(1872-1889) Richard Pankhurst

INNOVATION AND MISONEISM DURING THE REIGN OF EMPEROR YOHANNES IV OF ETHIOPIA (1872-1889) Richard Pankhurst Introduction The process of Ethiopian modernisation, which Emperor Tewodros had envisaged and had been interrupted by his suicide on 13 April 1868, continued during the ensuing reign of Emperor Y ohannes. The object of this paper is to assess such innovation against the back-drop of the country's misoneism, i.e. opposition to change. Some of the developments of this period, such as the arrival of new imports, including medicines, were due to improved transportation and increased contacts with the outside world; others, among them opposition to slavery and the slave trade, resulted from events on the international stage; others again, in the field of land tenure, class relations, the growing diffusion of fire-arms, and depletion of wild life, originated in the internal dynamics of the age. Most such changes occurred independently of Emperor Y ohannes, and were market-motivated. Other developments, notably the allocation of land to the Church, the forced conversions of Muslims, the banning of missionaries, the prohibition of tobacco, slavery, and the slave trade, the introduction of a national flag, the appointment of the country's first consul abroad, the establishment of a church in Jerusalem, and increased use of foreign-educated officials, all reflected the Emperor's personal predilections, and were mainly effected by imperial command. Conflict, Tranquillity and Renewed Conflict The period immediately after Tewodros's death was a time of difficulty. Dajazmach Kassa, the future Emperor Yohannes, defeated his rival Wagshum Gobaze at the battle of Assam, on 11 July 1871, and adopted the throne name of Y ohannes. This victory opened a short but auspicious INNOVATION AND MISONEISM 277 period of peace, conducive for development. Civil war, long the bane of the country, came to an end. This was a time, as the Earl of Mayo noted in the 1870s, when 'tranquillity prevailed', and people could 'cultivate their land in peace' .1 This period of peace was, however, soon interrupted by destructive warfare. Fighting with the Egyptians, in the 1870s, led in the north ofthe country to considerable destruction of buildings, and depopulation, as well as to the disruption of trade with the Red Sea coast. The British traveller Emelius De Cosson reported that the old settlement of Asmara was 'almost deserted, and the plains around it depopulated, for, being so near the frontier [with the Egyptians at the coast], they [the people of the area] had been exposed to the ravages of the Egyptian soldiers, who had made many pillaging expeditions and caused most of the inhabitants to fly into the interior for safety'.2 Emperor Yohannes's victories over the Egyptians, at the battles of Gundat in 1875 and Gura in 1875, preserved Ethiopia's independence, but did not restore stability. Raiding was continued by a rebel chief, Ras Walda Mika'el, who, according to A.B. Wylde, 'commenced to raid and devastate the seat of his old Government, and turned the Hamasien plateau, formerly known as the plain of the thousand villages, into a howling wilderness of ruined houses, with a few half-starved peasantry' .3 The subsequent war with the Dervishes in the 1880s, which resulted in the sacking of Gondar, led to major ravages in the north-west, and to the disruption of trade with Sudan and Egypt. Powell-Cotton noted over a decade later that evidence of destruction was still visible: 'The nearer we approached Gondar, the more numerous became the ruins of the villages, farmsteads, and churches. Up to the Dervish invasion Gondar was a considerable place. Many rich Nagadis [Le. traders] lived there, but nearly all these lost, not only their wealth, but their lives. Now there is only one large merchant residing in the place'.4 Such destruction naturally militated against development and the introduction of innovations, outside the purely military field. Mayo (1876: 219). 2 De Cosson (1877: n, 150). 3 Wylde (1901: 28). See also Pankhurst (1963: 151-5). 4 Powell-Cotton (1902: 301). .

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