Ethiopia (Gondar period)

Things happened, and the rest is history

1. 01

   The wars of Ahmad Gragn and the Portuguese

   Event

   What happened

   From 1529 Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, called Gragn, leads armies from Adal that overrun much of the Christian highlands. In 1541 a Portuguese force under Cristóvão da Gama lands at Massawa to help Emperor Gälawdewos. Ahmad kills da Gama in 1542, and is himself killed at the battle near Lake Tana in 1543.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The wars devastated churches and the old royal order, and weakened the empire for generations. They also opened contact with Portugal, which led later to Jesuit missionaries at court. Historians also note that the wars and the Oromo movements together changed the balance of power in the region. The Futuh al-Habasha by Arab Faqih records the campaigns from the Muslim side.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryShihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Qader (Arab Faqih). Futuh al-Habasha (Conquest of Abyssinia). Arabic chronicle, 16th century. Translated by Paul Stenhouse, Hollywood, CA: Tsehai, 2003.
   2. BookPankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1997.
2. 02

   The Oromo expansion

   Event

   What happened

   From about 1530 onward Oromo groups, pastoral peoples from the south, move north and west over wide parts of the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian chronicler Bahrey wrote an account of them around 1593. Over the following centuries Oromo communities settle, farm and take part in the politics of the highland kingdom.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The movement reshaped the map of the region, as Oromo people became a large part of the population in the central and southern highlands. The movements restricted the empire's territory, but many Oromo also joined the Christian court, army and nobility. By the Gondar period Oromo lords were important in imperial politics, and some emperors had Oromo mothers or allies.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryBahrey. History of the Galla (Zenahu le-Galla). Ge'ez-language account, c. 1593. Translated in C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford, Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646, London: Hakluyt Society, 1954.
   2. BookHassen, Mohammed. The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History, 1570-1860. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
3. 03

   The Jesuit mission and Susenyos's conversion

   Event

   What happened

   Jesuit missionaries reach Ethiopia in the late sixteenth century, and Pedro Páez wins the confidence of Emperor Susenyos, who rules from 1607. Susenyos publicly accepts Catholicism in 1622, and Alfonso Mendes arrives as Catholic patriarch in 1626. Rebellions and resistance spread, and in 1632 Susenyos permits the old faith again and gives up the throne to his son Fasilädäs.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Fasilädäs expelled the Jesuits and restored the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the state religion. The Gondar kings then limited European contact for generations. Páez's History of Ethiopia, written before his death in 1622, is an important source for the country at this time.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryPáez, Pedro. História da Etiópia. Portuguese manuscript, completed c. 1622. English edition: Pedro Páez's History of Ethiopia, 1622, ed. Isabel Boavida, Hervé Pennec and Manuel João Ramos, London: Hakluyt Society, 2011.
   2. BookPennec, Hervé. Des jésuites au royaume du Prêtre Jean (Éthiopie): stratégies, rencontres et tentatives d'implantation, 1495-1633. Paris: Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, 2003.
4. 04

   Fasilädäs founds Gondar

   Event

   What happened

   Around 1636 Emperor Fasilädäs settles at Gondar, north of Lake Tana, and builds a walled royal compound with stone castles. The site becomes the permanent seat of the court. Later kings add their own buildings within the enclosure, called Fasil Ghebbi.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Gondar grew to be a large town with churches, markets and a Muslim quarter of traders. It was the main capital for about two centuries, ending the older pattern of moving royal camps. The compound is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its buildings show influences from Ethiopian, Indian and Arab styles.

   Sources

   1. BookPankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
   2. BookPankhurst, Richard. History of Ethiopian Towns from the Middle Ages to the Early Nineteenth Century. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1982.
5. 05

   Fasilädäs and the Christological settlement

   Event

   What happened

   After 1632 Fasilädäs restores the Orthodox Church and its Alexandrian patriarchal link, and later asks Egypt for a new abun, the head of the Church. Under his successors the Church debates Christ's nature in disputes between rival schools, chiefly the Qebat (Unction) school and the Sost Lidet (Three Births) school, set against the Tewahedo (union) teaching of the Church. Emperor Iyasu I (r. 1682-1706) and later rulers sometimes convene councils to settle them.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The disputes lasted into the eighteenth century and sometimes involved the court directly. The Tewahedo position, that Christ's divine and human natures are united, was the established teaching of the Orthodox Church throughout. In the nineteenth century church councils more formally suppressed competing interpretations such as Qebat. The debates show how closely religion and politics were tied in Gondar.

   Sources

   1. BookCrummey, Donald. Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
   2. BookPankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
6. 06

   Iyasu I and the height of Gondar

   Event

   What happened

   Iyasu I rules from 1682 to 1706 and is remembered as a reforming king, called 'the Great'. He campaigns against the Oromo and in the south, and promotes church building and the arts. In 1706 he is deposed and killed in a conspiracy involving his own son Tekle Haymanot.

   ↓ The rest is history

   His reign is remembered as the peak of the Gondar state. After his death a series of short reigns followed, and the court's real power declined as nobles gained influence. The royal chronicles describe his reign in detail.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryEthiopian Royal Chronicles of the Gondar period. Ge'ez chronicles, 17th to 18th centuries. Selections in Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles, Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
   2. BookBudge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia. London: Methuen, 1928.
7. 07

   War with Sennar and the battle of Dindar

   Event

   What happened

   Ethiopia and the Funj sultanate of Sennar to the west fight along their border in the eighteenth century. In 1744 the forces of Emperor Iyasu II (r. 1730-1755) clash with a Funj army at Dindar (Dinder), and the Ethiopians win the battle. James Bruce's account of the region, written later, describes the kingdoms' relations.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The war shows that Gondar had to defend the western frontier, not only the Oromo front. Trade between the two states continued despite the fighting, with gold, ivory and slaves moving through the border markets. Funj power itself then declined in the later eighteenth century.

   Sources

   1. BookBruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. Edinburgh: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790.
   2. BookPankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1997.
8. 08

   Ras Mikael Sehul and the Era of the Princes

   Event

   What happened

   In 1769 the regional lord Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray has Emperor Iyoas killed in Gondar and installs another ruler, taking control of the court. Over the following decades the emperors become figureheads while regional lords fight for power. This period lasts until Tewodros II takes the throne in 1855.

   ↓ The rest is history

   Ethiopians call the era Zemene Mesafint, the Era of the Princes. The name is a later historians' label that alludes to the Book of Judges (17:6 and 21:25), where there is no king and everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The era ended the strong monarchy of Gondar, though the imperial title and the Church survived. Tewodros II then began rebuilding a centralized state.

   Sources

   1. BookBruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. Edinburgh: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790.
   2. BookCrummey, Donald. Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
9. 09

   Prester John in Africa

   Folk tale

   The legend

   In medieval Europe people tell of Prester John, a Christian priest-king ruling a rich land beyond the Muslim world. By the fifteenth century many Europeans place his kingdom in Africa, and identify him with the Christian king of Ethiopia.

   ↓ The rest is history

   The story began with a letter of about 1165, probably forged, that claimed to come from Prester John. It was widely copied in Europe. Portuguese explorers searched for him, and Pêro da Covilhã reached the Ethiopian court in the 1490s. The Ethiopian emperors were real Christian rulers, but they never used the title, and the Portuguese mission of Rodrigo de Lima in 1520 found a kingdom far different from the legend. Francisco Álvares wrote the account, Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João, published in 1540.

   Sources

   1. PrimaryÁlvares, Francisco. Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias. Lisbon, 1540. English: The Prester John of the Indies, ed. C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford, Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961.
   2. BookSilverberg, Robert. The Realm of Prester John. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972.
10. 10

    The Queen of Sheba and the Solomonic line

    Origin story

    The legend

    The Kebra Nagast tells that the Queen of Sheba, Makeda, visits King Solomon in Jerusalem. She bears his son Menelik, who later brings the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. From him descend the Ethiopian emperors, the Solomonic dynasty.

    ↓ The rest is history

    The Kebra Nagast is a Ge'ez text, put into its known form in the fourteenth century, and it drew on older traditions. It gave the dynasty that took power in 1270 a sacred ancestry. The Gondar emperors kept this claim, and it remained the basis of imperial legitimacy until 1974. The Bible mentions the Queen of Sheba, but no historical evidence connects her to Ethiopia, and the Ark's presence in Aksum is a church tradition, not something outsiders have verified.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryKebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings). Ge'ez text, 14th century. Translated by Miguel F. Brooks, Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1996.
    2. BookMunro-Hay, Stuart. Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991.
11. 11

    Bruce and the source of the Nile

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The Scottish traveller James Bruce is often said to have discovered the source of the Nile in 1770 at Lake Tana. His account of Ethiopia was met with disbelief in Britain.

    ↓ The rest is history

    Bruce reached the springs of the Blue Nile, near Lake Tana, in 1770. Local people and earlier Portuguese Jesuits such as Pedro Páez had visited them before him, around 1618. The Blue Nile is also only one of the two main branches, as the White Nile rises much farther south. Bruce's Travels, published in 1790, remain a valuable source on Gondar in the 1770s, since he lived at the court.

    Sources

    1. BookBruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. Edinburgh: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1790.
    2. BookMoorehead, Alan. The Blue Nile. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.