Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/81

Rh ABYSSINIA 65 tin, copper, silk, gunpowder, glass wares, Persian carpets, and coloured cloths. The chief exports are gold, ivory, slaves, coffee, butter, honey, and wax. Abyssinia, or at least the northern portion of it, was included in the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia. The connec tion between Egypt and Ethiopia was in early times very intimate, and occasionally the two countries were under the same ruler, so that the arts and civilisation of the one naturally found their way into the other. In early times, too, the Hebrews had commercial intercourse with the Ethiopians ; and according to the Abyssinians, the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, was a monarch of their country, and from her son Menilek the kings of Abyssinia are descended. During the captivity many of the Jews settled here, and brought with them a knowledge of the Jewish religion. Under the Ptolemies, the arts as well as the enterprise of the Greeks entered Ethiopia, and led to the establishment of Greek colonies. A Greek inscription at Adulis, no longer extant, but copied by Cosmos, and preserved in his Topographia Christiana, records that Ptolemy Euergetes, the third of the Greek dynasty in Egypt, invaded the countries on both sides of the Red Sea, and, having reduced most of the provinces of Tigre to subjection, returned to the port of Adulis, and there offered sacrifices to Jupiter, Mars, and Neptune. Another inscription, not so ancisnt, found at Axum, and copied by Salt and others, states that Aeizanas, king of the Axomites, the Home- rites, &c., conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory. The ancient kingdom of Auxume nourished in the first or second century of our era, and was at one time nearly coextensive with the modern Abyssinia. The capital Auxume and the seaport Adulis were then the chief centres of the trade with the interior of Africa in gold dust, ivory, leather, aromatics, &c. At Axum, the site of the ancient capital, many vestiges of its former greatness still exist ; and the ruins of Adulis, which was once a seaport on the Bay of Annesley, are now about 4 miles from the shore. Christianity was introduced into the country by Frumentius, who was consecrated first bishop of Abyssinia by St Athanasius of Alexandria about A.D. 330. Subse quently the monastic system was introduced, and between 470 and 480 a great company of monks appear to have entered and established themselves in the country. Since that time Monachism has been a power among the people, and not without its influence on the course of events. In 522 the king of the Homerites, on the opposite coast of the Red Sea, having persecuted the Christians, the Emperor Justinian requested the king of Abyssinia, Caleb or Elesbaan, to avenge their cause. He accordingly collected an army, crossed over into Arabia, and conquered Yemen, which remained subject to Abyssinia for 67 years. This was the most flourishing period in the annals of the country. The Ethiopians possessed the richest part of Arabia, carried on a large trade, which extended as far as India and Ceylon, and were in constant communication with the Greek empire. Their expulsion from Arabia, followed by the conquest of Egypt by the Mohammedans in the middle of the 7th century, changed this state of affairs, and the continued ad vances of the followers of the Prophet at length cut them off from almost every means of communication with the civilised world ; so that, as Gibbon says, &quot; encompassed by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept for near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten.&quot; About A.D. 960, a Jewish princess, Judith, conceived the bloody design of murdering all the members of the royal family, and of establishing herself in their stead. During the execution of this project, the infant king was carried off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shoa, where his authority was acknowledged, while Judith reigned for 40 years over the rest of the kingdom, and transmitted the crown to her descendants. In 1268 the kingdom was restored to the royal house in the person of Icon Imlac. Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Abyssinia commenced. A belief had long prevailed in Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far east, whose monarch was known as Prester John, and various expeditions had been sent in quest of it. Among others who had engaged in this search was Pedro de Covilham, who arrived in Abyssinia in 1490, and, believing that he had at length reached the far-famed king dom, presented to the Negus, or emperor of the country, a letter from his master the king of Portugal, addressed to Prester John. Covilham remained in the country, but in 1507 an Armenian named Matthew was sent by the Negus to the king of Portugal to request his aid against the Turks. In 1520 a Portuguese fleet, with Matthew on board, entered the Red Sea in compliance with this request, and an embassy from the fleet visited the country of the Negus, and remained there for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Alvarez, from whom we have the earliest and not the least interesting account of the country. Between 1528 and 1540 armies of Mohammedans, under the renowned general Mohammed Gragn, entered Abyssinia from the low country, and overran the kingdom, obliging the emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In this extremity recourse was again had to the Portuguese, and Bermudez, who had remained in the country after the departure of the embassy, was ordained successor to the Abuna, and sent on this mission. In consequence a Portuguese fleet, under the command of Stephen de Gama, was sent from India and arrived at Massowah. A force of 450 musqueteers, under the command of Christopher de Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior, and being joined by native troops were at first successful against the Turks, but were subsequently defeated, and their commander taken prisoner and put to death. Soon afterwards, however, Mohammed Gragn was shot in an engagement, and his forces totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the Negus and the Catholic primate Bermudez, who wished the former publicly to profess him. self a convert to Rome. This the Negus refused to do, and at length Bermudez was obliged to make his way out of the country. The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed Bermudez into Abyssinia, and fixed their head-quarters at Fremona, were oppressed and neglected, but not actually expelled. In the beginning of the following century Father Paez arrived at Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon rose into high favour at court, and gained over the emperor to his faith. He directed the erection of churches, palaces, and bridges in different parts of the country, and carried out many useful works. His successor Mendez was a man of much less conciliatory manners, and the feelings of the people became more strongly excited against the intruders, till at length, on the death of the Negus, and the accession of his son Facilidas in 1633, they were all sent out of the country, after having had a footing there for nearly a century and a half. The French physician Poncet, who went there in 1698, was the only European that afterwards visited the country before Bruce in 1769. It was about the middle of the 16th century that the Galla tribes first entered Abyssinia from the south.; and notwithstanding frequent efforts to dislodge them, they gradually extended and strengthened their positions till they had overrun the greater part of the country. The power of the emperor was thus weakened, independent chiefs set themselves up in different parts, until at length he became little better than a puppet in the hands of the most power ful of his chiefs. In 1805 the country was visited by Lord Valentia and Mr Salt, and again by Salt in 1810 In I. - 9