Table of Contents
Preface v
Chapter I Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa 1
Culture contact between Europe and northeastern Africa (Siegbert Uhlig) 1
The mystery of Ethiopia (Haggai Erlich) 5
'The most populated mountain' - an introduction (Alain Gascon) 9
Chapter II Land and environment 13
Introduction 13
Geology and geomorphology (Alain Gascon) 13
Climate (Alain Gascon, Jon Abbink) 16
Ecology and environment (Alfons Ritler) 20
Ethiopian biomes (Ib Friis) 25
Wild flora (Ib Friis) 25
Cultivated flora (Zemede Asfaw) 29
Fauna (Afework Bekele, Maija Priess) 32
Agriculture (Manfred Metz) 35
Chapter III Peoples 39
Introduction (Jon Abbink) 39
Languages of Ethiopia (David Appleyard) 41
Tegray (David Appleyard, Wolbert G.C. Smidt) 46
Amhara (Harald Aspen) 50
Beta Esrael (Steven Kaplan) 54
Oromo (Ezekiel Gebissa) 56
Peoples of northwest Ethiopia: Beni Shangul-Gumuz (Alexander Meckelburg) 61
Gurage and Selte (Dirk Bustorf) 63
Hadiyya (Ulrich Braukämper) 66
Sidaama (Anbessa Teferra) 68
Somali (Markus Höhne) 71
Walaytta (Jon Abbink) 75
Mursi (Mun) (Shauna LaTosky) 77
Hamar (Amer, Hamer) (Ivo Strecker) 79
Afar (Éloi Ficquet, Wolbert G.C. Smidt) 82
Peoples of southwest Ethiopia: Nuer and Anywaa (Christiane Falge, Eisei Kurimoto) 84
Chapter IV History 87
Introduction 87
Palaeontology and prehistory (Jean Renaud Boisserie) 87
Pre-Aksumite culture (Rodolfo Fattovich) 90
Aksumite culture (Rodolfo Fattovich) 94
History of Aksum (Alessandro Bausi) 98
Aksum, town and monuments (Matthew C. Curtis) 103
The Zagwe (Alessandro Bausi) 107
Solomonic dynasty (Steven Kaplan) 111
Kingdom and city of Gondar (Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner) 112
The Era of the princes (Éloi Ficquet) 116
The Ethiopian empire under Tewodros II and Yohannes IV (Bairu Tafla) 121
Emperor Menilek II (Christopher Clapham) 126
Emperor Hayla Sellase and his era (Asfa-Wossen Asserate) 129
Ethiopia after the fall of the emperor (Stefan Brüne) 133
Selected chronology of Ethiopian history 136
Chapter V Material culture 137
Introduction 137
Houses (Peri Klemm, Harald Aspen) 137
Ethiopian handicrafts (Peri Klemm) 141
Coinage and currency in Ethiopia (Wolfgang Hahn) 146
Clothing (Michael Gervers) 149
Food (Steven Kaplan) 153
Coffee (Éloi Ficquet) 155
Salt (Wolbert G.C. Smidt) 160
Chat (Andreas Wetter) 162
Chapter VI Intellectual culture 165
Introduction 165
Writing and script (Rainer Voigt) 166
Manuscript tradition (David Appleyard) 169
Ge'ez literature (David Appleyard) 174
Amharic literature (Magdalena Krzyzanowska) 177
Oromo literature (Giorgio Banti) 180
Oral literature (Simone Tarsitani) 184
Christian calendar (Emmanuel Fritsch, Ugo Zanetti) 187
Islamic calendar (Alessandro Gori) 190
Oromo calendar (Marco Bassi) 192
Traditional painting (Marilyn Heldman, Tania Tribe) 193
Contemporary art (Elisabeth Biasio) 200
Music (Kay Kaufman Shelemay) 205
Musical instruments (Stéphanie Weisser) 209
Ethiopia and Eritrea in literature (Giovanna Trento) 212
Chapter VII Religion 217
Introduction 217
History and faith of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Getatchew Haile) 218
Organization of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Stéphane Ancel) 222
Customs in the Ethiopian Church.(Steven Kaplan) 226
Hagiography and monasticism in the Ethiopian Church (Antonella Brita) 230
Islam in Ethiopia (Alessandro Gori) 234
Islam and Islamic reformism (Terje Østebø) 239
Interfaith relations between Christianity and Islam in Ethiopia (Éloi Ficquet) 241
Missions (Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner) 244
Protestant churches (Johannes Launhardt) 247
Rastafari (Giulia Bonacci) 249
Chapter VIII Society and politics 251
Introduction 251
Pan-Africanism (Giulia Bonacci, Belete Belachew) 252
Political systems of Ethiopia (Dereje Feyissa) 255
Legal systems of Ethiopia (Katrin Seidel) 258
Modern economy of Ethiopia (Mulatu Wubneh) 261
Modern education of Ethiopia (Theodore M. Vestal) 266
Ethiopian health care systems (Pino Schirripa) 268
Media and communication in Ethiopia (Julian Tadesse) 271
Sports in Ethiopia (Katrin Bromber) 273
Chapter IX Recent developments 275
Introduction 275
Ethiopia and its neighbouring states: Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan (Nicole Hirt, Stefan Brüne) 275
Ethiopia's developmental state (Sarah Vaughan) 285
Emigration and diaspora (Edward A. Alpers, Giulia Bonacci) 289
Poverty eradication in Ethiopia (Mulatu Wubneh) 293
Internal and external security - Ethiopian aspects (Mesfin Gebremichael) 300
Chances and challenges for Ethiopia's development in the regional context (Claas Knoop) 303
Chapter X Travelling and sightseeing 307
Introduction 307
Travel and exploration in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa (Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner) 307
Tourism in Ethiopia (Shauna LaTosky, Echi Christina Gabbert) 311
Museums in Ethiopia (Wolbert G.C. Smidt) 315
Addis Ababa (Peter Garretson, Steven Kaplan) 318
Historic Route (Verena Böll) 323
Lalibala (Maija Priess) 327
Meqele (Wolbert G.C. Smidt) 331
Gondar and surroundings (Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner) 334
Baher Dar (Seltene Seyoum, Maija Priess) 337
Dabra Berhan (Mersha Alehegne, Maija Priess) 340
Harar (Ewald Wagner) 342
National parks (Alain Gascon) 347
Glossary of selected names and terms 353
Ge'ez transcription 357
Index of principal names and terms 359