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History of Ethiopia
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History of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa; the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Abyssinia or rather "Ze Etiyopia" was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians (Habesha) composed mainly of the Amhara, Tigrayans and the Cushitic, Oromo and Agaw. In the Eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian highlands and more so the lowlands were the home of the various Muslim groups that formed the Ifat and Adal sultanates such as the Argobba, Afars, Harari/Harla and Somalis. In the central and south were found the ancient Sidama, Semitic Gurage and Omotic Wolaita, among others. One of the first kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of Damot in the 10th century BC, which established its capital at Yeha. In the first century AD, the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the modern Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating South Arabia and Meroe and its surrounding areas. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state religion and not long after, the Aksumite empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, which slowly shifted trade away from the Christian Aksum.[citation needed] It eventually became isolated, its economy slumped and Aksum's commercial domination of the region ended. The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe dynasty, who established a new capital at Lalibela before giving way to the Solomonic dynasty in the 13th century. During the early Solomonic period, Ethiopia underwent military reforms and imperial expansion, allowing it to dominate the Horn of Africa.
The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, "an Ethiopian") is a compound word, later explained as derived from the Greek words αἴθω and ὤψ (aithō "I burn" + ōps "eye"), sharing the same root as the Greek word Cyclops, which literally means "round-eye" (kyklos + ops). According to the Liddell-Scott Jones Greek-English Lexicon, the designation properly translates as fiery-eye in noun form and red-brown in adjectival form. The historian Herodotus used the appellation to denote those parts of Africa south of the Sahara that were then known within the Ecumene (habitable world). The earliest mention of the term is found in the works of Homer, where it is used to refer to two people groups, one in Africa and one in the east from eastern Turkey to India. In ancient times, the name Ethiopia was primarily used about the modern-day nation of Sudan which is based in the Upper Nile valley and is located south of Egypt, also called Kush, and then secondarily about Sub-Saharan Africa in general.
The Kingdom of Aksum (designated as Ethiopia) dates back to the union of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in the bible. Following these Hellenic and biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a 3rd-century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's ruler governed an area that was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu. The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia. In the following century, a Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated with the unvocalized Ḥbšt and Ḥbśt (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum. This new demonym was subsequently rendered as ḥbs ('Aḥbāsh) in Sabaic and as Ḥabasha in Arabic.
In the 15th-century Ge'ez Book of Axum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp'is. He was an extra-biblical son of Cush, son of Ham, said to have founded the city of Axum.
It has been hypothesized that Punt was a kingdom in the Horn of Africa, based on stable isotope analysis of Egyptian mummified baboons suggesting they originated from an area encompassing modern-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. Egyptian traders from about 3000 BC refer to lands south of Nubia or Kush as Punt and Yam. The Ancient Egyptians had myrrh (found in Punt), which Richard Pankhurst interprets to indicate trade between the two countries was extant from Ancient Egypt's beginnings. Egyptian records indicate this possession of myrrh as early as the First and Second dynasties (3100–2888 BC), which was also a prized product of the Horn of Africa Region; inscriptions and pictorial reliefs also indicate ivory, panther and other animal skins, myrrh-trees and ostrich feathers from the African coastal belt; and in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty (2789–2767 BC) a Puntite is mentioned to be in the service of the son of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid. J. H. Breasted posited that this early trade relationship could have been realized through overland trade down the Nile and its tributaries (i.e. the Blue Nile and Atbara). The 2nd-century BC Greek historian and geographer Agatharchides had documented seafaring among the early Egyptians: "During the prosperous period of the Old Kingdom, between the 30th and 25th centuries BC, the river-routes were kept in order, and Egyptian ships sailed the Red Sea as far as the myrrh-country."
The first known voyage to Punt occurred in the 25th century BC under the reign of Pharaoh Sahure. The most famous expedition to Punt, however, comes during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut probably around 1495 BC, as the expedition was recorded in detailed reliefs on the temple of Deir el-Bahri at Thebes. The inscriptions depict a trading group bringing back myrrh trees, sacks of myrrh, elephant tusks, incense, gold, various fragmented wood, and exotic animals. Detailed information about these two nations is sparse, and there are many theories concerning their locations and the ethnic relationships of their peoples. The Egyptians sometimes called the Land of Punt, "God's-Land", due to the "large quantities of gold, ivory, and myrrh that could be easily obtained".
Evidence of Naqadan contacts include obsidian from Ethiopia and the Aegean. Though not much is known, Punt likely fell due to ethnic tensions between proto-Cushites and Habesha peoples, splitting to form two different kingdoms, Macrobia and D'mt at around the 1st millennium BC.
Recent archaeological excavations in Mai Adrasha, located near Shire in Northern Ethiopia, have uncovered a significant early settlement that predates the Kingdom of Aksum and D'mt by centuries. Findings at this site date back to circa 1250 BC, making it one of the oldest known town in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mai Adrasha appears to have been a major center for metalworking, with evidence of large-scale slag deposits and remnants of substantial stone-walled buildings. The scale of the settlement suggests a high degree of social complexity and possibly long-distance trade connections with Arabia.
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History of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa; the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Abyssinia or rather "Ze Etiyopia" was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians (Habesha) composed mainly of the Amhara, Tigrayans and the Cushitic, Oromo and Agaw. In the Eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian highlands and more so the lowlands were the home of the various Muslim groups that formed the Ifat and Adal sultanates such as the Argobba, Afars, Harari/Harla and Somalis. In the central and south were found the ancient Sidama, Semitic Gurage and Omotic Wolaita, among others. One of the first kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of Damot in the 10th century BC, which established its capital at Yeha. In the first century AD, the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the modern Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating South Arabia and Meroe and its surrounding areas. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state religion and not long after, the Aksumite empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, which slowly shifted trade away from the Christian Aksum.[citation needed] It eventually became isolated, its economy slumped and Aksum's commercial domination of the region ended. The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe dynasty, who established a new capital at Lalibela before giving way to the Solomonic dynasty in the 13th century. During the early Solomonic period, Ethiopia underwent military reforms and imperial expansion, allowing it to dominate the Horn of Africa.
The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, "an Ethiopian") is a compound word, later explained as derived from the Greek words αἴθω and ὤψ (aithō "I burn" + ōps "eye"), sharing the same root as the Greek word Cyclops, which literally means "round-eye" (kyklos + ops). According to the Liddell-Scott Jones Greek-English Lexicon, the designation properly translates as fiery-eye in noun form and red-brown in adjectival form. The historian Herodotus used the appellation to denote those parts of Africa south of the Sahara that were then known within the Ecumene (habitable world). The earliest mention of the term is found in the works of Homer, where it is used to refer to two people groups, one in Africa and one in the east from eastern Turkey to India. In ancient times, the name Ethiopia was primarily used about the modern-day nation of Sudan which is based in the Upper Nile valley and is located south of Egypt, also called Kush, and then secondarily about Sub-Saharan Africa in general.
The Kingdom of Aksum (designated as Ethiopia) dates back to the union of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in the bible. Following these Hellenic and biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a 3rd-century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's ruler governed an area that was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu. The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia. In the following century, a Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated with the unvocalized Ḥbšt and Ḥbśt (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum. This new demonym was subsequently rendered as ḥbs ('Aḥbāsh) in Sabaic and as Ḥabasha in Arabic.
In the 15th-century Ge'ez Book of Axum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp'is. He was an extra-biblical son of Cush, son of Ham, said to have founded the city of Axum.
It has been hypothesized that Punt was a kingdom in the Horn of Africa, based on stable isotope analysis of Egyptian mummified baboons suggesting they originated from an area encompassing modern-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. Egyptian traders from about 3000 BC refer to lands south of Nubia or Kush as Punt and Yam. The Ancient Egyptians had myrrh (found in Punt), which Richard Pankhurst interprets to indicate trade between the two countries was extant from Ancient Egypt's beginnings. Egyptian records indicate this possession of myrrh as early as the First and Second dynasties (3100–2888 BC), which was also a prized product of the Horn of Africa Region; inscriptions and pictorial reliefs also indicate ivory, panther and other animal skins, myrrh-trees and ostrich feathers from the African coastal belt; and in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty (2789–2767 BC) a Puntite is mentioned to be in the service of the son of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid. J. H. Breasted posited that this early trade relationship could have been realized through overland trade down the Nile and its tributaries (i.e. the Blue Nile and Atbara). The 2nd-century BC Greek historian and geographer Agatharchides had documented seafaring among the early Egyptians: "During the prosperous period of the Old Kingdom, between the 30th and 25th centuries BC, the river-routes were kept in order, and Egyptian ships sailed the Red Sea as far as the myrrh-country."
The first known voyage to Punt occurred in the 25th century BC under the reign of Pharaoh Sahure. The most famous expedition to Punt, however, comes during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut probably around 1495 BC, as the expedition was recorded in detailed reliefs on the temple of Deir el-Bahri at Thebes. The inscriptions depict a trading group bringing back myrrh trees, sacks of myrrh, elephant tusks, incense, gold, various fragmented wood, and exotic animals. Detailed information about these two nations is sparse, and there are many theories concerning their locations and the ethnic relationships of their peoples. The Egyptians sometimes called the Land of Punt, "God's-Land", due to the "large quantities of gold, ivory, and myrrh that could be easily obtained".
Evidence of Naqadan contacts include obsidian from Ethiopia and the Aegean. Though not much is known, Punt likely fell due to ethnic tensions between proto-Cushites and Habesha peoples, splitting to form two different kingdoms, Macrobia and D'mt at around the 1st millennium BC.
Recent archaeological excavations in Mai Adrasha, located near Shire in Northern Ethiopia, have uncovered a significant early settlement that predates the Kingdom of Aksum and D'mt by centuries. Findings at this site date back to circa 1250 BC, making it one of the oldest known town in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mai Adrasha appears to have been a major center for metalworking, with evidence of large-scale slag deposits and remnants of substantial stone-walled buildings. The scale of the settlement suggests a high degree of social complexity and possibly long-distance trade connections with Arabia.
