Every Day Is Special: Ethiopia

Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts

March 2 - Battle of Adwa Day in Ethiopia

Posted on March 2, 2020

Did you know that there was once a war fought between Italy and Ethiopia?

In the late 1800s, European powers had grabbed "ownership" of the lands and peoples of Africa in what we often call "colonization" but sometimes call "the scramble for Africa"!

Only a couple of chunks of Africa were still independent: Liberia, which was a nation made up of formerly enslaved people from the United States, and which was therefore under the protective eye of the U.S.; and Ethiopia, which was then often called Abyssinia.

The Kingdom of Italy was a relatively new nation, and it hadn't snatched up as many swaths of Africa as other European nations. It had obtained Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, two territories that flanked Ethiopia. It is perhaps not too surprising that Italian leaders decided to conquer Ethiopia and unite it with Italy's other territories.

(Italy also controlled Libya, by the way.)

On the night of February 29, 1896, and the morning of March 1, three Italian brigades advanced toward Adwa, each brigade come from a different direction. A fourth Italian brigade stayed encamped, ready to pitch in where needed.

The Ethiopian army, under Emperor Menelik II, engaged with the Italians, and it was a bit of a blood bath: more than 6,000 Italian soldiers were killed, 1,500 were wounded, and 3,000 were taken prisoner; almost 4,000 Ethiopian soldiers were killed and a staggering 8,000 wounded! But since the Ethiopians vastly outnumbered the Italians - and they were fighting for their own homeland, of course! - Ethiopia won the battle. Part of their winnings were all of the Italian army's artillery (cannons, guns), around 11,000 rifles, and transport equipment - all of which had been left behind as Italians fled from Adwa.

Ethiopia was able to remain free for about 40 years before World War II brought a better-equipped Italian army back to - that time - conquer and occupy the nation.

Today's holiday means that schools, public buildings, post offices, and banks are closed; most shops and restaurants are open, but fewer hours than normal.

People dress up, carry about patriotic banners and placards and flags, and enjoy patriotic songs.

Also on this date:

Anniversary of Massachusetts ratifying the Bill of Rights – 150 years late!

Texas Independence Day

Dr. Seuss Day

Peasants' Day in Myanmar

Birthday of activist / reformer Elaine Brown

World Book Day in the U.K. and Ireland

First Ballet in Britain

Pasty Day

Fun Facts About Names Day

(Monday of the first full week of March)

World Tennis Day

(First Monday of March)

Plan ahead:

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May 28 - Downfall of the Derg in Ethiopia

Posted on May 28, 2018

Humans as a species probably first evolved in what is now known as Ethiopia, and the oldest fossil remains of modern humans have been found there.

For centuries, Ethiopia functioned as a kingdom or empire, ruled by a monarch, and even when European powers were scrambling all over the African continent, gobbling up swaths of land to add to their growing empires, Ethiopia remained independent and self-ruling.

Because of this proud tradition, the green, yellow, and red of the Ethiopian flag were often copied in other flags as African peoples fought or negotiated their way out of colonial status and into independent-nation status.

Ethiopia was the first independent nation from Africa in the League of Nations and the United Nations.

In 1930, the immensely important, controversial, even revered Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie was crowned...

...and in the 1970s the emperor allowed a committee to be formed to deal with corruption in the military...

...but then in 1974 that committee (backed by the Soviet Union) turned against Emperor Selassie, arrested and imprisoned him, and took over Ethiopia.

The coup occurred against a backdrop of problems and unrest. There was an oil crisis, soaring oil prices, some crop failures, and a famine caused by those crop failures and by the high prices for imported food (mostly because of the high oil prices).

The Amharic word for "committee" is derg, and the Derg that ruled Ethiopia for more than a decade was a communist military government. The Derg was overthrown on this date in 1991.

Under Emperor Selassie and under the Derg, Ethiopia had a less-than-wonderful record on human rights. Now that the nation is post-Derg?

Unfortunately, same-old same-old... Freedom of the press is not well established, and the government often harasses and threatens and intimidates and sometimes arrests journalists and reporters. International observers have said that elections are not free and fair, and police sometimes massacre peaceful protesters!

But here are some beautiful aspects of life in Ethiopia:

The beauties of plants and water:

The unusual - well, actually, weird! - beauties of the Great Rift Valley:

Cool ruins:

Kids:

Also on this date:

National Hamburger Day

Sierra Club Day

Feast Day of St. Bernard of Montjoux

Slugs Return from Capistrano

Anniversary of the introduction of Jell-O

Anniversary of the Battle of the Eclipse

Julia Pierpont Day

Republic Day in Azerbaijan

Memorial Day in the U.S.A.

Plan ahead:

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And here are my Pinterest boards for:

May 24 – Independence Day in Eritrea

Posted on May 24, 2017

Eritrea is that teeny nation,
colored green here,
in Northeastern Africa.

Eritreans fought a 30-year battle against Ethiopia!

After all that fighting, on this date in 1991, Eritrean People's Liberation Front forces moved into the capital, Asmara, and declared independence from Ethiopia.

And then there were a couple more years of fighting between an independent Eritrea and Ethiopia.

AND then there were skirmishes between Eritrea and two other neighboring countries.

AND in all this time - more than two decades! - national elections in Eritrea have been postponed over and over again, so...no democracy, yet.

AND the Eritrean government drafts people into its armed forces for long - actually, indefinite! - periods of time.

AND Eritrea is rated as having one of the worst human rights records and the absolute least press freedom in the world!!

Sigh.

Apparently Americans are rarely treated to stories about Eritrea in our media, perhaps partly because of the lack of press freedom enjoyed in the nation. Also, there is very, very little tourism in the nation - which is not surprising! With all the grim facts outlined above, who would go there?

But although some refer to Eritrea as the North Korea of Africa, others say that the capital city of Asmara does not seem - at least to a casual and privileged traveler - as repressive or as unpleasant as advertised. Check out this 2014 travel story.