were the first Africans to mint coins. Nevertheless, Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the most ancient nation in the world.

Under King Ezana, Aksum was converted (4th cent.) to Christianity by Frumentius of Tyre. This is closely tied to the Egyptian Coptic Church, and it accepted the Monophysitism, a Christological position that Christ has only one position, following the Council of Chalcedon. In the 6th century, however, the Jewish influenced the Aksum, and some Ethiopians were converted to Judaism. The second Ethopian Empire was The Zagwe; they didn’t claim the King Solom nor the Queen of Sheba. When Yekuno Amlak came to power, the Solomonic Dynasty was reinstated in the 10^th century BC. Then came, the Zamana Masafent era, which was marked with continuous welfare. It was a period in which Ethiopia was divided with no effective central authority. The lords constantly fought against each other to become the guardians of the kings of kings of Gonder. A notable figure of this period is the monastic evangelist Ewostatewos, who was an important religious leader in the Ethiopian church. Finally the modern Ethipoia was the reunification of Ethiopia, which began with the rule of Emperor Tewodros. The next major ruler was Haile Selassie I before Derg replaced him.

Nevertheless, Ethiopia consists of number of religion, which includes mainly Abrahamic religions, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Ethiopia is developing a $45 million information technology park to boost the economy, and to advance the academic aspect of the country since this park will attract much more research and development of the country. By establishing the technology park, the Ethiopian government is seeking to attract global businesses, which includes call-centers and computer hardware. By doing so, they will be able to have access to Internet speeds of as much as 40 gigabytes a second.

I believe that there is sufficient information regarding the ancient history of Ethiopia. Some of the sources include: BBC, www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk, books, and scholarly articles. Also the sources delineate the history of Ethiopia clearly and sufficiently, which makes it easy to understand the content and to grasp the information.

 King Solomon Dynasty