By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
We saw last week that Tewodros was not only a cannonmaker, but also a road-builder. Now read on:
Strategic Importance
The strategic significance of Tewodros’s roads is apparent from the
chronicle of Alaqa Walda Maryam, which contains several revealing
passages. It records that when the Emperor’s big locally-made cannon was
carried to Chachaho, some 60 miles south of Gafat, it became necessary
to undertake considerable blasting of the road to enable it to proceed.
The quaint, but detailed, description of these operations given in the
chronicle is indicative of the surprise with which they were regarded by
the traditionally-minded Ethiopian author. “They broke down the
hillocks,” he writes, “and levelled them like the plain; then they bored
holes in one to three places in the great stones on the road, so that
you could put your finger in, and filled them up with powder of the
English that they call in Amharic, in Shoa, dahera [i.e. gunpowder];
then setting a match the stone was broken up, and when it was made level
like a plain they continued their march, and went on making the whole
road in this way.”
Ethiopia’s First Modern Road
Ethiopia’s first modern road, built by Tewodros, with help from the
Protestant missionaries, impressed all observers. Captain Hozier, who
called it “a grand feat of rude engineering,” declares:
“rocks had been hurled aside or blasted through at an immense expense
of labour and of time; the gradient was uniform but very steep.”
Markham’s comment is not dissimilar: the road, he said, was: “a most
remarkable work – a monument of dogged and unconquerable resolution . . .
From early dawn until dark the Europeans were obliged to be in
attendance on this extraordinary man, whose resolute determination to
overcome all obstacles never failed him. Well might the German
missionary exclaim, ‘He had indeed an iron perseverance !’”
A Grass-Green Hay Cart
Tewodros’s desire to innovate in the transport field caused the
Ethiopian people to see things never before witnessed in their history.
Foreign travellers for example describe a grass-green hay cart which was
designed and constructed at the Emperor’s command by the German
missionary Mayer, and was pulled far and wide by four mules. Flad says
that the people regarded it with wonder, but that their surprise
declined when it had to be taken to pieces because of lack of roads and
bridges for it to run on.
And A Great Boat on Lake Tana
No less fantastic to the traditionally-oriented was Tewodros’s
efforts to build a fleet of boats on Lake Tana. He asked his foreign
craftsmen to start boat-building, but they replied that they lacked the
necessary skill. “Seeing that everyone seemed reluctant to help him,”
records Blanc, “he went to work himself; he made an immense
flat-bottomed bulrush boat of great thickness, and to propel it made two
large wheels worked by hand: in fact he had invented a paddle steamer,
only the locomotive agent was deficient. We saw it several times on the
water; the wheels were rather high up and it required at least a hundred
men on it to make them dip sufficiently.”
This account is confirmed by the British envoy Hormuzd Rassam. He
records that for nearly a month in April, 1866, “Theodore was engaged in
building what he called an imitation of a steamer. Two large boats, 60
ft. long and 20 ft. wide, midships, with wooden decks, and a couple of
wheels affixed to the sides of each, to be turned by a handle like that
attached to a common grindstone, were accordingly constructed; but
although nearly 100 men were taken on board, the wheels were only
immersed about 4 in. The day they were launched he invited the members
of the Mission to witness the experiment, and the vessel in which he had
embarked moved so rapidly after the bulrushes had got well soaked,
which made it subside deeper into the water, that he seemed frantic with
joy, whilst the natives looked on with admiring wonder. He did not take
us with him on the trial ship, because, as he sent to tell us, he
feared the ship might sink so deep that we should get wet. He proceeded
to try how the vessel would behave against the wind, and on rounding the
peninsula encountered a strong breeze, which soon convinced him of the
futility of his attempt. The incongruous materials of which the boat was
constructed, one elastic and the other the opposite – no effort having
been made to ensure an equal pressure upon them from without – began to
give way after a little tossing, and his Majesty deemed it prudent to
return as speedily as possible to the smooth water of the bay. From that
time he appears to have abandoned all idea of building a royal navy.”
Other Innovations
Many of Tewodros’s other reforms were less in the nature of
innovations than of attempts to restore old institutions, which had
disappeared during what he regarded as an earlier period of decadence.
Thus, besides attempting to re-establish the traditional powers of the
Emperor, which had declined during the reign of the masafint, or
princes, he endeavoured to suppress the slave trade, and to discourage
polygamy and concubinage. According to Plowden, he also began “to reform
even the dress of Abyssinia, all about his person wearing loose flowing
trousers, and upper – and undervests”, instead of “the half-naked
costume introduced by the Gallas,” i.e. by the Oromo Yajju dynasty,
which he had ousted.
Foreign Craftsmen
Tewodros, like many of his predecessors, was most anxious to attract
foreign craftsmen to his country. This was recognised by Consul Plowden
as early as July 25, 1853, when he reported to the British Foreign
Office that Kasa, i.e. the future Emperor, appeared “disposed to
encourage strangers.” Two days later the Consul added that the chief had
shown in his reception of Europeans that “he values them and their arts
far more highly than any other Abyssinian chief has lately been
disposed to do.”
Though Theodore, as we have seen, made considerable use of
missionaries, who served him in casting cannon and building roads, he
later appealed on several occasions to the British Government to send
him proper professional craftsmen. On November 2, 1862, for example the
British Consul, Cameron, urged his Government to send the Emperor
“medical men and an engineer,” and argued that they would be “highly
appreciated and retained.” Not long afterwards Emperor Napoleon Ill of
France sent the Ethiopian ruler a French physician, by name Legard.
The question of craftsmen came up again a few years later in 1856.
The Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier quotes Tewodros as making the
revealing, if over-critical, declaration that his compatriots were
“uncultivated, uneducated and in all things stupid, wild, blind and like
donkeys.” On April 17, he wrote a letter to the British envoy, Hormuzd
Rassam, which re-echoed the requests of earlier rulers. In it he
declared:
“My Desire is…”
“My desire is that you should send to Her Majesty the Queen and
obtain for me a man who can make cannons and muskets, and one who can
smelt iron, and an instructor of artillery. I want these people to come
here with their instruments and everything necessary for their work, and
then they shall teach us and return. By the power of God, forward this
request to England.”
On the following day Rassam reported that the Emperor had spoken
“about obtaining for him two or three men who could teach his people to
make cannons, muskets and shot, and how to melt iron; also an instructor
of artillery.”
Martin Flad Almost Succeeds
Later in the year Martin Flad, one of the missionaries, was sent by
Tewodros to England with instructions to engage two gunsmiths, an
artillery officer, an iron founder, one or two boat-builders, and a cart
and wheelwright. The missionary was also given a letter from the
sovereign which stated:
“I send Mr. Flad to Europe because I am in want of skilful artists.
All those workmen who would like to come to my country, rejoicing in
their coming, I shall receive them with great honour, and give them good
pay for their services. If they wish to remain in my country, I shall
make them most happy. But, if they after having teached my people their
arts for some years, wish to return to their country, I shall, through
the power of God, give them a splendid pay, and with great honour I
shall send them back to their country.”
Flad’s mission reached the very brink of success. The workmen were
engaged, with the help of the British Government, and set sail for
Massawa, only to be detained at the port because Tewodros’s detention of
Cameron, Rassam and the missionaries had by then caused the British
Government to lose confidence in his intentions.
Undeterred by this failure he continued to clamour for foreign
workmen. On January 5, 1867, he wrote again to Rassam appealing in
Biblical vein for Queen Victoria to help him, as King Hiram of Tyre had
helped Solomon in building the Temple.
“Now,” he wrote, “in order to prove the good relationship between me
and yourself, let it be shown by your writing and getting the skilful
artisans and Mr. Flad to come, via Matamma. This will be a sign of
friendship . . . Even Solomon, the son of David, the great King, God’s
created being and slave, when he wished to build the Temple in
Jerusalem, was perplexed (about finding skilful artisans). Falling at
the feet of Hiram of Tyre, he begged him for carpenters and skilful
artisans, who assisted him in building the Temple… As Solomon fell at
the feet of Hiram, so I, under God, fall at the feet of the Queen, and
her Government, and her friends. I wish you to get them (the skilful
artisans) via Matamma, in order that they may teach me wisdom, and show
me clever arts. When this is done, I shall make you glad, and send you
away, by the power of God.”
Rassam forwarded this request to London, but gave it as his own view,
and that of his fellow captives, that “the sooner the crisis comes the
better for us.”
These words meant the beginning of the Maqdala war.
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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