Origins

Ethiopians trace their origins to a country in northeastern Africa that because of its great diversity – over 100 languages are spoken – has frequently been called “a museum of peoples.” Formerly known as Abyssinia, Ethiopia covers an area of over 1.2 million square kilometres with a population of 54.2 million (1990). This entry will concentrate on two peoples, the Amharas and Tigrayans, who represent together only about one-third of Ethiopia’s population but who have traditionally played the dominant role in its history. (See also ERITREANS; OROMOS.)

During the massive famines that struck Africa in the 1980s, Ethiopia became synonymous in the Western media with poverty, war, political repression, and starvation. Yet many Ethiopians celebrate a very different image of their homeland. Ethiopia’s history as a state goes back to the ancient empire of Aksum which lasted from about 150 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. During the first century C.E., Aksum’s rulers accepted Christianity, which ever since has been a dominant force in Ethiopian culture.

For many other Africans, Ethiopia remains a symbol of liberty and resistance. This is because the country resisted subordination to the European colonial powers which carved up the rest of the African continent during the nineteenth century. The defiance of Ethiopia was later epitomized by Emperor Haile Selassie who, refusing to accept Italy’s occupation of his country in 1935, was able to return with British assistance within five years to restore Ethiopian independence.

There is debate about how to view Ethiopia. Some consider what is called Greater Ethiopia to form a unified culture area, while others emphasize the state’s multicultural diversity and its history of oppression towards those groups not in power. Although the Oromos form most of the population, they have remained subordinate to the Amharic-speaking peoples of the central highlands who rose to prominence in the thirteenth century and expanded the state’s borders. Tigrinya-speaking elites of the northern province of Tigray rivalled the Amhara until the late nineteenth century, but they were defeated and their region was deliberately impoverished. In the twentieth century, the most sustained opposition to the idea of a unified Greater Ethiopia has come from another people, the Eritreans. A nationalist movement among Eritreans opposed the change in status of Eritrea from a province in federation with Ethiopia, as formulated in 1950 by the United Nations, to outright annexation by Ethiopia, which took place in 1962.

Aside from tension and conflict between its various peoples, Ethiopia was subjected in the 1960s to increasing social unrest caused by unemployment, inflation, and famine. The reform program of Emperor Haile Selassie, who had first come to power in 1928, was unable to quell the disturbances. In 1974, a military regime known as the Derg deposed the emperor. Led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Derg adopted Marxist-Leninist ideology and eliminated large numbers of its political opponents, including many from civilian left-wing parties. The Derg continued the former regime’s military policies in Eritrea and in so doing was supported by both the United States and the Soviet Union, which together intensified and prolonged the conflict by supplying large quantities of arms to Ethiopia. The Derg also faced opposition from regionally based opposition movements, such as the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), and ethnically based movements such as the Oromo Liberation Front. The Tigrayan Front, formed in 1975, was the main element of the coalition forces which defeated the Derg in 1991 and formed a new transitional government. Ethiopia also lost its thirty-year war with the Eritreans who, in 1993, voted overwhelmingly for independence.

Political repression, civil conflict, and the war with Eritrea had a devastating impact on Ethiopia. By the 1980s, the conflict in Eritrea had exacerbated an existing drought and created massive famine. As the war intensified, Ethiopia produced at least two million refugees. Most who fled Ethiopia were from Eritrea and Tigray, joined later by Oromos and other ethnic groups. The majority were stranded in squalid camps in neighbouring Sudan and Somalia but others spread throughout Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.