Africa Images

[UniverseSeven]

black/white photo

[SAMURAI36]

PEACE U7:

Please keep these coming. Some Ethiopian and Kemetic images would be nice.

;D

PEACE

[UniverseSeven]

Peace


I'm sticking to Black/White because it is far more compelling. I prefer rare old photos/postcards.

Black/White Photo study of Ethiopia/Abyssinia

Focus: part 1

Abyssinia, Castle of Gondar, Cush, Axum, Haile Selassie

Lalibela, Amharic, Blue Nile, Simien Mountains, Lake Tana.

Define Abyssinian: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ityop'iya, Amharic) is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation on the continent. Unique among African countries, Ethiopia maintained independence during the Scramble for Africa, and continued to do so until 1936-1941, when the Italian army invaded the country.



Abad Ghereaghill, the Centenary Priest of the Bizen Convent


Chief and his suite


Returning from a panther hunt


Jesuits: the Black Robes in Abyssinia

-note though I have selected the above and below photos/postcards it is important to remember that Abyssinian Christianity and Original Hebrew predate the catholic church. Cush the father of the nation of Ethiopia is the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah.


Abyssinian Catholic soldier (Irob tribe)


Lidj Woldegabriel and his attendants


Dire Daoua : Punition of a Thief


The Forgiveness Ceremony : The culprit is sitting on his knees and carries a heavy stone


Addis Ababa : Dance of Priests

The Axum Obelisk

"In northern Ethiopia a pit has been prepared to accommodate a vast obelisk that was looted from Axum by Mussolini in 1937. The obelisk - the only one on two continents weighing over 100 tonnes - was situated in a square in Rome in front of what was once the ‘Ministry for Italian Africa’ (now the FAO building). Meanwhile Ethiopians await, with barely suppressed excitement, its return to Axum where it will take its place among other obelisks on the original site."

April 19th 2005

"The first section of the 1,700-year old Axum obelisk has arrived back in Ethiopia, 68 years after it was looted by Italian fascists."

www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/Looted%20Treasure/The%20Axum%20Obelisk.htm




Fascists in Abyssinia (origin of image unknown, possibly film)


Castle of Gondar

During the war against the militant Muslim Leader, Ahmed Gragn in 1543, Portuguese soldiers came to help Emperor Gelawdewos, the son of Emperor Lebna Dengel. They settled around Lake Tana where they stayed and began to integrate themselves into the country gaining influence into it during the reign of Emperor Susneyos (1607-1632). In 1622, the Portuguese successfully converted Emperor Susneyos to Catholicism. At this time the Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahedo Church faced an unforeseen disaster. After Susneyos conversion to Catholicism, he outlawed the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and its officials from conducting their orthodox faith. He persecuted and killed thousands Orthodox Tewahedo Christians for practising their faith.

Emperor Susneyos became deeply unpopular and the nobility, clergy and Orthodox Tewahedo Christians revolted against him. In 1632, Susneyos was forced to transfer the throne to his son Prince Fasilados. Fasilados became Emperor and he started to repair the damage done by his father by restoring peace, re-uniting the church and state. He built the famous castle in Gondar and made Gonder his permanent capital of Ethiopia.

In 1769, during the reign of Emperor Yohannes II, the son of Iyasu I, Gondar as a capital of Ethiopia started to disintegrate and the Emperor became a shadowy figure, as he could not assert his authority. The central govenment was abolished and the regional Princes took control of their own affairs. Ethiopia was then divided into a number of small kingdoms and ruled by regional Princes and Feudal Lords until 1855. This period is known in Ethiopian history as the "Era of Princes and Wealthy Feudal Lords" (Zemene Mesafint).

Gonder lasted two centuries as a capital, cultural and political centre. It has now become a tourist attraction for its Portuguese influenced architecture and historical interest.

© 2002 - 2005 Teum Teklehaimanot. All rights reserved. Copying information and images from this website to another website or Intranet is prohibited. Printed copies of the web pages are permitted as long as the copyright statement is not removed and the information is used for personal and/or educatrional use only.
www.ethiopiantreasures.toucansurf.com/pages/gonder.htm


Abyssinian man


Nymare Amenemhet III

The classical home of the ancient Ethiopians was the Eastern Sudan, although Homer and Herodotus mentioned other Ethiopians dwelling in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Western Asia and India. To cite Lady Lugard: "The fame of the ancient Ethiopians was widespread in ancient history. History describes them as the tallest, most beautiful and long-lived of the human races, and before Herodotus, Homer, in even more flattering language, described them as the most just of men, the favorites of the gods. The annals of all the the great early nations of Asia Minor are full of them. The Mosaic records allude to them frequently; but while they are described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most beautiful of the human race, they are constantly spoken of as Black, and there seems to be no other conclusion to be drawn than that at that remote period of history, the leading race of the Western World was a Black race."
www.cwo.com/~lucumi/ethiopians.html


The Lion of Judah


Haile Selassie

HIM


Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie

[UniverseSeven]

Part 2



Lalibela: a City Carved from Legend
www.ethiopiatravel.com/Lalibela_eng.htm




Amharic (Semitic) the official language of Ethiopia


King Menelik I, the founder of the Ethiopian Dynasty which lasted until the reign of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I in the Twentieth Century, was the son of the legendary Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel. Menelik travelled to Jerusalem and brought back the Ark of the Covenant from Israel to Ethiopia.


Menelik II

(1844 - 1913)

Proclaimed to be a descendant of the legendary Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, Menelik II was a dominant figure of his time in Africa and would be known as the King of Kings. He converted a group of independent kingdoms into the strong, stable empire known as the United States of Abyssinia, otherwise known as Ethiopia. His feat of pulling together several kingdoms, which often fiercely opposed each other, earned him a place as one of the great statesmen of African history. His further accomplishments in bringing Ethiopia into the twentieth century, coupled with his stunning victory over Italy in the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in their attempt to invade his country, placed him among the great leaders of world history and maintained his country's independence until 1935.

Menelik II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. He was originally ras or ruler of Shoa in central Ethiopia. After the death in 1868 of Emperor Tewodros II, Menelik, with Italian support, gained steady strength. He seized the throne after Emperor Johannes IV died. In 1889, Menelik concluded the Treaty of Uccialli with Italy. However, when he learned that the Italian version of the treaty was different from his amharic version, essentially making Ethiopia a protectorate of Italy, he denounced the agreement. The Italian invasion that followed in 1895–96 was crushed by Menelik’s great victory near Adwa with great assistance from his wife Empress Taitu. Italy was forced to renounce all claim to Ethiopia and to pay an indemnity. Menelik took important steps to strengthen and modernize his domain. He made Addis Ababa his capital, constructed a railroad, attempted to end the slave trade, and curbed the feudal nobility. His conquests doubled the size of the country and brought the present day southern Ethiopia, which was largely Muslim, into the realm. Gradually his health failed, and the end of his reign was marked by intrigue and maneuvering for the succession due to his lack of a living male heir. He was succeeded as emperor by his grandson Lij Yasu.

It is interesting to note that a young man who in 1911 married Menelik's daughter Wayzaro Menen, was now working his way up in the ranks and would later become Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Salassie.
www.douglasyaney.com/mc895-bio.htm



The Blue Nile Falls


Simien Mountains (couldn't find a black and white)

"The most marvelous of all Abyssinian landscapes opened before us, as we looked across the gorge that was like clouded amethyst to the peaks of the Simiens.

A thousand years ago, when the old gods reigned in Ethiopia, they must have played chess with those stupendous crags, for we saw bishop's miters cut in lapis lazuli, castles with the ruby of approaching sunset on their turrets, an emerald knight where the forest crept up on to the rock, and, far away. a king, crowned with sapphire, and guarded by a row of pawns. When the gods exchanged their games for shield and buckler to fight the new men clamoring at their gates, they turned the pieces of their chessboard in mountains. In Simien they stand enchanted, till once again the world is pagan and the titans and the earth gods lean down from the monstrous cloud banks to wager a star or two on their sport."

(Rosita Forbes, 1925. From Red Sea to Blue Nile-A Thousand Miles of Ethiopia.)





Lake Tana perches 1,800 metres above sea level in the north-west. From the lake's southern end the Blue Nile river cascades down a magnificent waterfall to start its 1,700 kilometre journey to Khartoum in Sudan, where it merges with the White Nile. It then flows across a further 3,500 kilometres to finally reach the Mediterranean. Thus, the water that brings life to Sudan and Egypt actually originates in Ethiopia.

The lake itself is 75 kilometres long and 60 kilometres wide. It is dotted with some 37 islands, many with ancient monasteries and churches containing valuable religious icons and manuscripts. Christianity first spread to the area around the lake in the 5th century AD and is now the dominant religion,but there are also communities of Muslims, Jews and Animists. Many of the people around the lake and on the islands make a living from fishing, still using papyrus reed boats very similar to those depicted in the pharaohs' tombs of Ancient Egypt.

[jonnygemini]

Thanks...I just returned from 5 days at a reggae festival in northern cali redwoods on a dry river bed...This gives deeper meaning to lyrics that already carry so much consciousness, knowledge & wisdom...Saw Alpha Blondy, Damian Marley, Prezident Brown, Buju Banton, Junior Reid & Anthony B...so fire....I love H.I.M. King Selassie...Ethiopia is Eden...Nice to see we we all come from...Thank you