POLITICS, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY FROM

Introduction THE LATE 13TH TO THE BEGINNING OF

THE 16TH CENTURIES
 From the late 13th to the beginning of the 16th centuries,
 Ethiopia experienced dynamic political, economic, and socio-
cultural developments that lay the foundation for the formation
of modern Ethiopia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
4.1. THE “RESTORATION” OF THE
“SOLOMONIC’’ DYNASTY

 Based on the narration elaborated in the Kibre Negest(“Glory of

Kings”), the solomobids claimed that they restored power from the
“illegitimate”rulers of the Zagwe dynasty
 Tesfa Iyesus, who took a reign name Yekuno Amlak(r1270-1285),
‘restored’ the solomonid dynasty
 the Judeo-Christian tradition written inKibre
Negest(Glory of Kings) claims that Ethiopian ruling class descended
from the line of Menilek I, son of the Queen of Sheba and King
Solomon of Israel.

Thus all kings and emperors that ruled Ethiopia from 1270-1974 in the
name of solomonid dynasty considered them selves as descendants of
Menilek I, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel.
4.1, SUCCESSION PROBLEM AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
‘ROYAL PRISON’ OF AMBA GISHEN

 After the end of the reign of Yikuno-Amlak in 1285, there was a political instability
caused by constant power struggles among his sons and grandsons for power succession
 The power struggle intensified during the reigns of Yegba-Tsion’s five sons who reigned
from 1294 to 1299.
 Thus, in 1300 a 'royal prison' established at Amba-Gishen
located in present day southern Wollo,
to minimize problem of struggle for power among princes and other members of the ruling
dynasty or family
 Loyal soldiers to the reigning monarch guarded the royal
prison.
 When the monarch died, court dignitaries would send an army to the royal prison to escort
the designated successor and put him on the throne.

When Imam Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Ghazi's force destroyed Gishen amba royal
prison in 1540, the practice of detaining power claimant princes ended
4.2.2. CONSOLIDATION AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION OF THE CHRISTIAN
KINGDOM

o After coming to power, Yikuno-Amlak embarked on consolidating

his authority throughout the empire.
o The king quickly subdued Ifat, the Muslim center adjacent to Shewa.
o until the coming of Amde-Tsion (r.1314-44), the center and the
territorial limit of the Christian Kingdom was confined mainly in
the present day Tigray, Lasta, medieval Amhara and Shewa.
o Yet King Amda Tseon embarked on a policy of a wider and rapid
territorial expansion.
o He was the first solomonid king to engage in a policy of wider
territorial expansion
His main motives of expansion were economic and political i.e. to
control the trade routes and territorial seizures.
PROCESS OF EXPANSION
 In the process of expansion and consolidation, King AmdaTseon:
 i)subdued rebellions which threatened the unity of the Christian
Kingdom.
 Ii)conquered territories located in different parts of the
Ethiopian region, which include:
 Agaw (Awi) of Gojjam around 1323/4; Bizamo and
Damot in 1316/7; Bete-Israel (located between Dambiya and
Tekeze River) around 1332 and the Red Sea Coast.
EXPANSION …
 To consolidate his rule over incorporated territoriesAmde-Tsion;
 gave Enderta (in today’s northeastern Tigray) to his wife Bilen-Saba.

 Bahr-Sagad, the son of Amde-Tsion, became the governor of Tigray.

 After campaigning and controlling present day Eritrea in1325,

 he appointed a governor with a title of Ma'ekale-Bahir, which later

on changed to Bahire-Negash

 In the southeast, Muslim sultanates paid tributes to the Christian

Kingdom.
AMDA TSEON, EXPANSION
 In the south, Gurage speaking areas and a few of the
Omotic kingdoms like Wolayta and Gamo were brought
under the influence of the Christian state
 The expansion of Christian state was culminated during
the reign of Zara Yacob(r 1434-1468)

fig. medieval states of the Ethiopian region
MEDIVAL STATES

Key, areas represented in A were dominated by Muslim community

;
EMERGENCE OF TRADE ROUTES
 The period also witnessed the expansion
of trade leading to the flow of commodities to the coast
following the major routes.
 in the early 1330s, Amde-Tsion was in full control of all
the trade routes and sources of trade of the Ethiopian
region
TRADE ROTES
MOVEABLE CAPITAL CITIES OF
MEDIVAL PERIOD ETHIOPIA
 From 1270 until the establishment of Gondar in 1636, the
medieval monarchs had no
permanent capital.
 In the early years of solomonid period, the capital was in
Amhara province, now south wollo, near Lake Haiq
 gradually the center of administration shifted southward to the
districts of Menz, Tegulet, Bulga, and,
 finally to the regions dominated by the great height of the
Yerer, Entoto, Menagesha, Wachacha, Furi and Zequalla
mountains


 Why did, do you think, medival kings used mobile capital?

4.3.2. TRADE AND THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM

 Islam spread into the central and southestern parts of the

Ethiopian region through Muslim
merchants and preachers.
 Trade served as channel for the expansion of Islam in the
Muslim Sultanates while at the same time it formed the
base of the economy of those states.
 The most known Muslim Sultanates during this period
were Ifat (1285-1415) and Adal (1415-1577).
 Trade is one of the most important factors for rise and
consolidation of sultanes/ islamic states/
OUTLETS AND PORTS
 The main trade outlet shifted to Zeila and the old city-states of Mogadishu, Brava,
and Merca were used as ports for their hinterland/vicinity/.
 In the meantime, for the trade in the northeast, Massawa served as an outlet.
 With the revival of trade, different towns and trade centers emerged along the route
from Zeila to the interior.

 Trade/market centers that emrged across trade routs include;

 Weez-Gebeya in western Shewa/famous market on the Fatagar-Dawaro-Harar route,

Suq-Wayzaro in old Damot, Suq-Amaja and

 the famous market center Gandabalo, inhibited by both Christians and Muslim
merchants ,was located on the Ifat-Awsa route.

 There were also other big markes including those market centers such as Wesel,
which linked midival Amhara to Awsa,; Mandlay,(in Srn Tigray, Dabrawa, the seat of
Bahire Negash, and Asmara in the north
RIVALRY BETWEEN THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AND THE MUSLIM SULTANATES

 Through out the medieval period there had been rivalry and
conflict between the Christian kingdom and Muslim states
mainly Adal.
 Interest to control Trade and trade routes remained a major
cause of rivalry and conflict between the Christian Kingdom
and Muslim sultanates.
 until the second half of the 16th century the Sultanate of Adal
became a strong rival to and center of resistance against the
Christian kingdom
 The Sultanate of Adal was established in 1367 by one branch
of Walasma dynasty and its political was near Harar town and
 In 1520 its capital changed to Harar town
CONFLICT
 The conflict between the two states continued as on and off until full scal war
began in 1520s
 Following the death of one of its leaders Ahmad Badly, in 1445the battle of
Yegub,
 Adal under the leader of Mohammed Ahmed (r.1445-71) submitted
peacefully to Ba’ede Mariam (r. 1468-78)
 temporarily peaceful relation between the two states
 Though Adal became vassal to the Christian King, following the death of its
leader, Mohammed Ahmed (r.1445-71), Adal continued fighting
 Despite initial successes, the army of Ba'ede-Mariam lost the battle in 1474.
 The successors of Ba’ede Mariam (r. 1468-78) were weak,
 at the same time Muslim Sultanate including Mohammad ibn Azhar ad-Din
(1488-1518) were in need of peaceful relationship with christians

,
CONFLICT , ….
 However, among the various Sultans of the Muslim
sultanates, Emir Mahfuz continued fighting until his
death in 1517.
 and his son-in-law, Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi,
puplarly known as Ahmed Gragn or the "left-handed"
took over the leadership
 After ward a full scale war continued, 1520s to 1542.
4.5 EXTERNAL RELATION

•when we say external contact, we mean foreign relation

•Ethiopia and the Horn had contacts with Egypt since 3,000 B. C.
•These relations may be Ethiopia’s earliest contacts with the
Mediterranean world or the Greco-Roman World to which Egypt
was part and parcel.
•Ethiopia and the Horn also had very close relations with all
commercially active South Arabian Kingdoms
•The introduction of Christianity into Ethiopia in the 4th century
Strengthened the relation between the two states
 in the earlier times the relationship between Ethiopia and Egypt
had been fair and friendly
EXTERNAL RE
 After conversion to Islamic state of Egypt after 8th century, however,
the pattern of relationship between the two changed
 # students, what was the reason, do you think ,for change in the pattern of relationship?
 This is because afterwards, the Egyptian sultan used to refuse
sending bishops
 Successive Egyptian Muslim rulers began to use the consecration
and sending of a bishop as an instrument to advance their interest in
Ethiopia
 The Ethiopian kings reacted by threatening to divert the flow Abay
or Nile River so that Egypt could not get water.
 Since the Egyptians want to keep Ethiopia weak so that it could not
use Nile water,
 the diplomatic relation between Ethiopia and Egypt had been full of
rivalry and enmity
 Ethiopia and the Horn also had established close
relationship with the East Roman or Byzantine Empire.
 Aksum and Byzantine shared common commercial interest
in the Red Sea area against their rival Persians.
 Yet, in the 7th century, following the rapid expansion and
consolidation of Muslim power in Arabia,
 the Muslim Arabs North Africa and the Nile valley and
the whole network of land routes and shipping lines.
 this complicated external relation and external trade for
Ethiopia
RELATIONS WITH CHRISTIAN EUROPE

 As with the Muslim Arab world, the Christian Kingdom maintained

relations with Christian
Europe.
 Ethiopian delegation was in attendance of
Gian Galeazzo Visconti’s coronation in Milan in 1395
 During the medieval period, contacts between the Ethiopia and
Europe were strongly influenced by the legend of “Prester John”.
 The earliest known message to Ethiopia from a European monarch
is the letter of King Henry IV of England dated 1400 A.D. and
addressed to “Prester John”, the supposed king of the Christian
Kingdom.
 during the reign of King Dawit, the leaders of Rome,
Constantinople, Syria, Armenia and Egypt sent letters to
the king in which they asked for
support.
 King Dawit received some Italian craftsmen consisting
mainly of Florentines.
 In 1402, King Dawit(r 1382-1413) sent his first
delegation to Europe
 It was led by a Florentine man called Antonio Bartoli.
 Alphonso de Paiva V of Aragon received a delegation
from Yishaq(r1414–29) in the city of Valentia, in 1427.
 Yishaq’s delegation to Europe was to ask for more
artisans and military experts.
 The embassy of the Duke of Berry consisting craftsmen,
Neapolitan Pietro, a Spaniard and a
Frenchman reached Ethiopia during the reign of Yishaq.
 King Zara-Yaqob sent delegates to
Alphonso to get political, military, and technical
assistance.
 Alphonso wrote a letter to ZaraYaqob and informed the
king that artisans and masons .
 Venetian Gregorio or Hieronion Bicini visited Ethiopia
in 1482.
 Pedros da Covilhao/Peter de Covilham arrived at court
of Eskindir (1478-1494) in 1493.
RIVALRY BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND
MUSLIM STATES
 The beginning and continued rivalry between the Christian
Kingdom and Muslim Sultanates
in the fifteenth century strengthened the relation between the
Christian Kingdom and
Christian Europe.
 Queen Elleni (the daughter of Hadiya Garad and married to King
Zara
Yaeqob) played an important role in the strengthening of these
relations.
 She had foreseen the threat that came from the Ottoman Turkish
who showed a clear interest to support the Muslim Sultanates.
 She also had foreseen the possibility to consolidate relations with
and get
support from Portugal that was against the Tukish.
 The beginning and continued rivalry between the Christian
Kingdom and Muslim Sultanates
in the fifteenth century strengthened the relation between the
Christian Kingdom and
Christian Europe. Queen Elleni (the daughter of Hadiya Garad
and married to King Zara
Yaeqob) played an important role in the strengthening of these
relations. She had foreseen
the threat that came from the Ottoman Turkishwho showed a
clear interest to support the
Muslim Sultanates.
 She also had foreseen the possibility to consolidate relations
with and get support from Portugal that was against the Tukish.
 In 1508, Portugal sent a person to act as
an ambassador to Christian Ethiopia.
 Around 1512, Queen Elleni, the mother and regent of
Lebne-Dengel sent an Armenian called Mathew to Portugal.
 The Portuguese court doubted
his authenticity and was received coldly.
 The Portuguese Embassy led by Rodrigo di Lima,
Duwarto Galliba and Francisco Alvarez reached Ethiopia in
1520 and remained for six years.
 The objective was to establish a naval port against the
expanding Turkish power in Red Sea
Area.
 However, the mission was not successful.