By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
We saw last week that Ethiopian society, confronted with the advent
of the Jesuits, in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries,
displayed little interest in copying their ways, as well as a strong
hostility towards accepting their religion.
Missionaries Also Uninterested
It should at the same time be emphasised that the missionaries were
also not interested in technological innovation as such. They restricted
their interests almost exclusively to religion rather than secular
things. They devoted much enthusiasm to proving the superiority of their
own Church and faith over those which had been established in the
country over a millennium earlier. They urged, for example, that only
Sunday, not Saturday as well, should be celebrated as the Sabbath, that
the dietary rules of Moses should be abandoned, that priests should not
be allowed to marry, and that marriage by the laity should be
indissoluble. The abundant literature produced by the Portuguese at this
time is preoccupied with such matters, but contains no reference to any
attempt to teach or popularize new techniques in agriculture or animal
husbandry, industry or housing, no word of any effort to encourage tree
preservation or afforestation, or to introduce a system of currency in
place of the inconvenient “primitive money” then in use.
Such innovations as were attempted were of limited significance, and
for the most part fell on stony ground. During the war with Gragn
(1527-1541), for example, Christavao da Gama and his compatriots
imported a number of cannon on wheels and constructed sledges to
transport their artillery. The use of the wheel, however, was not
introduced into the economy and the age-old reign of the mule, the
donkey and the human porter remained undisturbed.
A Boat on Lake Tana
Half a century or so later one of the Portuguese built a timber boat
for use on Lake Tana, the country’s biggest expanse of water, but the
craft was scarcely used, let alone copied, Traditional boats continued
to ply their course, without a competitor, as they had done from time
immemorial.
Pero Pais
The Jesuit, Pero Pais, won some fame as a builder, and is remembered
for his two-story palace at Gorgora which, according to the Jesuit,
Baltazar Tellez, “amazed all the Abyssines who came from the remotest
Parts to behold it, and what most surprised them was to see an upper
Floor … This Work gained the Fathers much Reputation, convincing the
People that what they told them of the mighty Structures of Europe were
true.”
The work of the Jesuits was, however, largely confined to the
erection of a palace and a few churches, as well as to buildings for the
missionaries, and did not extend to the dwellings of the ordinary
people. One of the Jesuits, Melchior da Silva 26 is reported to have
been content to dwell in the house of an ordinary Ethiopian peasant.
The Portuguese, we are told, brought t Emperor Susneyos a gilt bed
from China; but though the sovereign was happy to sleep on it, the bed
of ordinary Ethiopians remained unchanged.
Antiquities Going Back to Ancient Egypt
Ethiopia in some ways resembled an ethnological museum, the exhibits
of which were preserved from century to century, as is evident from the
fact that some of the items in use in modern times, such as the plough,
the grinding stone, the head-rest and the reed boat, are remarkably
similar to those used in ancient Egypt.
Portuguese Contacts
The result of the Portuguese contact, or more properly of contact
with Indian craftsmen brought by the Portuguese, was for practical
purposes visible in not more than three main sectors:
Firstly, in the very restricted field of castle building where their
influence is by no means proven, and could not have been much more than
an inspiration as most of the Portuguese had left before the
construction work began. Secondly, in the use of mortar, which was never
widespread and was soon forgotten.”
Thirdly, in a limited amount of bridge-building, which ceased after
about a generation, one of the principal bridges, symbolically enough,
being subsequently broken to prevent its use by invading armies from
another province.
Gondar
The establishment of the famous capital of Gondar around 1636 was
none the less characterised by a period of innovation. The notable
castles built by the Emperor Fasiladas (1632-1667) and subsequent
monarchs were themselves symbolic of something new. The Scottish
traveller James Bruce, for example, has an interesting passage in which
he describes the manner in which the Emperor Iyasu II (1730-1735)
utilised the services of Greeks and persons of Greek descent to ornament
his castle. The Emperor, we are told, was charmed with the
“multiplicity of works and workmen”, and ” even wrought with his own
hand, and rejoiced at seeing the facility with which, by the use of a
compass and a few straight lines, he could produce the figure of a star
equally exact with any of his Greeks.
Iyasu the Great
The interest in innovation of the Gondarine rulers is apparent from
the reports of De Maillet, the French Consul in Cairo, who reveals that
the Emperor Iyasu I(1683-1706) had asked for “clever workmen to
reestablish the arts,” notably a chief engineer, a cannon maker, an
armourer, a glass-maker, a gardener, and a good doctor or surgeon, as
well as several architects, masons, carpenters and locksmiths.
Iyasu’s interest in European medicine is further evident from the
account of the French traveller Charles Poncet, who says that when he
brought a medicine chest to Gondar the Emperor” informed himself exactly
after what manner those remedies were prepared, and how they were to be
applied ; what effects they produced ; for what distempers they were
proper. He was not satisfied with only a verbal account of these things,
but ordered it to be taken in writing.”
The Frenchman goes on to tell how Iyasu arranged for him to produce
various types of medicine and visited him incognito to inspect the
various operations.”
The above review of attitudes to innovation in the half millennium
prior to the nineteenth century shows tendencies which will appear more
clearly in the later period when more documentation is available.
The Nineteenth Century
Early Nineteenth century Ethiopia was in large measure an unchanging
land in which generation after generation lived and died like their
forefathers centuries earlier. In such circumstances the public at large
was profoundly unconscious of the idea of change.
Donald Levine Sayeth
This is for example suggested by the researches of the modern
American sociologist Donald Levine. Examining the concepts of the
typical peasant he observed that time was “of little concern”. “When a
man says he is going on a trip tomorrow”, he observes, -everyone assumes
that he means he may be going on a trip a few days later. Many
appointments are made, but few are kept.”
In so far as the concept of time existed, Levine argues that it was ”
cyclical.” Thus the “years do not run on continuously, but follow the
sequence Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – again and again and again. Each
month, moreover, revolves about the same set of saints’ days – in
contrast to the Catholic calendar, which has a different saint for each
day of the year. The result is a triple system – of monthly cycles,
annual cycles, and four-year cycles – issuing in a series of epicycles,
in which the monthly rounds play themselves out within the larger
circles of annual rounds.”
For practical purposes, Levine argues, “the general Amhara attitude
is that the seasons come and go, people come and go, but there is not
much new under the sun.” With a few notable exceptions the “essential
feature” of Ethiopian history, according to the Levine thesis, was
therefore its repetitiveness and lack of development. This point of view
was clearly expressed by a dabtara, or cleric, whom he quotes as
observing: “The people around here do not know much about historical
figures, because our history was always the same old thing-one lord
fighting another to get more power.”
Self-Sufficiency Continued
Life in the nineteenth century was still remarkably self-sufficient.
“Each man,” wrote the French travellers P.V, Ferret and J.G. Galinier,
in the first half of the century, -makes his own clothes and furniture;
each family constructs its own house, grinds its own mill, kills its own
cattle and sheep, produces its own bread, oil, butter, wax, and other
articles of consumption.”
“Nearly everything in the shape of household wants,” confirms the
British traveller Augustus B. Wylde half a century later, “is furnished
by the household themselves.” So static and self-sufficient an economy
was in the nature of things highly irresponsive to the stimulus of
changes in the outside world. The public at large, being accustomed to
produce the greater part of its requirements at home was little affected
by the impact of the Industrial Revolution, which had by then been
launched, in Europe, and abroad.
It Would Be a Mistake, however…
It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that the Ethiopian economy
was entirely insulated from foreign contact. A limited penetration of
imported goods may be discerned, which carried with it a significant
potentiality of change. As in former times the country was in fact
dependent, as we shall see, on foreign sources for three main categories
of goods: textiles, raw metal and manufactured articles.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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