Armed by:
98-525: Menelik II's conquests , also known as the Agar Maqnat ( Amharic : አገር ማቅናት , romanized : ʾägär maqnat , lit. 'Colonization, Cultivation and Christianization of Land'), were a series of expansionist wars and conquests carried out by Emperor Menelik II of Shewa to expand the Ethiopian Empire . In 1866 Menelik II became the king of Shewa, and in 1878 began
196-523: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing
294-524: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and
392-520: A dichotomy between British indirect rule, exemplified by the Indian princely states and by Lugard's writings on the administration of northern Nigeria, and French colonial direct rule . As with British theorists, French colonial officials like Félix Eboué or Robert Delavignette wrote and argued throughout the first half of the 20th century for a distinct French style of rule that was centralized, uniform, and aimed at assimilating colonial subjects into
490-474: A period of disunity, much of the 19th century saw the reign of two Abyssinian monarchs, Tewodros II (1855–68) and Yohannes IV (1871–89), who progressively centralized the state. The third and last emperor of the century, Menelik II , the King of Abyssinia's Shewa region, managed to bring all of northern Abyssinia under his control and subsequently embarked on a massive expansion of the Ethiopian Empire . From
588-589: A series of wars to conquer land for the Ethiopian Empire and to increase Shewan supremacy within Ethiopia. This was carried out predominantly with soldiers from the Amhara people of Shewa. Menelik is viewed as the founder of modern Ethiopia as a result of the expansion, although it is viewed by many historians as constituting genocide due to the massive loss of life and extreme violence involved. After
686-641: A small number of European "advisors" effectively overseeing the government of large numbers of people spread over extensive areas. Some British colonies were ruled directly by the Colonial Office in London , while others were ruled indirectly through local rulers who are supervised behind the scenes by British advisors. In 1890 Zanzibar became a protectorate (not a colony) of Britain. British Prime Minister Salisbury explained his position: The Princely states of India were also ruled indirectly, with
784-751: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of
882-817: Is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making
980-579: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This
1078-663: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination
SECTION 10
#17327723699891176-501: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of
1274-479: Is in Africa.' ልጁ Lǝǧ-u the boy ተኝቷል täññǝtʷall. asleep is ልጁ ተኝቷል Lǝǧ-u täññǝtʷall. {the boy} {asleep is} 'The boy is asleep.' ( -u is a definite article. Lǝǧ is 'boy'. Lǝǧu is 'the boy') አየሩ Ayyäru the weather ደስ däss pleasant Indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by imperial powers to control parts of their empires . This
1372-601: Is laid out in Lugard's influential work, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa . Lugard copied the numerous empires before his time who had created and developed the indirect rule system. According to Lugard, Indirect Rule was a political doctrine which held that the Europeans and Africans were culturally different to this extent. Which he interpreted it to mean that Africans had to be ruled through
1470-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script
1568-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to
1666-631: Is the paternal uncle of the woman's father), whispers in the ear of the groom: "So that you do not forget. The largest Mosque in Harar (known as Sheikh Bazikh, "The capital Mosque," or Raoûf), located in Faras Magala, and the local Madrassa were turned into churches, notably "Medhane Alem church" in 1887 by Menelik II after the conquest. In 1890 Menelik invaded the Kingdom of Wolaita . The war of conquest has been described by Bahru Zewde as "one of
1764-421: The neftenya and peasant farmers who were assigned to them the gabbar . The Neftenya ( lit. ' Gun-carrier ' or ' Armed settler ' ) were assigned gabbar from the locally conquered population, who effectively worked in serfdom for the conquerors. The majority of the neftenya were Amhara from Shewa . The neftenya-gabbar relationship was a ' feudal -like patron client relationship' between
1862-628: The Arsi people . Unlike the peasantry in the Christian north, the peoples of southern Ethiopia during Meneliks time were largely too poorly armed to resist his riflemen. Menelik's campaign against the Arsi were among his bloodiest and most sustained efforts. After a series of military campaigns over several years they were finally subjugated by Shewan firepower. Conflicts between the Kingdom of Shewa and
1960-512: The Ethiopian Empire . University of Oxford Professor of African History Richard Reid observes, "Menelik's empire was as brutally violent and as reliant on the atrocity-as-method genre of imperialism as the European colonial projects developing apace on Menelik's borders." Shewan expansion had started before Menelik, as rulers of the region had started a southward thrust against the Oromo in
2058-458: The Horn of Africa (notably Italy ), it entered into agreements and treaties with European colonialists over spheres of influence , much like the ones the competing foreigner powers had made among themselves. The Ethiopian Empire under Menelik II exhibited many classic features of European colonialism, including indirect rule , divide-and-rule tactics, cooptation of local elites, and prioritizing
SECTION 20
#17327723699892156-618: The Horn of Africa , during which the Ethiopian Empire received significant military resources from foreign powers. France in particular poured in arms into the country during the 1880s, alongside Russia and Italy; seeking to secure favor for protectorate status over the empire. During the earliest periods of Menelik's expansions in the 1870s, he was receiving military advice and aid from France. The influx of military equipment facilitated Emperor Menelik's unprecedented campaign of Amhara conquest and expansion. The Emperor conveyed to his European counterparts his 'sacred civilizing mission ' to extend
2254-685: The Protectorate of Northern Nigeria from 1899 to 1906. Indirect rule was by no means a new idea at the time, since it had been in use in ruling empires throughout history. For instance, in addition to India and Uganda, it had been practiced in the Songhai and Ashanti Empires. In the lands of the Sokoto Caliphate , conquered by the British at the turn of the century, Lugard instituted a system whereby external, military, and tax control
2352-478: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,
2450-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units
2548-519: The Africans own institution. Whereby, to achieve this objective: It has been pointed out that the British were not prepared to pay for colonial administration, though interested in economically benefiting from their new colonies; neither did the British have enough resources to finance it. This economic question coupled with the shortage of or lack of European personnel in Africa at the time, convinced
2646-686: The Arsi Oromo date back to the 1840s when Sahle Selassie led an expedition against the Arsi. Shewans rulers had longed to pacify and incorporate this territory into their realm. In 1881, Menelik led a campaign against the Arsi Oromo, this campaign proved difficult, as the Oromos abandoned their homeland to wage guerilla war against the Shewan army, the Arsi inflicted significant losses against Menelik's forces through ambushes and raids. Menelik eventually left Arsi territory and his uncle Darge Sahle Selassie
2744-812: The British Somaliland protectorate to Ethiopia in the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897 . Ethiopian authorities have since then based their claims to the Ogaden upon the 1897 treaty and the exchange of letters which followed it. The 1897 treaty was legally void because it presumed an authority which the Somalis had never accorded to Great Britain, as agreements that had been signed between the British and Somali had been to protect lands. While previous Ethiopian raids had been primarily disruptive to trade, Emperor Meneliks well armed incursions in
2842-569: The British that it would be cheaper to use the traditional institutions to achieve the same objective. The nature and operation of indirect rule in Northern Nigeria, amply confirm these contentions. When Lugard and his men conquered the Sokoto Caliphate of Northern Nigeria, in the early 20th century, his limited resources in terms of men and money, made rule of the vast territory highly impracticable. Fortunately for him, however,
2940-729: The Emperor an excuse to invade the Emirate of Harar. The Shewans then led an invasion force, however when this force was camped in Hirna the small army of Emir Abdullah II shot fireworks at the encampment, startling the Shewans and making them flee towards the Awash River during the Battle of Hirna . Menelik first used the significant influx of European arms he received at Harar. Harar was
3038-469: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but
Menelik II's conquests - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-774: The French polity. French rule, sometimes labeled Jacobin , was said in these writings to be based on the twin ideologies of the centralized unitary French government of the Metropole , with the French colonial ideology of Assimilation . Colonial Assimilation argued that French law and citizenship was based on universal values that came from the French Revolution . Mirroring French domestic citizenship law, French colonial law allowed for anyone who could prove themselves culturally French (the " Évolués ") to become equal French citizens. In French West Africa , only parts of
3234-523: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia
3332-634: The Indian territories ruled indirectly experiencing similar effects to those in Africa that experienced indirect rule. The same went for many of the West African holdings of the British and French empires. The ideological underpinnings, as well as the practical application, of 'indirect rule' in Uganda and Nigeria is traced back to the work of Frederick Lugard , the High Commissioner of
3430-613: The Italians during the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895–6, the Ethiopian Empire had accrued a significant amount of modern weapons that allowed them to fight on similar terms as the European powers and maintain expansion. British writer Evelyn Waugh describing this nineteenth century event stated: The process (the creation of the Ethiopian Empire) was closely derived from the European model; sometimes
3528-583: The Sebat Bet, Kebena , and Wolane fiercely resisted Menelik. They were led by Hassan Enjamo of Kebena who on the advice of his sheiks declared jihad against the Shewans. For over a decade Hassan Injamo fought to expel the Shewans from the Muslim areas of Hadiya and Gurage until 1888 when Gobana Dacche faced him in the Battle of Jebdu Meda where the Muslim Hadiya and Gurage army was defeated by
3626-559: The Senegalese " Four Communes " ever extended French citizenship outside a few educated African elite. While making more subtle distinctions, this model of direct versus indirect rule was dominant in academia from the 1930s until the 1970s. Academics since the 1970s have problematised the Direct versus Indirect Rule dichotomy, arguing the systems were in practice intermingled in both British and French colonial governance, and that
3724-532: The Shewans, and with that all of Gurageland was subdued.. Professor Lapiso states that the assistance of Habte Giyorgis Dinagde who was captured from a previous battle with the Hadiyans was instrumental for the Abyssinians being victorious in the conflict. The Halaba Hadiya however under their chief Barre Kagaw continued to resist until 1893 when the Abyssinians took advantage of the famine that had struck
3822-559: The Sokoto Caliphate already possessed a highly developed and efficient system of administration headed by emirs, with the Sultan of Sokoto as the supreme head. The hierarchical nature of the political structure was ideal for the system of indirect rule because the British could control the emirs and the emirs in turn could control their people. In the mid-1920s, the British implemented the system of indirect rule in Tanzania. Indirect rule
3920-520: The Somali anti-colonial Dervish movement . As the Ethiopian Empire began expanding into Somali territories at the start of the 1890s, Jigjiga came under intermittent military occupation until 1900. At the turn of the century, Abyssinian troops occupied Jigjiga and completed the construction of a fort nearby. Following these incursions, Amhara settlers began arriving in Jigjiga and its surroundings for
4018-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic
Menelik II's conquests - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-534: The balance of power between the Somalis and the Ethiopian Empire, whereas the colonial powers from Europe blocked Somalis from receiving any type of firearms. Many of the Somali clans in British Somaliland signed protection treaties with the British in response to these invasions, which dictated the protection of Somali rights and the maintenance of their independence. In 1897, in order to appease Menelik's expansionist policy, Britain ceded almost half of
4214-737: The behavior of Menelik's colonial governors. According to Alexander Bulatovich , Menelik's Russian military aide, Menelik's armies "dreadfully annihilated more than half" of the Oromo (Galla) population down to 5 million people, which "took away from the Galla all possibility of thinking about any sort of uprising." Eshete Gemeda put the death toll even higher at 6 million. Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized : Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] )
4312-532: The benefits of Christian rule to the 'heathens'. Menelik became a signatory to the Brussels Act of 1890 , which regulated the importation of arms into the African continent. Italy sponsored Ethiopia's inclusion in this act, enabling Abyssinia to "legally" import arms. This move also served to legitimize the arms shipments that had been ongoing for years prior from France. Thus when conflict later began with
4410-422: The bloodiest campaigns of the whole period of expansion", and Wolayta oral tradition holds that 118,000 Welayta and 90,000 Shewan troops died in the fighting. Kawo (King) Tona Gaga , the last king of Welayta, was defeated and Welayta conquered in 1895. Welayta was then incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire. However, Welayta had a form of self-administrative status and was ruled by governors directly accountable to
4508-555: The borders of the kingdom to prevent intruders from entering. They also used natural barriers such the Gojeb River and the mountains to repel invaders. As a result, Kaffa earned a reputation of being impenetrable and inaccessible to outsiders. In 1895 Menelik II ordered the Kingdom of Kaffa to be invaded and sent three armies led by Dejazmach Tessema Nadew , Ras Wolde Giyorgis and Dejazmach Demissew Nassibu supported by Abba Jifar II of Jimma (who submitted to Menelik) to conquer
4606-483: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as
4704-498: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic
4802-522: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in
4900-475: The day-to-day government and administration of both small and large areas were left in the hands of traditional rulers, who gained prestige and the stability and protection afforded by the Pax Britannica (in the case of British territories). Consequentially done at the cost of losing control of their external affairs, and often of taxation, communications, and other matters. It was usually carried out with
4998-468: The divide between the largely Semetic populated north and the primarily Cushitic inhabited south, creating the conditions which encouraged significant future social and political transformations. Ethiopian historian Dr. Lapsio described the impact of Menelik's conquest: Menelik managed to effectively destroy the other competing centers of the country and elevate his own group to a position of dominance and power. In conclusion, though Amhara interests and
SECTION 50
#17327723699895096-412: The early part of the 19th century. During the first half of the 1880s, then king of Shewa Sahla Selassie conducted numerous military expeditions against the Oromo people residing on the Shewan plateau . Menelik's first battles to expand the empire occurred when he was still under the nominal authority of Emperor Yohannes IV during the 1870s. With Menelik's incorporations of Wollo to his north during
5194-476: The end of the 20th century, castigated the formation of the centralized empire state under Menelik as, "the beginning of national oppression" in the groups manifesto. The roots of the current Ethiopian civil conflict can be traced back to Menelik's campaigns to expand the empire and the extreme violence associated with the it. Menelik's expansions into what is now southern Ethiopia set a pattern of razing entire districts, killing all male defender and then enslaving
5292-568: The era of colonialism provoked significant unease among the Somalis all the way to the Banaadir coast. A force of several thousand Ethiopian horseman armed with rifles pushed into the Shabelle valley near Balad , only a days march away from Mogadishu during the spring of 1905. Several clans residing in the region engaged in battles with the invading forces, repulsing them. In several cases,
5390-523: The first time. That year the Somali Dervishes had their first major battle when they attacked the Ethiopian garrison at Jigjiga with the aim of returning looted livestock. The following year, a joint British-Ethiopian military expedition was launched to crush the Dervishes. In the early decades of the 20th century, Ethiopia exerted no actual influence over the Ogaden east of Jijiga, even after
5488-409: The initial raids Menelik and his commanders had seized thousands of prisoners, resulting in an increase in slavery on the domestic and international market. Four years after the conquest of the Arsi, foreign travelers passing through their regions noted that they were regarded as slaves by the new rulers and in sold openly in markets . The campaigns during 1885 in Ittu Oromo territory that had preceded
5586-458: The interests of settlers above all else. The imperial expansion closely mirrored the colonial expansions of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires . During the 1870s and 1880s, Menelik received advice from the French on managing a standing army and governing captured provinces using colonial methods. A system of imperial conquest effectively based on settler colonialism , involving the deployment of armed settlers in newly created military colonies,
5684-491: The invaded areas were overawed by the show of superior force and accepted treaties of protection; sometimes they resisted and were slaughtered with the use of modern weapons which were being imported both openly and illicitly in enormous numbers; sometimes they were simply recorded as Ethiopian without their own knowledge. Under Menelik II, the Ethiopian Empire effectively participated in the Scramble for Africa alongside European powers. While at times rivaling Europeans present in
5782-422: The king until the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. The Kingdom of Kaffa was a powerful kingdom located south of the Gojeb river in the dense jungles of the Kaffa mountains . Due to constant invasions from the Mecha Oromos , the Kafficho people developed a very unique defense system unlike anything seen in the Horn of Africa . The Kafficho built very deep trenches (Hiriyoo) and ditches (Kuripoa) along
5880-414: The lands of Hadiya which included the Gurage people into Shewa . In 1878, the Soddo Gurage living in Northern and Eastern Gurageland peacefully submitted to Menelik and their lands were left untouched by his armies, likely due to their shared Ethiopian Orthodox faith and prior submission to Negus Sahle Selassie , grandfather of the Emperor . However, in Western Gurage and Hadiya which was inhabited by
5978-478: The late 1870s, all of the central region had been consolidated. Menelik dispatched an army against Gojjam to the east and achieved a victory. Emperor Yohannes punished Menelik and the ruler of Gojjam for going to war by taking away parts of their regions, but recognized 'Menelik's right to the south-west.' Having secured the watershed to his south-west, Menelik turn his attention to the Muslim inhabited south-east. During this early period of expansion, Menelik brought
SECTION 60
#17327723699896076-436: The late 1880s, he dispatched armies and colonists across the west, south, and southeast. Menelik's imperialism was culmination of a century of Abyssinian militarization . His army had expanded to such a degree that continual raiding and pillaging became a core feature of the empire, necessary to keep the youthful and armed population preoccupied. Menelik's expansions coincided with the era of European colonial advances in
6174-431: The latter's death. The gabbar system worked efficiently for nearly half a century in financing the garrisoning and administration of the south until its formal dissolution in 1941. This system was not employed in all parts of the regions Menelik expanded into for varying reasons. In the case of many southern lowlands 'fringes', the territory was not suitable for colonization by the Shewan highlander plough agriculturalists and
6272-424: The local population, exacerbated by land seizures and looting by imperial forces. In contrast to imperial expansion into the central and northern highlands, where locals were protected by shared ethnicity and kinship, the people of the south lost most of their traditional lands to the Amhara rulers and were reduced to tenancy on their own lands. The vast southwards expansions carried out by Emperor Menelik exacerbated
6370-512: The lowland pastoralists were far harder to manage and control than the settled horticulturalists of the southern highlands. These regions were instead raided for revenue extraction, often in the form of livestock, into the 20th century. Though some polities negotiated differing levels of autonomy through tribute payments and taxation, elsewhere local populations were frequently decimated by violent colonial expansions that rested largely on cultural assimilation . Due to economic motives driving
6468-415: The masses of Amhara peasantry. With them he assembled an immense army that swept outwards from Shewa in search of spoils and tribute. As the Abyssinian armies pushed south into land inhabited by the Oromo people (the Galla land), the determined resistance of many Oromo groups was incapable of stopping the heavily armed invaders. One after the other, the Oromo people suffered defeat with the exception of
6566-545: The most prominent of all the independent emirates and sultanates in the region. Menelik wrote to European powers: "Ethiopia has been for 14 centuries a Christian island in a sea of pagans. If Powers at a distance come forward to partition Africa between them, I do not intend to remain an indifferent spectator." He sent word to Emir Abdullah , ruler of the historic city of Harar which was pivotal to Muslim East Africa, to accept his suzerainty. The Emir suggested that Menelik should accept Islam. Menelik promised to conquer Harar and turn
6664-431: The mountainous kingdom. Gaki Sherocho the king of Kaffa hid in the hinterlands of his kingdom and resisted the armies of Menelik II until he was captured in 1897 and exiled to Addis Ababa . After the kingdom was conquered Ras Wolde Giyorgis was named its governor. After conquering the city of Harar in 1887, Menelik announced a programme of ambitious expansions and colonialism to the European powers in 1891. This marked
6762-430: The national interests converged at certain points. Menelik's policies should be best understood as the Amharanization, rather than the nationalization of Ethiopia. This was his legacy and herein can be found the seeds of some of the problems of Ethiopia today. In southern Ethiopia, the word Amhara is often treated synonymously to the term Neftenya , the title given to the soldiers Menelik employed in this period to colonize
6860-532: The northern expansions, it was usually preferred to disturb indigenous economies as little as possible in regions where there was little resistance. Extreme violence was carried out during the conquest of regions like the Kingdoms of Wolaita and Kaffa to the south, along with Illubabor and other territories in the Sudanese borderlands . Military expeditions into the Somali -inhabited Ogaden region under Ras Makonnen were characterized by massacres and expropriation, laying foundations for future incorporation into
6958-415: The northern settlers and southern locals. As land was taken, the northern administrators became the owners and possessed the right to dispose of land as they pleased. Those conquered found themselves displaced, often reduced to tenants on their own lands by the new Amhara ruling elite. The feudal obligations imposed on the gabbar were so intensive that they continued to serve the family of a neftegna even after
7056-482: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In
7154-641: The occupation of Harar left whole tracts of their territory depopulated. From 1883 to 1885 the Shewan forces under Menelik attempted to invade the Chercher region of Harar and were defeated by the Ittu Oromo. During 1886, Menelik had started embarking on a large scale campaign to subjugate the south. In 1886 an Italian explorer and his entire party were massacred by soldiers from the Emirate of Harar , giving
7252-415: The people of the south while living off the indigenous population and their lands. Based on convergent colonialist approaches, cooperation between Menelik and Belgian king Leopold II were attempted more than once. In the view of Ernest Gellner , Ethiopia had become "a prison-house of nations if ever there was one." The Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), which came to dominate Ethiopian politics at
7350-565: The perception of indirect rule was sometimes promoted to justify quite direct rule structures. Mahmood Mamdani and other academics have discussed extensively how both direct and indirect rule were attempts to implement identical goals of foreign rule, but how the "indirect" strategy helped to create ethnic tensions within ruled societies which persist in hostile communal relations and dysfunctional strategies of government. Mamdani himself famously described indirect rule as "decentralised despotism". Some political scientists have even expanded
7448-496: The plunder and captives taken, while his soldiers and generals divided the rest according to their respective ranks. Eventually Menelik did sign an agreement with the British Empire to reign in and suppress the Ethiopian slave trade, which he backed with edicts - though they were not always enforced. Any restraint and order imposed after the agreements with the British collapsed as Menelik's health later deteriorated. During
7546-524: The poorly armed Somali warriors devastated the invading armies. In 1893, British Army officer Colonel Swayne , who was visiting Imi was shown "the remains of the bivouac of an enormous Abyssinian army which had been defeated some two or three years before." In the far eastern frontier, predominantly inhabited by Somalis, Professor of Anthropology Donald L. Donham observed that Menelik's imperial administration had dramatically failed to adopt to local religion and politics, while facing significant resistance from
7644-526: The principal mosque into a church, saying "I will come to Harar and replace the Mosque by a Christian church. Await me." The Medihane Alam Church is proof Menelik kept his word. In 1887 the Shewans sent another large force personally led by Menelik II to subjugate the Emirate of Harar. Emir Abdullah, in the Battle of Chelenqo , decided to attack early in the morning of Ethiopian Christmas assuming they would be unprepared and befuddled with food and alcohol, but
7742-456: The provincial nobility that traditionally dominated Abyssinia under his rule. The predominantly Christian northern provinces often fared better than the Muslim or pagan areas taken over by Menelik in the south, largely because they were less frequented by the Emperors large armies and the inhabitants were better armed to defend themselves. In the late 1870s Menelik led a campaign to incorporate
7840-526: The region and led a conquest into their territory. By the early 1880s, Shewan and Gojjam forces had made their first forays over the Gibe River into the region of Welega ruled by king Kumsa Moroda from the Machaa people of the Oromo. Ras Gobena , an Oromo general serving Menelik, arrived in the region at the head of a well armed force of Shewan troops. Menelik's primary motive in conquering Welega
7938-639: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of
8036-404: The rule of Menelik. After the conquest, much of the best Arsi grazing land was given as war booty to soldiers. Arsi Oromo during the 1960s spoke of the era of Amhara rule beginning after their subjection in 1887 as the start of an 'era of miseries'. The Oromo population was significantly reduced from massacres. Many Oromo were forcibly Christianized and compelled to 'Amharize' their names. From
8134-456: The short battle. The remembrance of the seven hundred "wedded martyrs" became part of Harari wedding customs to this day, when every Harari groom is given fabric that is called "satti baqla" in Harari, which means "seven hundred." It's a rectangular cloth from white woven cotton ornamented with a red stripe along the edges symbolizing the martyrs' murders. When he presents it, the giver (who usually
8232-505: The start of a tentative yet violent invasion into the Ogaden . In the first phase of invasion, Menelik dispatched troops on frequent raids that terrorized the region. Indiscriminate killing and looting was commonplace before the raiding soldiers returned to their bases with stolen livestock. Repeatedly between 1890 and 1900, Ethiopian raiding parties into the Ogaden caused devastation. The large scale importations of European arms completely upset
8330-497: The start of the 20th century, these same regions provided very little and the majority of state revenue was drawn from the south. Exaction on northern peasants by the imperial state was lightened, and the burden was shifted to the newly ruled southerners. While wealth flowed north to the Amhara imperial core, driving regional development, the newly conquered lands saw little change except for the worsening pre-feudal economic conditions of
8428-401: The treaty, and ruled in name only. When the boundary commission attempted to demarcate the treaty boundary in 1934, the native Somalis were unaware they were under Ethiopian rule. The incorporation of the southern highlands created unprecedented resources for the imperial core. Before the mid-19th century, Emperor Tewodros II had relied on tribute from the central regions for revenue, but by
8526-485: The wars to expand the Ethiopian Empire , Menelik's army committed genocidal atrocities against peoples of the invaded territories, which included torture , mass killings and the imposition of large scale slavery . Some estimates of the number of people who were killed in the atrocities that were committed during the war and the famine which coincided with it go into the millions. The Oromo territories experienced catastrophic demographic decline and exploitation due to
8624-413: The women and children. The southern expansions resulted in an immense increase in the number of slaves within the empire and raids fueled a national market for the trade. Menelik actively aided and abetted slavery in this period, despite his public proclamations to the contrary. Before the mid-1890's Menelik rarely opposed the slave trade of captives taken during the expansions. He personally gained half of
8722-452: The young intelligentsia . Written laws, which replaced oral laws, were less flexible to the changing social nature, old customs of retribution and justice were removed or banned, as well as the removal of more violent punishments. Furthermore, leaders empowered by the governments of European powers were often not familiar with their new tasks, such as recruitment and tax. From the early 20th century, French and British writers helped establish
8820-403: Was cheaper and easier for the European powers and, in particular, it required fewer administrators, but had a number of problems. In many cases, European authorities empowered local traditional leaders, as in the case of the monarchy of Uganda , but if no suitable leader could be found (in the traditional Western sense of the term), the Europeans would simply choose local rulers to suit them. This
8918-520: Was control over the gold producing districts in the west. Ras Gobenas campaigns in Western Welega from 1886 to 1888 established Shewan rule over the entire region and ended the threat of Mahdist incursions. Menelik's success in these Oromo regions were in great measure due to Ras Gobena, with his large cavalry force he conquered and extracted tribute from Oromo leaders for the Shewan court. The Great Drought of 1888-92 allowed Menelik to draw on
9016-493: Was defeated as Menelik had awoken his army early expecting a surprise attack. The Emir then fled to the Ogaden and the Shewans conquered Hararghe . Finally having conquered Harar, Menelik extended trade routes through the city, importing valuable goods such as arms, and exporting other valuables such as coffee. He would place his cousin, Makonnen Wolde Mikael in control of the city. Harari oral tradition recounts 300 Hafiz and 700 newly wed soldiers killed by Menelik's forces in
9114-404: Was left in charge of the campaign. In September 1886, Darge faced a large Arsi force at the Battle of Azule , the result was an overwhelming Shewan victory as the Arsi Oromo were completely defeated by the Shewan army. After the defeat of the Arsi at Azule the province of Arsi was pacified and Darge was named its governor. After six military campaigns, during 1887 the Arsi finally were brought under
9212-399: Was operated by the British. While every other aspect of life was left to local pre-conquest indigenous aristocracies who may have sided with the British during or after their conquest. The theory behind this solution to a very practical problem (referred to as 'The Native Question' by Mahmood Mamdani in his work Citizen and Subject ) of control by a tiny group of foreigners of huge populations
9310-939: Was particularly used by colonial empires like the British Empire to control their possessions in Africa and Asia , which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by various colonial rulers such as: the French in Algeria and Tunisia , the Dutch in the East Indies , the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique and the Belgians in Rwanda and Burundi . These dependencies were often called " protectorates " or "trucial states". Through this system,
9408-475: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered
9506-489: Was the case in Kenya and Southern Nigeria , and the new leaders, often called "warrant chiefs", were not always supported by the local population. The European ruling classes also often chose local leaders with similar traits to their own, despite these traits not being suited to native leadership. Many were conservative elders, and thus indirect rule fostered a conservative outlook among the indigenous population and marginalised
9604-424: Was widespread throughout the southern and western territories that came under Menelik's dominion. Under the 'Neftenya-Gabbar scheme' the Ethiopian Empire had developed a relatively effective system of occupation and pacification. Soldier-settlers and their families moved into fortified villages known as katamas in strategic regions to secure the southern expansion. These armed settlers and their families were known as
#988011