Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/169

 The Abyssinians have had an historic evolution different from that of the nations surging round the foot of their highlands, like the waves dashing against the cliffs. Wars and revolutions have been developed below them without affecting them, But if Ethiopia seems to have lived an independent existence amid its African neighbours, it offers on the other hand a development singularly analogous to that of temperate Europe. It is very remarkable that the Abyssinians alone, of all other African peoples, should have accepted and retained a religion which prevails under divers forms amongst European peoples. Not only its religious dogmas, but also its political institutions and usages, present a certain resemblance to those of mediæval Europe. In certain respects Abyssinia is an African Europe.

But for muny centuries the relations between Ethiopia and the countries north of Africa have been few and transitory. The Greeks were not brought into contact with the Abyssinian highlanders till the time of the Ptolemies, when the open ports on the neighbouring coast facilitated the exchange of merchandise and the propagation of the Hellenic religion, as is attested by the inscriptions found by explorers in many parts of Ethiopia. Christianity and its predecessor, Judaism, were introduced into the country by the same routes. Numerous traditions have survived from the period of Greek influence, and at the present day Ethiopians, the statements of travellers notwithstanding, are still inclined to believe that the Greeks are the most powerful nation in Europe.

Shortly after their conversion, however, all relations ceased between them and the Byzantines, and it was through the Arabs that vague reports reached Europe of their African co-religionists. Even at the time of the Crusades a report was circulated that the King of Ethiopia was coming to the help of his Christian brethren. However, the statements made about these African Catholics were more legendary than historical, and Ethiopia, like the Mongolian plateaux, was supposed to have its "Prester John," under whom the happy populations were said to live in a second Golden Age. For nearly a thousand years all direct intercourse between Europe and Ethiopia was suspended, and not resumed till about 1450, through the trade opened by the Italians with India. If Bruce is to be credited, the Venetian Brancalione held theological discussions with the Abyssinian priests about the middle of the fifteenth century. Later on a Portuguese, Pedro Covillão, accompanied by a second Brancalione, succeeded in reaching the pluteau and the court of the Ethiopian king in 1487; but he was not permitted to return to his own country. At the same time Marcos, an Ethiopian pilgrim, journeyed from Jerusalem to Lisbon. In the following century the Portuguese penetrated to the plateau, where they founded religious and military establishments in every direction. Relations with Europe, however, were not yet thoroughly cemented, when the Portuguese priests were accused of aspiring to political power and expelled from the country. They were no doubt followed in 1699 by the French physician, Poncet, invited by the King of Abyssinia to his court.