UNIT ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Nature and Uses of History
1.1.1. Nature of History
The term history is derived from the Greek word istoria, which means “learning through
enquiry” or “an account of one’s inquiries.”
The first writer to systematically investigate and document historical events was the Greek
historian Herodotus (c. 484 -425 BC).
For this reason, he is regarded as the “father of history.”
In ordinary usage, history means all the things that have happened in the human past.
The past signifies all the events that have taken place and the facts of the past.
The distinction is between what actually happened in the past and which exists independently
of the historian and still awaits to be recorded, and the accounts of the past reconstructed
by historians.
Historians apply their expertise to use surviving records and write history in the form of
accounts of the past.
History can thus be defined as a systematic study and organized knowledge
of the past.
The study involves the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of
information about past events.
The purpose is not simply to produce a mere chronology of events and deeds of human
beings in the past, but to find patterns and establish meaning through a rigorous study and
interpretation of sources.
Evidently, what actually happened in the past is infinite.
Historians, just like natural scientists, select the topics and problems they wish to study.
The major concern of history is the interaction between human society and the environment,
which is also a subject of study in other social science disciplines.
What differentiates history from other disciplines is that while the latte study the
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interaction between humans and their environment in the present state, history studies their
interaction in the past within the framework of the continuous process of change taking place
in time.
Due to the longevity of that time, historians or ganize and divide the past into disctinct
periods after identifying significant developments through a careful study of documents and
artifacts left by those who lived in the past.
They then assign a label to each period to convey the key characteristics a nd developments of
that era.
This is called periodization. In this regard, history is conventionally divided into ancient,
medieval, and modern.
When historians talk about continuities or persisting patterns, they do not imply that a particular
pattern applies to everyone in the world or even to a particular country or region. Nor are they
claiming that absolutely nothing changes in the pattern they describe.

All aspects of human life — social, cultural, economic, and political— in the past have been
changing from time to time; and none of them were practiced in exactly the same way in the
lifetime of our ancestors.
Nevertheless, some things remain more or less the same for long periods since few things ever
change completely.
In the same vein, the basic fabric of society in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa remains
similar and continues to have distinctive characteristics.

1.1.2. Uses of History

Peoples live in the present and plan for and worry about the future.
History, however, is the study of the past.
So, why do we bother about the past?
1. History Helps Us Understand the Present
History is the only storehouse of information available for the examination and analysis of how
people behaved and acted in the past.
People need to produce an account of their past because it is difficult to understand the problems
that face humanity and society today without tracing their origins in the past.
2. History Provides a Sense of Identity
Knowledge of history is indispensable for understanding who we are and where we fit in the
world. As memory is to the individual, so is history to society. An individual without memory
finds great difficulty in relating to others and making intelligent decisions. A society without
history would be in a similar condition. It is only through a sense of history that communities
define their identity, orient themselves, and understand their relationships with other societies.

3. History Helps Develop Tolerance and Open-Mindedness

Most of us tend to regard our own cultural practices, styles, and values as the only ones that are
right and proper. Studying different societies in the past is like going to a foreign country, which
contributes to freeing ourselves from some of our inherent cultural provincialism. By studying
the past, students of history acquire broader perspectives that give them the broad-mindedness
and flexibility required in many life situations.

4. History Teaches Critical Skills

Studying history helps students develop key research skills. These include how to find and
evaluate sources; how to make coherent arguments based on various shreds of evidence and
present them clearly in writing. These analytical and communication skills are highly useful in
other academic pursuits as well. Gaining skills in sorting through diverse interpretations is also
essential for making informed decisions in our day-to-day life.
5. History Provides a Basic Background for Other Disciplines
Historical knowledge is valuable in the pursuit of other disciplines such as literature, art,
philosophy, religion, sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, etc.
With regard to the last four, it can be argued that history is a mother discipline because
they arose out of historical investigation or formed part of historical writing.
6. History Provides Endless Source of Fascination
Exploring the ways in which people in distant ages managed their lives offers a sense of wonder
and excitement, and ultimately another perspective on human life and society.

To conclude, history should be studied because it is essential to the individual and society.
Only through studying history can we grasp how and why things change and only through
history can we understand what elements of a society persist despite change.
Aesthetic and humanistic goals also inspire people to study the past, which broaden the understaning
of the present reality.

Nevertheless, just as history can be useful, it can also be abused.

Such abuses come mainly from deliberate manipulation of the past to fit current political agenda.
In such cases, history is writt en backwards; the past is described and interpreted to justify the
present.
While personal biases are not always avoidable, historians are different from propagandists in
that the former take care to document their ideas about the past so that they can be subjected
to independent and external verification.
Yet how do historians study and interpret the past and the changes that occurred in periods
during which they have not lived?
This takes us to the discussion of sources and historicalmethodolgy.
1.2. Sources and Methods of Historical Study
Historians are not creative writers like novelists.
Unlike the latter, the work of historians must be supported by evidence arising from sources.
Sources bring to life what appears to have been dead.
Therefore, sources are vital to the study and writing of history.
Historical sources are broadly classified into two types: primary and secondary.
Primary sources are surviving traces of the past that are available to us in the present.
They are original or first hand in their proximity to the event both in time and space.
Examples of primary sources include manuscripts (handwritten materials), diaries, letters,
minutes, inscriptions, chronicles, hagiographies, court records and administrative files, travel
documents, photos, maps audiovisual materials, coins, fossils,
, weapons, utensils, and
buildings.
Secondary sources, on the other hand, are second-hand published and unpublished accounts of
past events.
They are written after the event has occurred, providing an interpretation of what happened, why
it happened, and how it happened, often based on primary sources.
Examples of secondary sources include articles, books, textbooks, biographies, theses,
dissertations, reports and stories or movies about historical events. Secondary materials give us
what appear to be finished accounts of certain historical periods and phenomena.
Nevertheless, no history work can be taken as final, as new sources keep coming to light.
New sources make possible new historical interpretations or entirely new historical
reconstructions.
Oral data constitute the other category of historical sources.
Oral sources are especially valuable for studying and documenting the history of non-literate
societies. In many societies, people transmit information from one generation to another
through folk songs, folk sayings, etc.
This type of oral data is called oral tradition.
People can also provide oral testimonies of their lived experiences. Such source material is known
as oral history and serves as primary source.

For the history of Ethiopia and the Hom of Africa, historians use a combination of the sources
described above. However, regardless of the source of information —primary or secondary,
written or oral— the data should be subjected to critical evaluation before it is used as evidence.
Primary sources must be verified for their originality and authenticity because sometimes
primary sources like letters may be forged. Secondary sources must be examined for the
reliability of their reconstructions. Oral data may lose originality and authenticity because of
distortion over time and should be cross-checked with other sources to determine [Link] conclude,
historians must find evidence about the past, ask questions about that evidence, and
come up with explanations that make sense of what the evidence says about the people, events,
places, and the periods they study. Such a scientific examination of evidence is a crucial aspecof the
historical research method.
Historiography refers to the history of historical writing. It studies how knowledge of the past is
obtained and transmitted and how it has changed over time. The organized study and narration of
the past was introduced by ancient Greek historians, notably Herodotus and Thucydides (c.455-
400 BC). The other major tradition of historical thinking and writing about the past is that of the
Chinese, of which the most important early figure was Sima Qian (145-86 BC). History emerged
as an academic discipline in the second half of the nineteenth century, first in Europe and
subsequently in other parts of the world. The German historian, Leopold Von Ranke (1795-
1886), and his colleagues established history as an independent discipline in Berlin with its own
set of research methods. Ranke’s greatest contribution to the scientific study of the past is such
that he is considered as the “father of modern historiography.”

The historiography of Ethiopia and the Horn has changed enormously during the past century in
ways that merit fuller treatment than can be afforded here.
This section explores significant transformations in the historiography of the region in the
twentieth century.
This is preceded by a brief account of earlier forms of historical writing to situate the
discussion in context.
The earliest known written source for the history of the region is the Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea,written in the first century by an anonymous author.
The Periplus was followed by the Christian Topography written by Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek
sailor, in the sixth century.
The earliest written Ethiopian material, excluding inscriptions, dates from the seventh century.
The document, which is in the form of an illustrated manuscript, was found at Abba Gerima
monastery near the town of Adwa.
Next in line is a manuscript discovered in Haiq Estifanos monastery of present-day Wollo in
the thirteenth century.
The value of manuscripts is essentially religious, but they also provide insights into the
country’s past.
The largest groups of sources available for medieval Ethiopian history arehagiographies
originating from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
An important function of hagiographiesis to enhance the prestige of saints.
Yet, other related anecdotes of historical importance are also included, often in the form of what
are known as marginalia.
A parallel hagiographical tradition exists among Muslim communities.
One such account offers tremendous insight into the life of a Muslim saint, Shaykh Ja’far Bukko
of Gattira, in Wollo in the late nineteenth century.
In addition to the saint’s life, the document
discusses the development of indigenous Islam and contacts between the region’s Muslim
community and the outside world.

Furthermore, Ethiopia had an indigenous tradition of history writing called chronicles, composed
by court scribes or clergymen with recognized clerical training and calligraphic skills. The
earliest of these chronicles is The Glorious Victories of Amde-Tsion, and the last is Chronicle of
Abeto lyasu and Empress Zewdilu. Chronicles incorporate both legends and facts about the
monarch. Notwithstanding their limitations, chronicles, in conjunction with other sources, can
give us a glimpse into the character and lives of kings, their preoccupations and relations with
subordinate officials, and, to some extent, the evolution of the Ethiopian state and society.

Accounts of Arabic-speaking visitors to the coast also provide useful information on various
aspects of the region’s history. For example, al-Masudi and Ibn Battuta described the culture,
language and import-export trade of the East African coast in the tenth and fourteenth centuries,
respectively. For the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we have two eyewitness accounts of
Yemeni writers. Shihab al-Din’s Futuh al-Habasha (The Conquest of Abyssinia) recounts the
wars between the Christian kingdom and Adal Sultanate in sixteenth century while Al-Haymi
documented the experience of Yemeni delegation to the court of Fasiledas (r. 1632-67) in 1647.
Another vital contemporary material is Abba Bahrey’s Ge’ez account of the socio-political
organization and movement of the Oromo people written in 1593.

European missionaries and travelers also contributed to the development of Ethiopian

historiography. Examples of such accounts are The Prester John of the Indies, written by the
Portuguese chaplain Francisco Alvarez in the sixteenth century, and James Bruce’s Travels to
Discover the Source of the Nile (in five volumes), written in the eighteenth century. Meanwhile,
a German orientalist, Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704), who is regarded as the founder of Ethiopian
studies as an academic discipline in Europe, wrote Historia Aethiopica (translated into English as
A New History of Ethiopia). The book was largely based on information he collected from an
Ethiopian priest named Abba Gorgorios (Abba Gregory), who was in Europe at that time.

Historical writing made some departures from the chronicle tradition in the early twentieth
century. This period saw the emergence of Ethiopian writers who made conscious efforts to
distance themselves from chroniclers whom they criticized for their adulatory tone when writing
about monarchs. The earliest group includes Aleqa Taye Gebre-Mariam, Aleqa Atsme Giorgis
Gebre Mesih and, Debtera Fisseha-Giorgis Abyezgi. Later, Negadrases Afework Gebre-Iyesus,
Gebre-Hiwot Baykedagn, and Blatten geta Hiruy Wolde-Selassie joined them. Unlike
chroniclers, these writers dealt with a range of topics from social justice, administrative reform,
and economic analysis to history. Unfortunately, the Italian occupation of Ethiopia interrupted
this early experiment in modern history writing.

After liberation, Tekle-Tsadik Mekuria served as a bridge between the writers of the pre-1935
period and the subsequent generation of Ethiopian professional historians. He has published
about eight historical works. Another work of importance in the post-Liberation period is Yilma
Deressa’s Yeltyopiya Tarik Be ’asra Sidistegnaw Kifle Zemen (A History of Ethiopia in the
Sixteenth Century). Blatten geta Mahteme-Selassie Wolde-Meskel, among others, wrote Zikre
Neger, which is a comprehensive account of Ethiopia’s pre-war administration, including the
land tenure system and taxation. Another writer in the same category is Dejjazmach Kebede
Tesema, whose memoir of the imperial period was published as Yetarik Mastawesha in 1962
E.C.

The 1960s was a crucial decade in the development of Ethiopian historiography because it was in
this period that history emerged as an academic discipline. The pursuit of historical studies as a
full-time occupation began with the opening of the Department of History in 1963 at the then
Haile Selassie I University (HSIU). Since then, researches by faculty members and students have
been produced on various topics. The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES), the other institutional
home of professional historiography of Ethiopia, was founded in the same year. The Institute
housed a number of historians, of whom the late Richard Pankhurst, the first Director of the
Institute, is worthy of note. Pankhurst’s prolific publication record remains unmatched. The IES
disseminates the results of research findings from diverse disciplines through its journal called
the Journal of Ethiopian Studies, which became the main platform of Ethiopian studies in the
following decades.

The professionalization of history in other parts of the Horn is a post-colonial phenomenon. With
the establishment of independent nations, a deeper interest in exploring their own past quickly
emerged among Africans. With this came an urgent need to recast the historical record and
recover evidence of many lost pre-colonial civilizations. At the same time, European

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intellectuals’ own discomfort with the Euro-centrism of previous scholarship provided for the
intensive academic study of African history, an innovation that developed in both Europe and
North America in the 1960s. Foundational research was conducted at the School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS) in London and the Department of History at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Francophone scholars were as influential as Anglophone ones. Yet African
historiography was not the creation solely of interested Europeans. African universities trained
their own scholars and sent many others overseas for training, eventually publishing numerous
works on different aspects of the continent’s history.

1.4. Geographical Context

The term “Ethiopia and the Horn” refers to that part of Northeast Africa, which now constitutes
the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. The region’s history has been shaped by
contacts with others through commerce, migrations, wars, slavery, colonialism, and the waxing
and waning of state systems.

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Yet, to a considerable extent, the evolution of human history also owed to geographical factors,
notably drainage systems, topography, and climate. This section briefly describes the impact of
these factors on the way people live and organize themselves.

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The region has five principal drainage systems. Flowing from Uganda in the south to the Sudan
in the north, the White Nile meets the Blue Nile (or Abay, as it is known in Ethiopia, that starts
from the environs of Lake Tana) in Khartoum and drains through Egypt into the Mediterranean
Sea. The Awash River System is an entirely Ethiopian system that links the cool rich highlands
of Central Ethiopia with the hot, dry lowlands of the Danakil Depression. The Ethiopian Rift
Valley Lakes System is a self-contained basin that includes a string of lakes stretching from Lake
Ziway in the north to Lake Turkana (formerly known as Rudolf) on the Ethio-Kenyan border.
The Gibe-Gojeb-Omo River System links southwestern Ethiopia to the semi-desert lowlands of
northern Kenya. The Shebele and Genale rivers originate in the Eastern highlands and flow
southeast toward Somalia and the Indian Ocean. Only the Genale (known as the Jubba in
Somalia) flows into the Indian Ocean; the Shebele disappears in the sand just inside the
coastline. These watersheds are crucial in the life and history of the peoples inhabiting the
region. Besides providing people with a source of livelihood, the drainage systems also
facilitated the movement of peoples and goods across diverse environments, resulting in the
exchange of ideas, technology, knowledge, cultural expressions, and beliefs.

Another element of geography that has a profound impact on human history is topography. The
major physiographic features of the region are the massive highland complex of mountains and
plateaus created through the formation of the Great Rift Valley and surrounded by lowlands,
semi-desert, desert, and tropical forests along the periphery. The diversity of the terrain led to
regional variations in climate, natural vegetation, soil composition, and settlement patterns.
Accordingly, Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa can be divided into three major environmental
zones. The vast Eastern lowland covers the narrow coastal strip of northeastern Eritrea, widens
gradually and descends southwards to include much of lowland Eritrea, the Sahel, the Danakil
Depression, the lower Awash valley, and the arid terrain in northeast Djibouti. It then extends to
the Ogaden, the lower parts of Hararghe, Bale, Borana, Sidama, and the whole territory of the
Republic of Somalia. There is little seasonal variation in climatic conditions in this zone. Hot and
dry conditions prevail year-round along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular (little)
rainfall, except in limited areas along the rivers Awash, Wabe-Shebele and Genale (Jubba) that
traverse the region and a few offshore islands in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean
that are inhabited by people closely related to those of immediate mainland districts. Shrubs and
bush cover much of the lowland territories.

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Immediately to the west of and opposite to the eastern lowland region forms the highland massif
that starts from northern Eritrea and continues all the way to southern Ethiopia. The major divide
between the western and eastern parts of this zone is the Rift Valley.

Further to the west, along the western foothills or on the periphery of the plateau and on
borderlands of the Sudan stretching from north to south are hot lowlands that were characterized
in earlier times by thick forests chiefly on the banks of the Nile and its tributaries.

Yet, peoples of the region were never isolated; they interacted from various locations as far back
as recorded history goes. Thus, as much as there are many factors that make people of a certain
region distinct from the others, there are also commonalities which people shared in the past.
Map 2: Physical Map of Ethiopia

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