Ydnekatchew Tessema, Forgotten Hero Of African Soccer
National team player, national team coach for his country’s only major international triumph, co-founder of his continent’s FIFA confederation, president of that confederation for 15 years, and in many ways the man who set in motion the whole chain of events that led to South Africa becoming the first African nation to host the World Cup: the late Ethiopian visionary Ydnekatchew Tessema deserves greater prominence in the annals of soccer history than he has received.
Tessema’s remarkable story intertwined with deconolisation, the fight against apartheid in South Africa and the battle for respect and opportunities for African soccer in the face of a Eurocentric FIFA.
Tessema, born in 1921, was a hell of a player (scorer of 318 goals in 365 games for Saint-George SA) and a coach: in the latter role, he took his native Ethiopia to their sole major tournament triumph, at the 1962 Africa Cup of Nations.
But it was as an administrator that Tessema left his true imprint on the sport. In 1953, four African nations attended the FIFA Congress for the first time: Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Sudan. At first, FIFA resisted African claims for representation on its Executive Committee; in The Ball Is Round, David Goldblatt says “Initially their efforts had been brusquely rebuffed by FIFA’s European majority on the grounds of a barely disguised and contemptuous racism.” (more…)
World’s oldest manuscript found in Ethiopian monastery
Manuscript found in Ethiopian monastery could be world’s oldest illustrated Christian work.A manuscript found in a remote Ethiopian monastery could be the oldest illustrated Christian work in the world, experts have claimed. Originally thought to be from around the 11th century, new carbon dating techniques place the Garima Gospels between 330 and 650 AD.The 1,600 year-old texts are named after a monk, Abba Garima, who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century.
According to legend, he copied out the Gospels in just one day after founding the Garima Monastery, near Adwa in the north of the country.The vividly illustrated pages have been conserved by the Ethiopian Heritage Fund and it is hoped that the two volumes will be made available to visitors to the monastery which is in discussions to start a museum there.Illustrations of the saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all included in the book along with what may be the first ever Christian illustration of a building, the Temple of the Jews. (more…)
Menghestu Lemma’s two marriages
| By Richard Pankhurst | |
 When we were students in England at the London School of Economics (LSE, one of our dear friends, and object of great admiration, was an Ethiopian student named Menghestu Lemma. Not yet renowned on the wider stage he was already propounding his view that Ethiopia shouId not be classed only in relation to neighbouring Middle Eastern or African countries, but should aim higher, and seek to be compared with the most progressive countries of the world.*** Menghestu, the son of the notable Ethiopian Church scholar Alaqa Lemma, was by then, dear Reader, also expounding his thesis that Ethiopian poetry should be “traditional in form, but progressive in content”. He tended to be critical of African writers who wrote in “colonial languages’’, declaring that he for his part preferred to write in Amharic, the language he learned while drinking his mother’s milk – and he contended that his writings could always be translated into foreign languages later. |
Prof. Mesfin Wolde-Maryam
Mesfin Wolde-Maryam toyed with the notion of becoming a boxer and has had a friend give him training. But he had to give it up when he had nose bleed, which persisted and eventually forced him to quit his university education. Mesfn’s belief in the strength of his body later gave way to his growing revolutionary zeal and activism. Such stirrings started to reveal themselves at young age of 21 when he took up a teaching job at Empress Menen Girl’s High School. Witnessing the problem students faced with textbooks and sport equipment, he wrote a letter to Ministry of Education for a solution, though he was nothing more than ordinary teacher. His efforts bore some result but displeased the then school headmistress Woizero Senedu Gebru who was out of country. Upon her return, the two had a confrontational argument and Mesfin eventually left the work.
Then he was appointed as an associate director of the Imperial Ethiopian Mapping and Geographical Institute which was established as department in the Ministry of Education. The institute, then led by an American whom Mesfin suspected of having connection with CIA, was controversially given persimmon to conduct aerial survey of the Abay gorges.
The 84 Ethiopian Languages
The 84 Ethiopian Languages
Aari
[aiz] 158,857 (1998 census). 129,350 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 155,002 (1989 census). North central Omo Region, southern tip of Ethiopian plateau, near the Hamer-Banna. Alternate names: Ari, Ara, Aro, Aarai, “Shankilla”, “Shankillinya”, “Shankilligna”. Dialects: Gozza, Bako (Baco), Biyo (Bio), Galila, Laydo, Seyki, Shangama, Sido, Wubahamer (Ubamer), Zeddo. Galila is a significantly divergent dialect. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Omotic, South.
Afar
[aar] 979,367 in Ethiopia . 905,872 monolinguals (1998 census). Population total all countries: 1,439,367. Eastern lowlands, Afar Region. May also be in Somalia . Also spoken in Djibouti , Eritrea . Alternate names: Afaraf, ” Danakil “, “Denkel”, `Afar Af, Adal. Dialects: Northern Afar, Central Afar, Aussa, Baadu (Ba`adu). Related to Saho. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Saho-Afar.
Alaba
[alw] 126,257 (1998 census). 95,388 monolinguals (1998 census). Ethnic population: 125,900 (1998 census). Rift Valley southwest of Lake Shala . Separated by a river from the Kambatta. Alternate names: Allaaba, Halaba. Dialects: Lexical similarity 81% with Kambaata, 64% with Sidamo, 56% with Libido, 54% with Hadiyya. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Highland .
The Word ‘Ethiopia’ in the Bible
The Word ‘Ethiopia’ in the Bible
The word Ethiopia appears in the King James Bible version 45 times. When the word Ethiopia is used in the bible, it most of the time refers to all the land south of Egypt:
[13] And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
[1] And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
The Not-So-Lost Ark of the Covenant: Hymns to an Ethiopian Religious Tradition
Tadias Magazin
By Ayele Bekerie, PhD
Published: Monday, December 21, 2009
New York (Tadias) – “We don’t have to prove it to anyone. [If] you want to believe, it’s your privilege. If you don’t want to believe, it’s your own privilege again.”
The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), offered the above response to Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University when asked to provide ‘a piece of evidence’ for the Ark of the Covenant during an interview for a PBS documentary film in 2003 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Patriarch, in perhaps most memorable moment of the interview, reminded the learned professor from Harvard that the Ark and its meaning to Ethiopians, is a matter of faith and not proof.
The Ark of the Covenant, which registers close to three thousand years (one thousand years of amete alem or zemene bluei (Old Testament) and two thousand years of amete mehret or zemene hadis (New Testament)) of history, beginning with the period of Queen Makeda (also known as Queen of Sheba) of Aksum. The Ark has been established as a central tenet of Christianity in Ethiopia. It captures the true essence of faith to at least 40 million believers in the ancient-centered Ethiopia and the EOTC’s dioceses all over the world. Its people’s communication to Igziabher is mediated through this sacred prescribed relic. The purpose of this essay is to narrate a history of the Ark and its relevance from a perspective of Ethiopian history and culture.
The EOTC, according to Abuna Yesehaq teaches, “Igziahaber is one Creator, one Savior, and redeemer for all humankind.” It also teaches, based on the ecumenical council’s confessions that Jesus Christ was not in two natures but rather one. The two natures were one nature united without any degree of separation, thus, making Christ both perfect God and perfect person simultaneously.
The Fascinating Lava Lake in Ethiopia
Collection of photographs of Erta Ale
Erta Ale is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia. It is the most active volcano in Ethiopia. Erta Ale is 613 metres (2,011 ft) high, with one or sometimes two active lava lakes, one of only five in the world, at the summit. These lava lakes occasionally overflow on the south side of Erta Ale.[1] It is notable for being the longest existing lava lake, present since the early years of the twentieth century (1906). It is located in the Afar Depression, a badlandish desert area spanning the border with Eritrea, and the volcano itself is surrounded completely by an area below sea level, making it one of the lowest volcanoes in the world.
Erta Ale’s last major eruption was on September 25, 2005, which killed 250 head of livestock and forced thousands of nearby residents to flee. Additional lava flow activity took place in August 2007, forcing the evacuation of hundreds and leaving two missing. Not much is known about Erta Ale, as the surrounding terrain is some of the worst on earth and the native Danakils are not friendly.
The name of the volcano means “smoking mountain” in the local Afar language and its southerly pit is known locally as “the gateway to hell”. It has recently been mapped by a team from the BBC using three dimensional laser techniques. These types of volcanoes are very rare and have searingly hot temperatures. For that reason the laser was used, as it has the capability to map any surface.
Ethiopia & Black America: The Forgotten Story of Melaku & Robinson
Ethiopian & African American Relations
The Case of Melaku E. Bayen and John Robinson
By Ayele Bekerie
In 1935, African Americans of all classes, regions, genders, and beliefs expressed their opposition to and outrage over the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in various forms and various means. The invasion aroused African Americans – from intellectuals to common people in the street – more than any other Pan-African-oriented historical events or movements had. It fired the imagination of African Americans and brought to the surface the organic link to their ancestral land and peoples.
The time was indeed a turning point in the relations between Ethiopia and the African Diaspora. Harris calls 1935 a watershed in the history of African peoples. It was a year when the relations substantively shifted from symbolic to actual interactions. The massive expression of support for the Ethiopian cause by African Americans has also contributed, in my opinion, to the re-Africanization of Ethiopia. This article attempts to examine the history of the relations between Ethiopians and African Americans by focusing on brief biographies of two great leaders, one from Ethiopia and another one from African America, who made extraordinary contributions to these relations.
The Africans who fought in WWII
The 70th anniversary of World War II is being commemorated around the world, but the contribution of one group of soldiers is almost universally ignored. How many now recall the role of more than one million African troops?
Yet they fought in the deserts of North Africa, the jungles of Burma and over the skies of Germany. A shrinking band of veterans, many now living in poverty, bitterly resent being written out of history.
For Africa, World War II began not in 1939, but in 1935.
THE SIGN AND THE SEAL
Ark of the Covenant
THE SIGN AND THE SEAL
by Graham Hancock
It was growing dark and the air of the Ethiopian highlands was chill when the monk appeared. Stooped and leaning on a prayer stick he shuffled towards me from the doorway of the sanctuary chapel and listened attentively as I was introduced to him. Speaking in Tigrigna, the local language, he then sought clarification through my interpreter about my character and my motives: from which country had I come, what work did I do there, was I a Christian, what was it that I wanted from him?
Letter of Atse Yohanes….1872
Atse Yohanes <<<< press here to read the letter in pdf
His Imperial Majesty Emperor Yohannis IV, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Zion, with his son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie Yohannis
Emperor Yohannis IV Recieves an Italian DelegationNote that the lower portion of the Emperor’s face is covered, a sign of Imperial displeasure.
<<< For furher reading press the link below>>>>
The Battle of ADWA
The Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II united to defeat an invading force of Italian troops, was one of the most significant turning points in the history of modern Africa. It occurred, in 1896, when the “colonial era” was well advanced on the African continent, and it served notice that Africa was not just there “for the taking” by European powers. More than this, it marked the entry of Ethiopia into the modern community of nations: Menelik’s victory over the Italians caused the other major European states, and Italy itself, to recognise Ethiopia as a sovereign, independent state in the context of modern statecraft.
The actual battle which took place on March 1 and 2, 1896, at Adwa, the principal market town of the North of Ethiopia, had been precipitated by the great rush of the European powers to colonise Africa. Italy and Germany had lagged behind other European powers — most notably France and Britain — in seizing large parcels of the Continent to colonise. Thus, the Conference of Berlin was convened in 1884-85 to “divide up” the remainder of Africa among the other European powers, anxious to obtain their own African colonies to satisfy the urge for imperial expansion and economic gain. Italy was “awarded” Ethiopia; all that remained was for Italian troops to take possession. r (more…)
Timeline: Ethiopia
2nd Century AD – Semitic people from the Arabian peninsula establish the kingdom of Aksum.
4th Century – Coptic Christianity introduced from Egypt.
1530-31 – Muslim leader Ahmad Grang conquers much of Ethiopia.
Foreign Interference
1818-68 – Lij Kasa conquers Amhara, Gojjam, Tigray and Shoa.
1855 – Kasa becomes Emperor Tewodros II.
1868 – Tewodros defeated by a British expeditionary force and commits suicide to avoid capture.
1872 – Tigrayan chieftain becomes Yohannes IV.
1889 – Yohannes IV killed while fighting Mahdist forces and is succeeded by the king of Shoa, who becomes Emperor Menelik II.
1889 – Menelik signs a bilateral friendship treaty with Italy at Wuchale which Italy interprets as giving it a protectorate over Ethiopia.
1889 – Addis Ababa becomes Ethiopia’s capital.
1895 – Italy invades Ethiopia.
1896 – Italian forces defeated by the Ethiopians at Adwa; treaty of Wuchale annulled; Italy recognises Ethiopia’s independence but retains control over Eritrea.
1913 – Menelik dies and is succeeded by his grandson, Lij Iyasu.
1916 – Lij Iyasu deposed and is succeeded by Menelik’s daughter, Zawditu, who rules through a regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen.
![[Haile Salassie]](https://i0.wp.com/www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/33/051a.png)
1930 – Zawditu dies and is succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who becomes Emperor Haile Selassie I.
1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia.
1936 – Italians capture Addis Ababa, Haile Selassie flees, king of Italy made emperor of Ethiopia; Ethiopia combined with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland to become Italian East Africa.
Haile Selassie’s reign
1941 – British and Commonwealth troops, greatly aided by the Ethiopian resistance—the arbegnoch—defeat the Italians, and restore Haile Selassie to his throne.
1952 – United Nations federates Eritrea with Ethiopia.
1962 – Haile Selassie annexes Eritrea, which becomes an Ethiopian province.
1963 – First conference of the Organisation of African Unity held in Addis Ababa.
Red Terror
1973-74 – An estimated 200,000 people die in Wallo province as a result of famine.
1974 – Haile Selassie deposed in coup led by Teferi Benti.
1975 – Haile Selassie dies in mysterious circumstances while in custody.
![[text identifier]](https://i0.wp.com/www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/33/051b.png)
1977 – Benti killed and replaced by Mengistu Haile Mariam.
1977-79 – Thousands of government opponents die in Red Terror
orchestrated by Mengistu; collectivisation of agriculture begins; Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front launches war for regional autonomy.
1977 – Somalia invades Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.
1978 – Somali forces defeated with massive help from the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Famine victim A victim of the 1980s famine
1985 – Worst famine in a decade strikes; Western food aid sent; thousands forcibly resettled from Eritrea and Tigre.
1987 – Mengistu elected president under a new constitution.
1988 – Ethiopia and Somalia sign a peace treaty.
Ethiopia after Mengistu
1991 – Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front captures Addis Ababa, forcing Mengistu to flee the country; Eritrea establishes its own provisional government pending a referendum on independence.
1992 – Haile Selassie’s remains discovered under a palace toilet.
1993 – Eritrea becomes independent following referendum.
1994 – New constitution divides Ethiopia into ethnically-based regions.
1995 – Negasso Gidada becomes titular president; Meles Zenawi assumes post of prime minister.
1998 – Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute erupts into armed clashes.
1999 – Ethiopian-Eritrean border clashes turn into a full-scale war.
2000 April – More than eight million Ethiopians face starvation after three successive years of poor rain and failed harvests.
2000 May – Ethiopia captures the strategic Eritrean town of Barentu.
2000 June – Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a cease-fire agreement which provides for a United Nations observer force to monitor the cease-fire and supervise the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Eritrean territory.
Haile Salessie’s funeral Haile Selassie: Reburied in 2000
2000 November – Haile Selassie buried in Addis Ababa’s Trinity Cathedral.
2000 December – Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a peace agreement in Algeria, formally ending two years of conflict. The agreement establishes commissions to delineate the disputed border and provides for the exchange of prisoners and the return of displaced people.
2001 24 February – Ethiopia announces it has completed its troop withdrawal from Eritrea in accordance with a United Nations-sponsored agreement to end the border war.
2001 March – Meles Zenawi says he has thwarted an attempt to cause political upheaval by a dissident group in the dominant Tigre People’s Liberation Front.
2001 April – Thousands of demonstrators clash with police in Addis Ababa in protest against police brutality and in support of calls for political and academic freedom.
2001 12 May – Intelligence and security chief Kinfe Gebre-Medhin—a key ally of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi—assassinated as he entered an armed forces officers’ club in Addis Ababa.
2001 21 May – Ethiopia and Eritrea agree on a UN-proposed mediator to try to demarcate the disputed border.
Ancient Abyssinia- Christianity in Ethiopia
Ancient Abyssinia: Christian Ethiopia
By the 4th Century AD the religious system of Christian Rome had conquered Egypt and Syria. During this period a Syrian Christian philosopher and his two sons arrived at port in Askum. Rome and Askum were engaged in a battle over the supremacy of the sea trade routes at the time. Upon reaching port the ship is seized and the philospher and crew are killed. The two Syrian youngsters are spared and became servants of the royal family during the reign of King Ella Amida. Though it is uncertain how, they succeed in converting the royal family to Christianity. It was through one of these Syrian servants, Frumentius, that Christianity came to be Ethiopia’s state religion. Frumentius later becomes in Alexandria, the first Bishop of Askum. Amida’s successor Ezana also converts to Christianity. Ezana is responsible for the conquest of Nubia (Meroitic Kush). But Nubia does not convert to Christianity upon Ezana’s conquest. Rather Nubia’s conversion begins in 542AD when two missionary groups set out to gain converts to their cause. One group was the Monophysites, under the patronage of Emperor Justinian, and the other was the Melkites, under the patronage of the Empress Theodora. Through some crafty political manuvering, the Monphysites manage to reach the Nubian kingdoms by 580AD they had accepted Coptic (Egyptian) Christianity. Christianity flourished in the Nubian kingdoms mostly among the royalty and the monks; it is unknown whether the general populace fully embraced the religion. Under pressure from their northern Muslim neighbors, the Nubian Christian kingdoms fall one by one to Islam—the last in 1504. This is significant as for centuries to come the greatest threat to Ethiopia shall be their Muslim neighbors to the north. Pictured above is a Coptic Christian priest. (Photo Courtesy of The African Ark)
Ancient Abyssinia- Aksum
Ancient Abyssinia: Askum
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Ancient Abyssinia- Saba
Ancient Abyssinia: Saba
At least by 1,000BC Ethiopia, Eritrea and what is southern Yemen were part of a large empire known as the Sabean Kingdoms. The connections of Ethiopia and Arabia should not be surprising as the distance between the East African horn and Southern Arabia is minimal. In fact recent linguistic study indicates that the Semitic languages of Arabia and the Middle East may well be a branch of a larger Ethiopian language group. It is also well known that this Eastern Horn-Arabian route was used for millennia by the earliest homonid migrants who later populated Asia. The people of Sabea were probably a mixture of East Africans and their Southern Arabian descendants who had long populated the region. Saba had a very matrifocal society with a host of female dieties. According to the Kebra Negast, a holy book of Ethiopia, it is said that Makedda herself created a dictate stating “only a woman can rule.” Polyandry, the practice of taking more than one husband by a woman, and tracing one’s kinship based upon matrilineal descent was common. The earliest known Arabian temple was at Marib (in Southern Yemen), capital of Saba, and was called Mahram Bilqus, “precincts of the Queen of Saba.” The Arabs called this woman, Bilqus or Balkis; in Ethiopia, Makedda (also Magda, Maqda and Makera), meaning “Greatness.” Years later, the Jewish historian Josephus, referred to her as “Nikaulis, Queen of Ethiopia.” She is the celebrated Queen of Sheba of the Bible who is described as “black and comely.” Located in a strategic location, Saba flourished as a trading community in goods from Asia as well as Africa. Even coffee drinkers trace the original cup to Ethiopia’s Kefa region. Pictured above are the ruins of Marib, built between the 1st and 2nd Millennium BC. (Photo and Information Courtesy of Yemeni website and African Presence in Early Asia ed. by Ivan Van Sertima)
Ethio-enemamar HISTORY 
