By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
Emperor Menilek’s Conservative Courtiers
Though Menilek was reputedly a firm friend of progress, most of his
courtiers are said to have been old-fashioned in attitude. Thus a
British scientist, J. I. Craig, reporting on a visit to Ethiopia, said
of the Emperor, “He is highly intelligent, and … ready enough to avail
himself of the advantages of western civilisation to such an extent that
he is probably the most liberal statesman in his country and has
frequently much difficulty in persuading his council to follow his
wishes.”
Empress Taytu
Menilek’s consort Empress Taytu, according to the British traveler
Herbert Vivian, belonged in particular to the “old school”, which
“opposed all innovations and mistrusted all foreigners.” This opinion of
the queen
was shared by most observers, including the French envoy
Klobukowski. He records that on one occasion, when talking of the
Europeans in Ethiopia, Taytu exclaimed, “The Emperor is too good. He
believes everything people say to him.”
The difference in attitude between the Emperor and his spouse is also
alluded to by the French traveller Hugues Le Roux. He states that
Menilek on one occasion said to him, “The Ethiopians and I, we like
progress. The Empress, my nobles and my clergy, make war on us.”
Ras Makonnen and Ras Mika’el
Ras Makonnen, on the other hand, was clearly interested in
innovation. It is not without significance that he alone of Menilek’s
Rases used French and Arabic on his seal, as well as Amharic. His
attitude was in part molded by his residence in Harar, which afforded
him greater foreign contacts than were elsewhere available, and in part
by his visit to Italy, in 1889, which gave him, alone of Menilek’s
principal Rases, a first hand knowledge of developments in other lands.
For these, and other reasons, many foreign observers, such as the
Frenchman Charles Michel, believed that Makonnen was “the only person ”
able to continue the Menilek’s modernising work. This opinion is shared
by another Frenchman, Rene Pinon.
It is, however, interesting to note that the Italian, Arnaldo
Cipolla, recorded that Ras Mika’el of Wallo later observed to him that
Menelik owed his greatness to the fact that he knew Europeans and learnt
from them. The Ras added that he himself wished to visit Europe, and
that Ethiopians should travel abroad.
From Ankobar to Entoto and Addis Ababa
Some of the most notable events of Menilek’s reign centred around the
establishment and development of Addis Ababa, the most important
capital in the country’s history. Having abandoned his old capital at
Ankobar several years previously, Menilek settled at Entoto, in 1881. He
at once set to work building a palace and a church. The construction
operations were accompanied by a certain amount of innovation. Workmen
from Gondar, where a good building tradition remained, were employed to
build the palace and the church of Mariam, while timber was transported
on five or six ox-carts constructed, according to specifications
prepared by the German missionary Mayer, who had previously worked for
Tewodros.
The use of the wheel, which that monarch had attempted to introduce a generation earlier, was thus successfully reintroduced.
Entoto, however, soon proved an unsatisfactory capital. Menelik
therefore founded Addis Ababa in 1887 which was soon established in its
stead as the capital of the realm.
Addis Ababa, Site of Innovations
The new settlement of Addis Ababa, which was destined to be the site
of numerous innovations, sprang up around the palace. In building this
edifice Menelik followed the innovating tradition of so many previous
rulers by employing foreign craftsmen. Part of the work was thus
entrusted to an Indian, Haji Kawas, who was assisted by half a dozen or
so other Indians, as well as a number of Arabs. Part of the work was
undertaken by the Swiss craftsman, Alfred Ilg, part by the latter’s
French friend Chefneux, and part by the Italian engineer, Capucci.
The principal church, that of St. George, was later rebuilt according
to the design of a Greek architect Orphanides, and was constructed by
an Italian engineer Castagna.
Construction work by foreigners, it should be emphasised, was
characteristic of this period, as of former times. Thus Ras Makonnen
employed Indian and Arab workmen to build his palace at Harar, and the
Italian engineer Robecchi-Bricchetti in the construction of the nearby
Church of Medhane Alem.
In the erection of his palace at Addis Alem, Menilek used Indian
craftsmen (who on one occasion incurred his displeasure by the then
novel procedure of staging a strike).
Popular Attitudes to Innovation
Numerous innovations at the capital were initiated in this period.
These almost inevitably aroused conservative opposition from one or
other section of the Ethiopian people. Vivian, who visited the palace
grounds at the turn of the century, records that Menilek had erected a
rail to carry building materials to the construction area. The workers,
the Englishman adds, were, however, “too conservative” to employ it to
any extent. The Emperor similarly introduced wheel-barrows, but “the
labourers only made use of them when they were under the master’s eye.
Directly they were left to their own devices, they hastened to their old
accustomed method of carrying things on their heads.”
The Palace Water System
Another innovation, in Addis Ababa, was that of piped water, which
Ilg installed at Menilek’s palace in 1894. The Swiss craftsman recalls
that the project met with widespread derision at court. Many people
considered that it was impossible for water to be made to flow uphill.
Others suggested that the whole affair could be nothing but a financial
swindle. The scheme, however, received Menilek’s full support, and was
carried to fruition despite the scoffs of the critics.
The palace’s piped water was considered sufficiently remarkable to
justify a lengthy description in the official chronicle of the reign.
The surprise occasioned by Ilg’s invention may be further illustrated by
two contemporary poems, collected long afterwards by the Italian
scholar Enrico Cerulli.
The first, referring to Menilek by his “horse-name” Abba Dagnaw, reads:
We have seen wonders in Addis Ababa,
Water worships Emperor Menelik.
O Dagnaw, what more wisdom will you bring?
You already make water soar into the air.
The second declares:
King Abba Dagnaw, how great is he becoming ! He makes the water rise
into the air through a window, while the dirty can be washed and the
thirsty drink. See what wonders have already come in our times. No
wonder that some day he will even outdo the ferenge (i.e. Europeans).
The establishment of Addis Ababa in fact symbolised the advent of a
new era. This was clearly realised by Menilek himself. It is related
that the British envoy, Rennell Rodd, told him that he had brought some
X-ray equipment, but feared to present it, because of possible
opposition by the clergy to innovations. The Emperor at once replied:
“You should have brought it; you know we have not been here in Addis
Ababa more than twenty years.”
An Expanding City
Addis Ababa grew steadily in size. It soon acquired the
characteristics of a boom city. By 1910, it was estimated to have a
resident population of about 70,000, together with some 30,000 to 50,000
temporary inhabitants.
A town of such dimensions, as we shall see, was destined to assist the forces of change.
The Eucalyptus Tree
An acute shortage of timber and fuel existed in the early days of the
city, but this was solved, at the turn of the century, when Menelik
introduced the eucalyptus tree, which came from Australia. Though the
new tree was very useful, in improving the capital’s hitherto short
supply of wood, it was at first by no means popular. Its strong smell
caused it to be regarded with suspicion, and it was referred to as the
“itan”, or incense, tree.
Opposition to the tree was maintained for a number of years. As late
as 1914 a notice against the eucalyptus tree was issued by the Ethiopian
Minister of Agriculture. It stated that when the capital had first been
founded “the soil was void and had no trees whatsoever.” The eucalyptus
tree had been imported because it was quick growing, and could make the
area “beautiful and pleasant to the sight.” The tree, however, was
without any utility, and had the characteristic of “destroying the
plants and earth which it eats. If there be a spring in the vicinity, it
dries it up, and sucking and drinking the bottom of wells it dries up
the water. Its wood is of no use and its fruit is not eaten.”
“Pull Up Two-Thirds of Them”
Orders were therefore given for everyone owning eucalyptus trees to
pull up two-thirds of them, and to allow only one-third to remain. The
Government promised to supply young trees of a useful variety in place
of whatever eucalyptus trees were removed.
Though the dislike of the eucalyptus tree was in part a result of its
novelty, it was not wholly so. A British scientific mission of 1920-1
reported that it was widely held that “these trees dry up the ground,
lessening the yields of springs, or have even deprived them of their
supplies completely.” The report commented:
“In our opinion there can be little doubt that the eucalyptus trees
must have an effect of this kind, and the present small yield of Ras
Makonnen’s spring is one of the results.” The eucalyptus tree, however,
was by this time already too well established to be eliminated by
decree. The tree grew so fast that its cultivation yielded rich profits
that the city’s Georgian pharmacist, Dr Merab, states that landlords
owning several hectares planted with eucalyptus trees hoped to be soon
selling the wood for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The profit motive
was unleashed!
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
No comments:
Post a Comment