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[PANEL] 0511 TRADE, ROUTES AND TRAVEL: ETHIOPIA IN THE PRE-MODERN WORLD
Organizers:
Verena KREBS, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
Paper presenters:
Matteo SALVADORE; Verena KREBS; NURADDIN Aman; FACIL Tesfaye
How was Ethiopia connected to the wider world in pre-modern times? Which trade-, travel and pilgrimage routes did Ethiopia tap into from Aksumite times to the 19th century? What goods, what information, what knowledge was disseminated? and by whom, along which lines, and with which consequences? Can we really find direct connections between Ethiopia and the kingdoms of Central and West Africa, the Swahili coast, India, and China? Which commodities were carried from Ethiopia to the wider world, and back into the Horn of Africa? Which boundaries were crossed ? spatial, religious, cultural? The panel invites all contributions focussing on the time period from Aksumite times to 1800, and welcomes papers from the fields of archaeology, history, history of art and architecture, historical economics, environmental and human geography and connected fields which focus on Ethiopia (both highland and/or lowland regions) within the wider framework of trade, pilgrimage and travel routes in the Horn, sub-Saharan Africa, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
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CLERIC, SCHOLAR, AND NEARLY A MISSIONARY: TESFA SEYON IN EARLY MODERN ROME. [Abstract ID: 0511-03]
This paper reviews the diasporic experience of Tesfa Seyon (ca. 1510–ca. 1550), a learned cleric from the monastery of Debra Libanos in Ethiopia, who lived in Rome between the mid-1530s and his premature death in the early 1550s. It focuses on his contribution as both a cultural and political broker as one of the best-known members of the Ethiopian community associated with the Roman church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini. Tesfa Seyon, who was responsible for facilitating the production of Ethiopianist knowledge in Renaissance Italy, should be regarded as one of the founders of Ethiopian studies and the central figure of the first center of Africanist knowledge in early modern Europe. Likewise, his intellectual and social standing in mid-16th century Rome allowed him to act as a precious informant to prelates and clerics invested in bringing Ethiopian Christians into Rome’s fold. In particular, he informed Ignatius of Loyola’s understanding of Ethiopian Christianity and lobbied to dispatch a Catholic mission to Ethiopia. Accordingly, Tesfa Seyon should also be regarded as a central figure in the development of the disastrous Catholic missionary effort in Ethiopia.
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EARLY SOLOMONIC COURTLY PATRONAGE PRACTICES AND CONTACTS WITH THE WIDER CHRISTIAN WORLD IN PRE-JIHADIC ETHIOPIA [Abstract ID: 0511-05]
This paper discusses the diplomatic contacts maintained between the early Solomonic rulers of Ethiopia with the wider Christian world, and the impact of these contacts on the religious material culture produced in Ethiopia in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. This paper suggests a new perspective, demonstrating that Ethiopia was a successful international broker of far-reaching diplomatic relations, with its own political and religious agenda. It argues against the notion that changes in courtly culture were simply precipitated through the agency of single individuals, such as the Venetian Nicolo Brancaleon; instead, it reads these changes as part of a larger Ethiopian attempt to actively re-shape and re-frame Ethiopian traditions, fulfill specific imperial agendas as well as courtly needs within pre-jihadic Ethiopian society.
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ETHIOPIA IN THE ACCOUNTS OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHERS [Abstract ID: 0511-07]
There are rich sources on Ethiopia in foreign languages such as Italian, French, German, English and Arabic. Others have also survived in local languages such as Ge’ez, Amharic, Afan Oromo, Harari, etc. In fact, Arabic writers frequently attempted to record Ethiopian history since early periods. However, this attempt seems to have developed from the 7th century onwards. Thus, they began in writing the communication of the Prophet Muhammad with the then king of Aksum (Ethiopia), Ashama Ibn-Abjar or Al-Nağāšī. Arab writers such as Ţabāri, Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham were the pioneer ones who recorded about the first Hijra (emigration) to Aksum in 615. Moreover, Arabic historiographers and geographers of the 10th century including Al-Ya’qubi, Al-Masudi, Al-Istakhari and Ibn Hawqal had covered the wider medieval history of the Horn of Africa and the Aksumite episodes from different perspectives. This paper intends to present the Accounts of Arab writers on Ethiopia from the early periods up to 20th century. It mainly focuses on sources (manuscripts and electronically published) works of Arabic literature in order to obtain necessary data on the multidisciplinary areas including history, geography, religion, cultures of Ethiopian peoples.
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ON THE QUESTION OF PRE-19TH CENTURY MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ETHIOPIA: THE INDIAN OCEAN CONNECTION [Abstract ID: 0511-04]
In the past few decades, scholars have acknowledged the importance of the Indian Ocean (IO) as a geographical space of intense interaction that gave birth to the first global economy. For Africa historians, the study of the interactions in the IO has increasingly become an analytical tool that helps re-think the role of the continent in history and propose an alternative continental historiography. This paper is a continuation of my previous research in which my colleagues and I attempted to trace histories of medicine and healing in the IOW. In this project, we argue that medical knowledge and healing practices were among the items that were circulating in the IOW, both in the medieval/early modern period but also in the modern period. Starting with the general framework of the circulation of medical knowledge in the IOW, my paper will focus on the discussion of the medical history of Ethiopia. This example will not only highlight the historical connection of Africa with the IOW in the particular field of medicine and healing. By looking into documented Ethiopian traditional medical practices, this paper will not only demonstrate Ethiopia’s IO connection in this field, but also of underline the importance of traditional medical practices in the medical history of the African continent.