1.

The competition between Christian high land kingdom and Muslim states
in the horn

The primary source of conflict among peoples and states in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa was
the desire to monopolize long-distance trade. Long-distance trade was a source of great wealth. It
also served as a link among the peoples of Ethiopia. The desire for territorial expansion was also
another source of rivalry among the peoples and states of the Ethiopian region. Therefore, the
desire for the monopoly of long-distance trade and territorial expansion proved to be sources for
inter-state conflicts.

The revival of long-distance trade caused competition and struggle for control over the trade
routes between the Christian kingdoms and the Muslim principalities. This was followed by a
series of wars, depicted as wars for religious supremacy in historical accounts of Christian and
Muslim clerics. While maladministration and exploitation of the periphery made military
mobilization possible, religion provided ideological justification for the wars. However, the
interest in controlling trade routes lay at the heart of the conflict that continued for two centuries.
The war culminated in the years from 1529 to 1543.

In the beginning, the Zeila trade route was under the control of the Muslim states, mainly Ifat.
However, in 1332 Ifat was defeated by the Christian kingdom and lost its independence. Thus
monopoly over the route went to Amde Saxon. To regain their independence and control over the
Zeila trade route Haqadin II and Sa'adadin retreated to the Harar plateau and set up a new
Muslim resistance base in the late fourteenth century. As a prelude to this conflict among the
Muslim Sultanates, internal strife, corruption and anarchy were intensified, and new leadership
was urgently called for. Such leadership came from Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi. The
origin of Imam Ahmed, also named as “the left-handed” is obscure. He was born at Hubet in
between Dire Dawa and Jigjiga and raised by his devout Muslim kin in one of the oases on the
route to Zeila.

After Imam Ahmad came to power, the battles were not just fought to control the long-distance
trade route going through Zeila but mainly because there was a demographic pressure among the
Afar and Somali pastoralists pushing to approach Harar and the Christian Kingdom. It was one
of the Imam's remarkable achievements in leadership that he mobilized the pastoral communities
of the Afar, the Argoba, the Somali, the Harla, Harari and others to a common cause. He
convinced them not to fight amongst them but to unite and expand to the Christian Kingdom. It
was to resolve their pressing material needs while at the same time keeping Islamic beliefs and
practices from the infiltration of any alien religious doctrine. As a result, he was able to gain an
audience as Imam. He consolidated his army to fight the Christian Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Lebne-Dengel was enthroned when he was only eleven. Nevertheless, assisted by
the elderly Elleni and due to internal conflicts in Adal, the Christian state initially retained its
interest and even advanced into Muslim territory scoring significant victories in the early
sixteenth century. As a result, most Muslim Sultanates, including Adal, were tributaries to the
Christian Kingdom.

However, shortly, Adal fell to Imam Ahmed's army. By the time Imam Ahmed was strong
enough for military confrontation in 1520. He refused to pay tribute, which was followed by a
campaign against the Christian Kingdom in 1527. The Imam's army fought fiercely and
controlled the territories including Bali, Dawaro, Fatagar, Sidama, Hadiya and Kambata, and the
Christian Kingdom was at risk. In 1528, realizing the upcoming threat, Lebne-Dengel mobilized
a vast force. However, there was a logistics problem, and the leadership of the army of the
Christian Kingdom failed to adopt a common strategy to defeat Adal’s force. On the other hand,
enthusiastic Imam Ahmed’s army managed logistics problems with its small-sized army. The
Imam’s army also had an excellent leadership characterized by better mobility and flexible
tactics with a unified command.

As a result, the larger and well-equipped Christian army was defeated in one of the most
decisive engagements at the battle of Shimbra Kure in 1529, near present-day Mojo. After the
victory, the Imam's army made a large-scale control of the territories of the Christian Kingdom,
including Shewa, Amhara, Lasta, and moved as far north as Mereb Melash. By 1535, Imam
Ahmed's empire stretched from Zeila to Mascara on the coast, including the Ethiopian interior.
As he penetrated deep into the Christian Kingdom, Imam Ahmed established a civil,
administrative bureaucracy constituted by his men and newly recruited personnel from the
Christian territories
1.2 Factor that pushed the intervention of ottoman Turk and Portuguese to
the region?

 The Christian highland rulers continued zagwes tradition of foreign relations with Egypt and the
Middle East. They also extended these relations to Europe. Some sources show that numerous
visitors from Egypt, Syria, Persia, Italy, the Vatican, Portugal and Spain frequented the courts of
the Christian kings during the period. Closer relations were, established with Portugal and Spain.

At the end of the fifteenth century, Portuguese voyages of discovery opened the way for contacts
between Catholicism and Ethiopia. From the mid-sixteenth to the early seventeenth centuries, the
Catholics, namely the Jesuits, unsuccessfully tried to convert Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to
Catholicism. In the mid-16th century, Ethiopian rulers allowed Jesuits to preach in the country.
In 1622, Susneyos publicly announced his adherence to Catholicism, a strategy to reinforce his
political power. The Portuguese Jesuit Afonso Mendes was appointed Patriarch of Ethiopia in
1622 by Pope Urban VII and imposed changes against the former Orthodox religious practices.

The Conflict in the Ethiopian region began to take an international dimension when two foreign
powers intervened for their advantage. These powers were Portugal and Ottoman Turkey. Since
the twelfth century, Europeans had found the long-distance trade route from Europe to the Far
East blocked by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman Turkish Empire was already in control of
Arabia and Egypt. It also occupied areas in parts of the Red Sea coast and along the eastern coast
of the Indian Ocean. Ottoman Turkey was an established power in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden
and the Indian Ocean regions. After Vasco da Gama discovered a direct sea route to India for
Europe in 1498, the Portuguese began to establish trading stations along the eastern coasts of
Africa. They were also interested in getting new ones on the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea
coasts. Having noticed the movement of diplomatic missions between the Christian Kingdoms
and Portugal, the Turks gave moral and military support to Imam Ahmed. Imam Ahmed had
received Turkish two hundred Muslim musketeers and ten cannons in 1540. In the meantime,
based on the earlier request made by Lebne-Dengel in 1535, about four hundred Portuguese
soldiers armed with matchlocks arrived in the Christian court in 1541. The army was led by
Christopher da Gama, the youngest son of Vasco da Gama. However, in August 1542, the
Christian army was defeated in Ofla, in today's southern Tigray.
2. Explain the characteristics and the consolidating factor of the Christian
highland kingdom (Solomonic dynasty).

2.1THE CHRISTIAN HIGHLAND KINGDOM

Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia around 330AD by Frumenties (also known as
Freminatos), who converted king Ezana (r.320 - 350AD) and his close associates. Consequently,
Christianity secured royal support and became the state religion that later helped its expansion.
With the coming of monks called the ‘Nine Saints’ towards the end of the fifth century,
Christianity spread more among the broad masses. Churches were built, and monasteries were
established, of which the first being the monastery of Debre-Damo. The Bible was translated into
Ge’ez, and since then, Ge’ez began to serve as the language of the Church in Ethiopia.

The expansion of Christianity continued during the Zagwe period (1150-1270) and chiefly
gained fresh momentum during the Early Medieval Period (1270-1527) when many churches and
monasteries were constructed across the territories that were newly incorporated into the
Christian highland kingdom. Some churches and monasteries played an essential role as centers
of learning and launching pads for the expansion of the Church. One was the Monasteries of
Debre Bizen in Eritrea, Debre Hayq in Amhara, and Debre Libanos in Shawa. Among the most
prominent religious figures that played an outstanding role in expanding Christianity in the
Ethiopian areas outside of the traditionally Christian regions of early medieval Ethiopia include
Abba Iyesus Moa, Abba Giyorgis Zegasicha, and Abune Tekle-Haymanot. Actions led to
uprisings, social unrest and civil war in Gondar. It was concluded with the expulsion of the
Jesuits from the country.

The control over the Zeila trade route helped Yekumo – Amlak to strengthen his economic
power. The economic strength in turn helped him to organize and sustain strong army. This
economic and military strength contributed much to his success in defeating the Zagwe king and
to inaugurate a new ruling dynasty.  The Zagwe rulers, the kings of the new Solomonic dynasty
maintained the political and cultural traditions of Aksum.  They continued to expand Christianity
in different directions. The rulers exercised both political and religious powers at the same time.
The church–state relationship became very strong and almost reached its peak during this period.

One very important development of this period was the large scale territorial expansion of the
Christian kingdom. In 1270, when it came to power, the Christian kingdom was confined to the
territory that consisted of southern Eritrea, Tigrai, Lasta and northern part of Shewa. From this
area Yekuno Amlak and his successors began to expand the territory of the new dynasty. Its
territorial limits covered the ancient highland provinces of Aksum and Zagwe in the north. It also
covered the regions of Gonder and eastern Gojam in the North West, Bizamo and Damot in the
south west, the Gurage lands and the Omotic populations of Walayta and Gamo in the south and
Ifat, Fatagar, Dawaro, Hadya and Bali in the east and south east.  

 In return for all these privileges, the bale gult was responsible to maintain law and order in his
area. So, this system greatly helped to simplify the task of administrating the vast Christian
empire by dividing it in to smaller units. It also enables the Christian kingdom to maintain large
Territorial Army, which the kingdom used to bring the Muslim and other states under its control.
During this period, the Christian kingdom had no permanent capital like Aksum or Lalibela. It
ruled over the vast territory through mobile courts for over two centuries. The kings, their
armies, officials and their camp followers moved from region to region, where they established
temporary camps.

3. Tell the methods applied to introduce Islam to the Horn and elaborate some
important activities done following its introduction to the Horn of Africa?

3.1 The methods applied to introduce Islam to the Horn

Islam arose in the early 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula and spread to other parts of the
world. When Prophet Mohammed began teaching Islam in Mecca, he came into a series of
conflicts with the Quraysh tribe. When the persecution against his followers became serious, the
Prophet sent a small group of his followers, including his daughter, to the kingdom of Aksum in
615AD. Jafar Abu Talib led this first group of refugees. In his advice to his followers, the
Prophet said of Ethiopia, “…a king under whom none are persecuted. It is a land of
righteousness, where God will give relief from what you are suffering.” As a result, the
Aksumite king, Armah Ella Seham (Ahmed al-Nejash in Arabic sources), gave them asylum
from 615-28. The warm reception and good attitudes of the king of Aksum towards the Muslim
refugees moved Prophet Mohammed not to conduct jihad against Ethiopia. After returning the
Muslim immigrants to Arabia safely around 628AD, the Prophet continued to maintain closer
links and exempted the kingdom of Aksum from jihad in the future.

Islam was introduced to the Horn through peaceful means following the trade routes. Muslim
clerics and merchants served as the missionaries of Islam in the Horn of Africa. Islam was
introduced to the region through three main gateways. These were:

• The Red Sea in the north,

• The Gulf of Aden in the, east and

• The Indian Ocean in the southeast.

After the destruction of Adulis in 702AD Muslim Arabs had occupied the Dahlak Islands. By
then, Islam had already been firmly established in the Islands. Later in the tenth century, the
Muslim sultanate of Dahlak was established. Muslim communities began to settle on the Red Sea
coastal regions about the same time. They converted much of the pastoral peoples living in the
lowlands of the Red Sea coast to Islam. But Islam failed in penetrating the interior of northern
Ethiopia from the lowlands.

3.2 Islamic Influence and importance activity on African Societies

Islamic political and aesthetic influences on African societies remain difficult to assess. In some
capital cities, such as Ghana and GAO, the presence of Muslim merchants resulted in the
establishment of mosques. The Malian king Mansa Musa (r. 1312–37) brought back from a
pilgrimage to Mecca the architect al-Sahili, who is often credited with the creation of the
Sudano-Sahelian building style. Musa’s brother, Mansa Sulaiman, followed his path and
encouraged the building of mosques, as well as the development of Islamic learning. Islam
brought to Africa the art of writing and new techniques of weighting.

The city of Timbuktu, for instance, flourished as a commercial and intellectual center, seemingly
undisturbed by various upheavals. Timbuktu began as a Tuareg settlement, was soon integrated
into the Mali empire, then was reclaimed by the Tuareg, and finally incorporated into
the Songhai Empire. In the sixteenth century, the majority of Muslim scholars in Timbuktu were
of Sudanese origin. On the continent’s eastern coast, Arabic vocabulary was absorbed into the
Bantu languages to form the Swahili language. On the other hand, in many cases conversion for
sub-Saharan Africans was probably a way to protect themselves against being sold into slavery, a
flourishing trade between Lake Chad and the Mediterranean. For their rulers, who were not
active proselytizers, conversion remained somewhat formal, a gesture perhaps aimed at gaining
political support from the Arabs and facilitating commercial relationships.

The strongest resistance to Islam seems to have emanated from the Mossi and the Bamana, with
the development of the Ségou kingdom. Eventually, sub-Saharan Africans developed their own
brand of Islam, often referred to as “African Islam,” with specific brotherhoods and practices.
Because of its resistance to the representation of people and animals, the nature of Islam’s
interaction with the visual arts in Africa was one in which Islamic forms were accommodated
and adapted

Islam also reinforced the African fondness for geometric design and the repetition of patterns in
decorating the surface of textiles and crafted objects. Local weaving may have been transformed
with the importation of North African weaving techniques in many areas of Africa, the
coexistence of Islam with representational art forms continues today. But although Islam has
influenced a wide range of artistic practices in Africa since its introduction, monumental
architecture is the best-preserved legacy of its early history on the continent. Mosques are the
most important architectural examples of the tremendous aesthetic diversity generated by the
interaction between African peoples and Islamic faith.

One of the most influential cities in Ethiopia is Harar, the city was founded over a thousand years
ago. Initially part of the Coptic Christian Kingdom of Axum, the area gradually adopted Islam as
the main religion. It is believed to be one of the first cities early Muslims migrated to after
fleeing the Arabian Peninsula. Harar grew into a crossroads for commerce between Africa, India,
and the Middle East and was a gateway for the spread of Islam into the Horn of Africa

4. Asses the origin, achievements and the significant forcing pressures behind
the downfall of Zagwe dynasty in Ethiopian political history.
4.1 The Origin and achievement of Zagwe Dynasty

In response to Islamic expansion in the Red Sea area and the loss of their seaborne commercial
network, the Aksumites turned their attention to the colonizing of the northern Ethiopian
highlands. The Agew peoples, divided into a number of groups, inhabited the central and
northern highlands, and it was these peoples who came increasingly under Aksumite influence.
In all probability, this process of acculturation had been going on since the first migrants from
Southwest Arabia settled in the highlands, but it seems to have received new impetus with the
decline of Aksum's overseas trade and consequent dependence upon solely African resources. As
early as the mid-seventh century, the old capital at Aksum had been abandoned; thereafter, it
served only as a religious center and as a place of coronation for a succession of kings who
traced their lineage to Aksum. By then, Aksumite cultural, political, and religious influence had
been established south of Tigray in such Agew districts as Lasta, Wag, Angot, and, eventually,
Amhara.

About 1137 a new dynasty came to power in the Christian highlands. Known as the Zagwe and
based in the Agew district of Lasta, it developed naturally out of the long cultural and political
contact between Cushitic- and Semitic-speaking peoples in the northern highlands. Staunch
Christians, the Zagwe devoted themselves to the construction of new churches and monasteries.
These were often modeled after Christian religious edifices in the Holy Land, a locale the Zagwe
and their subjects held in special esteem. Patrons of literature and the arts in the service of
Christianity, the Zagwe kings were responsible, among other things, for the great churches
carved into the rock in and around their capital at Adefa. In time, Adefa became known as
Lalibela, the name of the Zagwe king to whose reign the Adefa churches' construction has been
attributed. The founding of the Zagwe dynasty is not a new kingdom, but it is all about a political
power shift. The economy of the Zagwe dynasty Lesson learning outcomes

4.2 The downfall of Zagwe dynasty in Ethiopian political history

Many factors contributed to the downfall of the Zagwe dynasty. The first one was the problem of
succession to the throne among the Zagwe princes. Most of the time, they settled this issue by
force of arms. However, they could not be able to arrange a smooth succession to the throne.
Secondly, there had been strong opposition to the Zagwe kings throughout their rule. This
opposition was from the regions of Tigray and Amhara. Particularly in Tigrai, the leading clergy
members of the Churches of Aksum and Debre Damo spread anti-Zagwe propaganda related to
the legend of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel.

Hence, the Zagwe kings were seen as illegitimate successors of Aksum. The intention behind
this legend was the restoration of the ancient dynasty of Aksum. However, despite the strong
opposition in Tigrai, the initiative to overthrow the Zagwe came from the Amhara region. The
Amhara region was located to the south of Lasta, around southern Wollo and northern Shawa.
An Amhara chief Yekuno Amlak organized a movement against the Zagwe rule. He defeated
Yetbarek, the last Zagwe king, on the battlefield in 1270AD.

Yekuno Amlak established a genealogy that made him a descendant of the last Aksumite king,
Dil Naod, who was deposed by the Zagwe dynasty around 1150AD. Yekuno Amlak (r. 1270-
1285) declared himself an Emperor and, at the same time, became the restorer of the so-called
"Solomonic dynasty". Yekuno Amlak and his successors used this legend as an ideological arm
to legitimize their political power. The tradition of identifying the Christian kings of Ethiopia
with ancient Israel continued until 1974.

5. Categorize the influences which contributed for the weakness of Aksumite

and discuss specifically how did each of these factors rapid its decline in the
middle of the 12th century?

5.1 The influences which contributed for the weakness of Aksumite

kingdoms;-

The Islamic conquests further weakened Aksum. As Arabian armies spread across the Old
World, Aksum managed to fight them off. However, the Christian empire suddenly found itself
isolated economically and politically. This meant that the main source of Aksum’s strength –
trade – was taken away. The gradual drying of the climate in the Northern Horn also reduced the
capacity of Aksum agriculture, the number of people they could support, and the revenues they
could get from taxing the land. Nevertheless, Aksum limped on for another few centuries, its
glory days behind it, but its independence intact. All told, this East African agrarian civilization
survived for nearly a millennium.

Aksum continued to prosper long after the Western Roman Empire declined and fell in the 400s,
but its imperial ambitions were also definitely part of its own downfall. Launching another series
of military campaigns to subdue Yemen again in the 500s, they exhausted their treasury.
Eventually they were booted out of Yemen, never to re- turn. Meanwhile, the Aksum elite were
embroiled with infighting, weakening the state. Another blow fell with the Justinian Plague
around 541 CE, a hugely destructive plague that scholars are fairly certain was the same disease,
Yersinia pasties that caused the Black Death.

5.2 The factors rapid its decline of Aksumite kingdoms in the middle of the
12th century;-

Decline of Aksum was a long and slow process, the concrete causes of the decline of the
Aksumite kingdoms are inconspicuous. The underlying cause of its decline is the shift of power
southward. After the Persians ended Ethiopian involvement in southern Arabia and the Islam’s
replaced the Aksumites in the Red Sea, Amda Tseyon's and Zara Yakob's campaigns into
southern lands proved to be permanent settlements.

The process of decline started when the Red Sea had come under the control of Muslim Arabs
and the subsequent destruction of the port of Adulis in 702AD. The loss of trade led to the
decline of its economic, political and military power. Internally, rebellion against king Kaleb
(r.500 - 535AD) broke out. Kaleb had once controlled South Arabia in 525AD. But the South
Arabians finally expelled Aksumite governors and soldiers from their region between 580 and
590AD. Thus, Aksum lost its control of the other side of the Red Sea trade. The decline
continued in the following centuries, with internal political disturbances contributing as an
additional factor. Finally, unable to check the rebellions of the Beja people from the north,
Aksumite state was pushed southward to Kubar in southern Tigray.

Until Adulis suffered a destructive attack in the middle of the 12th century, the Aksumites
exported ivory, incense, tortoise-shell, and obsidian and they imported clothing, glass, iron, and
weapons from Egypt, India, and Arabia. But as Islamic expansions grew in the Red Sea and
overpopulation and over-cropping wore down the once fertile land, Aksum's presence in the
seashores began to diminish.

The power shift into southern regions had become necessary once deforestation and degradation
had taken its toll on the land. While forests were being cut down for construction and irregular
rainfall eroded the soil, Aksumite agriculture began to collapse. The power shift southwards was
also influenced by revolts occurring in surrounding areas, most notably by the Beja tribes from
the north.