Ethiopia is exposed

[Idilinaa]

Read this account of ethiopians:

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I really think all of their misfortune comes down to their greed. Stealing from their peasants, looking to take the lands of their neighbours. Wa dad gaajo badan & xaasid ah. Had they left somalis and their lands alone (& the eritreans), allowed those lands to recover & focus on rebuilding themselves instead of dragging them into never-ending wars & disrupting their political process with the help of their western allies, they would have had neighbours they could trade with

Someone should create a video narrating and simulating whats written here, because it literally places the entire thing in context. I like how they used a Muslim princess as point of view of expression and someone caught between two warring worlds even.

But what annoys me a bit is that , the Europeans clearly saw the problem and fault in Ethiopia, and still enabled it regardless. Empowered them to continue their "Monstrous monarchy" and aided them in their ""violent desire of a barbarous people to sieze wealth" these are all their words and characterization of them.

I believe the obvious reason is Christianity seeing them as a useful ally ""Christian island" in a Muslim sea" and the other reason i believe they saw a bit of themselves within Ethiopia they could relate to in their feudal ways (how they behaved during the ''Dark ages and so on"). Almost like a feudal mirror. Abyssinia’s monarchy, with its warlords, peasant/serfdom/slavery, and plunder-based economy, resembled medieval Europe. This made it easier for Europeans to rationalize Ethiopia’s actions because they’d done the same thing.

 

[Midas]

What a fascinating account I didn't realize the difference in living standards was that high. I guess the futuh al habesh gaves us a distorted view on the wealth and goods that abyssnia had. It make the idea of somali raiders look even more laughable.

 

[Idilinaa]

I think internal reform is important but they are cursed in a way by geography that we dont fully appreciate. Even getting a port won't really improve that. Since even assab is extermely far from the rest of ethiopia.

It all started to click for me when I realized that african countries don't have the expertise or technology to produce a lot of modern goods At a high enough quality so normally they export it. But importing anything for ethiopia is diffcult because of
1) distance- even assab is incredibly far from the rest of ethiopia
2) terrain- you can only transport goods by truck and since the countey is extremly mountainous and they also dont have very good roads. You can imagine how difficult this must be compared to somalia's flat terrain
2) pouplation density- 75-80 % of Ethiopias pouplation is rural . Imagine you finally imported some product into the country but most of your potenial customers base doesn't live in a city so you can't reduce cost by buying in bulk.

When you combine this together you start to get a picture of how huge the the challenges are. It's also noticeable when you look closely at certain signs. For example when I see a lot of the amahric books on sale online. They have this used look to them.( This makes sense if paper is difficult to get ahold of) . The implications of this are incredible when you apply it to all of the hypothetical goods and services they need.

I don't buy the geography cop out as a whole, yes it limited them in many ways.

But that medieval account that @novanova showed fully proves that Ethiopia always had the option of being peaceful and economically integrate with their neighbors and when in times it did, it grew prosperous and wealthier from the trade of their neighbors but they opted not to and continued the same destructive culture and policy. Partly the fault of Europeans who coddled up and enabled them for their ideological and strategic reasons.

This is not to say that Somalia or their other red sea neighbors wouldn't have more advantages than them economically but it would benefit them more than not to work with them peacefully.

It's as if they have learned nothing from history, they have been dragging the region into never ending war for futile pursuit for almost a 1000 years.

It's insane reading that account, people had to bribe them to stay put. Like giving an angry toddler some toys to calm them from having temper tantrums. Waa wax yab leh.

 

[novanova]

In this state, war was merely another form of commerce between the two nations, though peace was the most beneficial condition for both. This was what Empress Helena had constantly strived to maintain, though she could not always succeed.

Sorry, I left out the last part

 

[Idilinaa]

What a fascinating account I didn't realize the difference in living standards was that high. I guess the futuh al habesh gaves us a distorted view on the wealth and goods that abyssnia had. It make the idea of somali raiders look even more laughable.

Most of the gold in their possession at their courts was from Muslims. It said steady stream if Mohemethan/Muslim gold and mentioned gold as one of the trade items they procured from Adal.

It's insane to think about when most of the regions gold mines was in their mountainous territories.

 

[Idilinaa]

Sorry, I left out the last part
View attachment 358055

"In this state, war was merely another form of commerce between the two nations, though peace was the most beneficial condition for both. This was what Empress Helena had constantly strived to maintain, but could not succeed among a warlike people by any other means but by giving them a minor for their king, who by the law of the land was under her direction, as the country was, during his minority, under her regency."


This says that Empress Helena desperately strives for peace but she could not pacify the warlike Abyssinians by force, but she succeeded by crowning a young prince legally bound to her regency thus ruling through him until he came of age.

She basically worked her way through her son to maintain peace and in the story Helena’s Moorish(Muslim) roots made her loyalty suspect, Abyssinians(Ethiopians) distrusted her pro-peace stance.

Btw Helena in this is said to be a princess from Dawaro that married into Abyssinian(Ethiopian) royalty and the story takes place from her point of view. In her struggle to play diplomatic mediator.

 

[Midas]

Most of the gold in their possession at their courts was from Muslims. It said steady stream if Mohemethan/Muslim gold and mentioned gold as one of the trade items they procured from Adal.

It's insane to think about when most of the regions gold mines was in their mountainous territories.

I'm guessing they didn't produce anything of value we wanted but we traded the raw goods for stuff from the outisde world.

You know i was suspicious when I realized that this giant country of 100 million people which in other parts of the world would be the main supplier to a country the size of Somalia. Apprently only exports khat and vegetables/fruit to us. Compared with kenya which we buy a huge amount of processed goods from.

 

[Idilinaa]

I'm guessing they didn't produce anything of value we wanted but we traded the raw goods for stuff from the outisde world.

You know i was suspicious when I realized that this giant country of 100 million people which in other parts of the world would be the main supplier to a country the size of Somalia. Apprently only exports khat and vegetables/fruit to us. Compared with kenya which we buy a huge amount of processed goods from.

They mostly obtained the gold through Muslims bribing them with it seems to pacify them momentarily but it always proved to be unsustainable.

I remember reading a passage someone posted where it said they only had petty small markets where they sold consumption goods, while the Muslims had larger markets where they traded imported and manufactured goods.

"Many local markets were to be found all over the country, for petty trade. This ability to transform any space into a local market is particularly visible in Alvares’s description of the royal camp. Wherever it settled, a market immediately appeared, gathering people from all over the region: Christians sold consumption goods, while Muslims had a bigger market place where they traded imported and manufactured goods.

The virtual monopoly enjoyed by Muslim maritime traders on the Red Sea would be well demonstrated by the history of this term in the different languages employed all over the Red Sea. Indeed, while Christian, Muslim and local-religious political powers all sought to take advantage of long-distance trade, the men who were leading the business were mostly Muslims.

But whatever the influence of Christian merchants on long-distance trade in Ethiopia, the attempt by King Lǝbnä Dǝngǝl (1509–1540) to charter his own ships and negotiate directly with Yemen was a failure.93 Even earlier, Lǝbnä Dǝngǝl had tried to convince the Portuguese to establish trading posts in Massawa and, if successful, also in Zaylaʿ. Even a king could not sidestep the entrenched networks that controlled this trade. - Samantha Kelly, "A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea" (2020): 413, 416-17."

Sounds true to this day i guess.

 

[Aseer]

That account lays it out all out, damn what an eye opener. @Midas @Shimbiris @Zak12 @Galool @X29 @NidarNidar read this too.

It lays the fault solely with Ethiopia(Abyssinia) and they are either impeding or undoing the progress in the region and are chief instigators. It says " a "violent desire of a barbarous people" to seize wealth that Adel had gained through trade and industry"

It also notes Awdals retaliation was brutal and strategic often taking Abyssinians slaves latter selling them as high value merchandise because unlike Adalites they didn't have any valuable goods or domestic manufactured products so there was not much else to take as a spoil of war.

The text notes a grim irony: Abyssinian slaves were often "idle warmongers," so their removal inadvertently reduced conflict.

It also gives the example that when Ethiopia is peaceful and cooperates with it's neighbors like Awdal they grows rich and prosperous because they benefited through Awdal's trade networks((gold, cattle, hide, all manners of provisions, coffee). War disrupted this, replacing mutual gain with zero-sum plunder.

What it also says is that "The Abyssinian elite’s corruption (accepting bribes to tolerate peace) undermined long-term stability for short-term wealth" .

It also shows how Awdal was commercial in nature driven by peaceful diplomatic trade agreements with Arabia, India and economic integration through trade and industry. As it say they formed "Three partners united one trade"

It narrates it from the perspective of a Muslim(Moorish) princess married into Abyssinian (Ethiopian) royalty. Helena saw both sides. She blamed Abyssinia’s warlike culture for rejecting peace, even when it was in their interest. Her efforts failed because Abyssinian elites preferred raiding over diplomacy, despite knowing the benefits of trade.

I transcribed it into readable modern English:

Besides the duty of governing, another motive influenced her, which, however good in itself, was very problematic given the present circumstances. A peace with Adel was what the Empress Helena consistently desired, for she could not bear to see the destruction of her own country, much less contribute to it. She herself was of Moorish origin, the daughter of Mahomet, the governor of Dawaro for the king. Even during her husband's reign, she had been suspected of favoring the welfare of her homeland over that of the kingdom of Abyssinia.

Thus, this princess, thoroughly informed about the interests of both nations, seems in her conduct to have acted upon the most judicious and sensible principles. She knew that Adel, by its situation and interests, was inherently commercial. That part of Africa, along with the opposite Arabia and the peninsula of India, formed three partners united in one trade. They mutually consumed each other's produce and contributed to exporting the combined goods of the three regions to distant parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa—the three continents that then constituted the known world. When Adel was at peace with Abyssinia, the latter grew wealthy from the gold, ivory, coffee, cattle, hides, and all manner of provisions procured by Adel from the mountainous regions above it. Trade flourished, and plenty followed. Merchants carried every kind of goods to the most distant provinces in safety, benefiting both Abyssinia and Adel equally.

These advantages, so keenly felt, were maintained by bribery and a steady flow of Mahometan gold in the Abyssinian court. The kingdom, however, prospered under these conditions. On the other hand, war with Adel arose from the violent desire of a barbarous people, such as the Abyssinians were, to seize riches their neighbors had gained through trade and industry.

She saw that even in the worst-case scenario, nothing utterly destructive could happen to the Abyssinians. In their raids into Adel, they plundered markets and obtained Indian goods of every kind at the risk of their lives—goods they would otherwise have paid for. Conversely, when the people of Adel were victorious, they acquired no goods or manufactures but took the Abyssinians themselves as slaves, selling them in Arabia and across Asia at immense profits. Next to gold, slaves were the most agreeable and valuable merchandise in the East. And since these slaves were chiefly the idle warmongers, their removal promoted the more desirable outcome of peace.

In this state, war was merely another form of commerce between the two nations, though peace was the most beneficial condition for both. This was what Empress Helena had constantly strived to maintain, though she could not always succeed.

Was empress helena somali? Cause its stated on the wikipedia page she is the "Queen of Zeyla" as an honorific.

 

[Ghengis Kaarhis]

I don't buy the geography cop out as a whole, yes it limited them in many ways.

But that medieval account that @novanova showed fully proves that Ethiopia always had the option of being peaceful and economically integrate with their neighbors and when in times it did, it grew prosperous and wealthier from the trade of their neighbors but they opted not to and continued the same destructive culture and policy. Partly the fault of Europeans who coddled up and enabled them for their ideological and strategic reasons.

This is not to say that Somalia or their other red sea neighbors wouldn't have more advantages than them economically but it would benefit them more than not to work with them peacefully.

It's as if they have learned nothing from history, they have been dragging the region into never ending war for futile pursuit for almost a 1000 years.

It's insane reading that account, people had to bribe them to stay put. Like giving an angry toddler some toys to calm them from having temper tantrums. Waa wax yab leh.

No wonder Prophet Muhammed PBUH predicted the kaabah would be destroyed by ethiopians

 

[Keep it a boqol]

No wonder Prophet Muhammed PBUH predicted the kaabah would be destroyed by ethiopians

He pbuh could also be referring to subsaharans in general unless he used absyinnians in general.

 

[Ghengis Kaarhis]

gonna pray casr soon and make dua for imminent total ethiopian collapse with minimal negative outcome on somalis

 

[Idilinaa]

He pbuh could also be referring to subsaharans in general unless he used absyinnians in general.

It's in reference to Axumite Christians, that in previous past attempted to Attack the Mecca in Muslim tradition.

No wonder Prophet Muhammed PBUH predicted the kaabah would be destroyed by ethiopians

What's ironic the ones who accepted the Sahaba wasn't Ethiopians it was some coastal ruler likely between Eritrea and Somalia. They mention "sea-people/woman" in the hadiths which rules them out.

 

[Burqad]

Was empress helena somali? Cause its stated on the wikipedia page she is the "Queen of Zeyla" as an honorific.

Wikipedia is edited by raw meat munching midgets who compete in lying like the Olympics

 

[Ashraf]

Man why don’t the Sudanese get plagued with the side effects of the habash, why is it always us man they’re always obsessed with Zeila and Berbera port, Sudan is like the same distance can’t they f*ck off there

 

[Ashraf]

It's in reference to Axumite Christians, that in previous past attempted to Attack the Mecca in Muslim tradition.



What's ironic the ones who accepted the Sahaba wasn't Ethiopians it was some coastal ruler likely between Eritrea and Somalia. They mention "sea-people/woman" in the hadiths which rules them out.

Drop the Hadith pls

 

[Idilinaa]

Drop the Hadith pls

Someone dropped it into this thread:

How did Islam reach Somalia?

@Idilinaa @The alchemist @Shimbiris What do you guys know about how Islam spread in Somalia? And is the history surrounding Masjid Qiblatayn (and Somalis accepting Islam that early in Islamic history) true? It's a little strange that despite Islam's strong roots in our culture and history...

www.somalispot.com

 

[Idilinaa]

Was empress helena somali? Cause its stated on the wikipedia page she is the "Queen of Zeyla" as an honorific.

No idea. In that story she was said to be from Dawaro. Thought she was a fictional character at first from the way they narrated it and how they spelled her name, used her to explain a situation.

Looked at the reference link to it wiki. Queen of Zayla sounds to be an honorary title and since she is from Haddiya which was a mixed region she could have been Somali or some other ethnicity.

 

[Burqad]

No idea. In that story she was said to be from Dawaro. Thought she was a fictional character at first from the way they narrated it and how they spelled her name, used her to explain a situation.

Looked at the reference link to it wiki. Queen of Zayla sounds to be an honorary title and since she is from Haddiya which was a mixed region she could have been Somali or some other ethnicity.
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Wasn’t she the queen that the king of adal and Abyssinia fought a duel over?

 

[Burqad]

https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejss/article/download/241085/227932

seems to be a mistranslation, they confused queen Zela of Hadiiya for Queen Eleni of Gojjam.

oh the mistake is by that liar Taddese Tamrat. So I was right.