By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
We saw last week that Ethiopia’s traditional self-sufficiency at
first isolated it from the impact of the Industrial Revolution, which
took place in Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries.
The Ethiopian Import Picture: In the North
Ethiopian imports by the early nineteenth were, however, by no means
negligible. A fair picture of early nineteenth century imports via the
Red Sea port of Massawa, the main point of contact with the outside
world for northern Ethiopia, may be obtained from the writings of the
British traveller Henry Salt, who refers to the arrival at the port of
European manufactures. These included embroidered velvets, French
broadcloths, silks and satins, arms and ammunition, glassware and beads
from Venice, lead in small quantities, block tin, copper and gold foil,
as well as skins of many colours from Egypt, Indian textiles of every
quality from fine muslin’s to coarse Surat cloth; raw cotton, small
Persian carpets of a showy pattern and of low price, and raw silks from
China.
In the Centre and South
The principal imports of central and southern Ethiopia, which passed
via the Gulf of Aden ports of Tajura, Zeila and Berbera, were not
dissimilar. They are given by the British envoy Cornwallis Harris as
consisting, in the 1840s, mainly of Indian and Arabian textiles, pewter,
zinc, copper and brass wire, beads and various other articles such as
buttons, mirrors, trinkets, bottles, snuff and tobacco.
In the West
The imports of western Ethiopia, via Sudan to Gondar, were also,
broadly speaking, of similar character. The German missionary J.L. Krapf
writes of cotton, coloured cloth and beads, mirrors, razors, nails,
drinking vessels, coffee cups and stibium.
Some Statistics
Though it is impossible to obtain a quantitative picture of such
imports they were undoubtedly considerable, as may be seen from the
fairly detailed estimates available for Massawa. The Belgian official
Edouard Blondeel quoted figures for 1840, which suggest that 528,660
pieces of different kinds of cloth were imported annually, while the
French Scientific Mission of 1839-1843 stated that imports in 1842
numbered 551,295 pieces. Other imports ,according to Blondeel, included
300 packets of blue silk, 40,280 kilos of cotton thread, 2,000 pieces of
Morocco leather, 1,422 kilos of old copper, 1,170 kilos of tin, 20,000
bottles, 270 cases of glassware, 16,400,000 glass beads, 14,400 razors,
6,690 kilos of kohl, or antimony, for the eyes, 669 kilos of cloves, and
35,600 kilos of tobacco. The French Scientific Mission figures are
somewhat different, and include 5,000 packets of blue silk, 10,000
pieces of red Morocco leather, 150,000 kilos of cloves and 500,000 kilos
of tobacco .
Unravelling Cloth
Imported cloth, which in the first part of the century was still
overshadowed by local production, seems to have largely conformed to the
traditional type. An interesting practice which resulted from the
absence of fast locally made dyes was the unraveling of imported red or
blue cloth. The thread was then used by local weavers to produce the
telat, or coloured band, on the shamma, or toga, almost universally worn
by the Ethiopian people. This practice of unravelling and then
reweaving was in a sense a compromise between the desire for better
colours and a reluctance to accept the innovation of coloured cloth
which thus served only as raw material. A British naval man, Captain
Wetherhead, writing in 1810, tells of a practice in Massawa where
imported cotton was mixed with the local material before the two were
woven together.
King Sahle Sellase of Shewa
Though essentially conservative in many respects, the Ethiopian
rulers of the early nineteenth century, like their forebears, displayed
considerable interest in innovation, in the military, but also to a
lesser extent in the medical field, and, occasionally, in church and
palace building.
King Sahle Sellase of Shewa (1813-1847) was by all accounts
passionately interested in new techniques. He employed, we are told,
large numbers of blacksmiths, weavers and gunsmiths at his palace. The
German missionary Krapf states that the monarch was “so fond of
artisans” that he often visited the workshops of the weavers, gun-makers
and smiths. The French saint Simonians Combes and Tamisier so far as to
observe, doubtless with exaggeration, that such workmen were “the most
important men” Sahle Sellase’s court. The King, they add, “found time to
devote himself to the industrial arts in which he is passionately
interested. He liked to see work carried out under his very eyes; his
palace was full of weavers, carpenters, masons and other workers engaged
in making gunpowder, repairing rifles or working in gold, silver and
ivory. His workshops likewise produced magnificent cloth, bracelets,
swords, shields and arm guard. Sahle Sellase’s innovating interests, it
will be perceived, had a military orientation reminiscent of that of
earlier monarchs. Thus the traveller Schroff noted that the monarch’s
“first intention seems to be directed to military reforms,” while the
British ship’s surgeon Charles Johnston recalls that the King questioned
him closely about the relative merits of gun-barrels, and adds “I had
to describe how they were manufactured; what was the difference between
plain and twisted; in what manner the grooves on the rifles were made;
and whether long or short barrels were most economical for service. The
French envoy, Rochet d’Hericourt, likewise relates that Sahle Sellase
spoke to him of the manner of making cannon, rifles and swords. Combes
and Tamisier tell a similar story. They record that on reaching the
Shewan capital they were closely questioned by one of the King’s
secretaries as to whether they could make rifles or gunpowder.
Greeks, Armenians, and Egyptians
This preoccupation with firearms was so general in early nineteenth
century Ethiopia that foreigners, Greeks, Armenians, and Egyptians,
could be found as gun makers or repairers in all the more important
centres. Other foreigners were also used in one or other aspect of
warfare. Thus Ras Walde Sellase of Tigray employed two Englishmen,
Coffin and Pearce, in importing firearms, while his successor, Dejazmach
Webe, commissioned a third Englishman, John Bell, as a kind of general.
Foreign Doctors
Besides the military interest in innovations, which constitutes a
recurrent theme of these articles, early nineteenth century Ethiopia
displayed a certain though limited willingness to utilise foreign
medical skills. Visiting travellers, diplomats and sportsmen were
invariably expected to treat diseases in the areas they visited, and
many Ethiopian rulers made use of foreign doctors. This acceptance of
the new is the more significant in that Ethiopia possessed a fairly
sophisticated body of knowledge of medicine and surgery. Resident
foreigners engaged in medicine in this period included an English
surgeon, Charles Johnston, in Shewa, and an Armenian called Gorgorios in
Tigray, who was reputed to know an excellent specific for venereal
diseases.
Dejazmach Webe
A certain amount of innovation can also be seen at this time in
palace and church building as manifested by the employment of foreign
craftsmen. Thus Sahle Sellase employed a Greek called Demetrius to build
a two-story palace at Angolala, while in Tigray Dejazmach Webe employed
two Germans, Eichinger and Schimper, in church building. The former
built the church of Cherkos at Addegrat, while the latter put up a
number of buildings for the chief, including a stone church at Debra
Egzi.
Webe and Sahle Sellase’ successor, King Besha Worrid, like so many of
the rulers of earlier centuries, both attempted to attract craftsmen
from abroad and negotiated with the British Government on this matter in
1849. On March 3, the British Consul, Walter Plowden, forwarded to
London a letter he had received from Webe which declared:
“If you can find me five or three workmen if possible at Massowah, if
not by sending to your country, builders or masons, bring them for me ;
if they wish for lands or appointments I will give them plenty; if they
wish for wages I will give them wages and take care of them.”
Lord Palmerston
Plowden’s advice to the British Foreign Secretary, the redoubtable
Lord Palmerston, was that this request should be met by the dispatch of
an architect, a bridge-builder, a carpenter and four assistants, but the
matter was shelved by Palmerston on account of the difficulties and
expenses involved.
A similar request for European workmen was received from King Besha
Worrid at almost the same time. On May 21 the British representative in
Cairo forwarded Palmerston a letter of greeting to Queen Victoria from
the King. The messenger who brought the epistle carried a request that
the Queen would send the King “persons who can make a crown, and make
cannons, and paint pictures, and build palaces.
This appeal for assistance was also destined to be rejected. Rather
than refusing outright, Palmerston chose to gave the King a history
lesson. He wrote back declaring:
“Her Majesty commands me to explain to you that the distance between
England and your country is great, and the journey occupies much time
and, moreover, the workmen in her dominions are at present much
employed.”
Sahle Sellase’s interest in foreign craftsmen did not extend to all
foreigners. The Protestant missionary Krapf was informed by the
sovereign in 1839, for example, that “he did not need spiritual teachers
so much as doctors, masons, smiths, etc. “The missionaries therefore
laboured under considerable difficulties, and were later excluded from
the country. In 1843, S P. Haines, the British Political Agent in Aden
reported that the king had “interdicted the return of the missionaries,”
and added: “The cause of the King of Showa interdicting missionaries
from entering his territory, is owing to the power of the Priesthood
there, who considered the Reverend Gentlemen have interfered with the
religion of their forefathers.” Krapf himself subscribed to this view,
and exclaims with irritation: “It was mainly the bigoted priests and
monks who tried to inspire the King with a distrust of foreigners. The
priests were angry with me especially, because they thought that I had
induced the King to allow the admission of the English and their
presents.”
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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