Unit 4 history

• Gondarine Period


  The years during which the rulers of the highland Christian Kingdom ruled from a new capital called Gondar
• Shift of political center

  1. From the Shewan highlands to the Lake Tana region

  2. Caused by Adal's continued threat and the pressure of the Oromo population movement
• Sites of mobile capital

  • Denqez
  • Gorgora
  • Azezo
  • Dembiya
  • Qoga in Gojjam and Begemidir
• Gondar


  • Founded by Fasiladas around 1636
  • Strategically located on the long-distance trade route
  • Established as a permanent capital city, ending the tradition of ruling from temporary camps
  • Served as a political center for the next two centuries
• Gondar


  • Known for its architectural achievements and building technology
  • Several kings built magnificent castles as palaces
  • Churches, bridges and swimming pools were constructed
• During the reigns of Fasiladas, Yohanes I and Iyasu I, Gondar attained great prosperity and technological developments
• Gondar


  • Had about 70,000 inhabitants
  • Composed of different religious, cultural, indigenous and foreign communities
  • An important commercial center with a daily market
  • Led to intense urban-rural interactions
• Occupational groups in Gondar

  • Traders (Ethiopian Muslims, known as the Jeberti)
  • Bete Israel (engaged in craft activities such as masonry, pottery, basketry and ironworks)
  • Foreign communities from India, Greece, Armenia and Persia
• Cash payment for labour services was also introduced in Gondar
• The ruling class enjoyed luxurious life and lived in their beautiful palaces and castles
• Gondar declined as an important political center and economic prosperity after the reigns of the first three kings
• Political disorder and social unrest became common in Gondar
• Court intrigues became common, accompanied by poisoning and assassinations of kings and princes
• The Gondarine monarchy could not keep its former political power due to military weakness and inability to impose control over regional lords and provinces
• Zemene Mesafint

  The period led to the strengthening of warlords of different regions with little or no control from the weakening centre
• Itege Mentewab


  A Quara born woman who ruled over the kingdom as a regent for her young son Iyasu II after the death of Emperor Bakafa
• Mentewab lost power in 1769 to the Tigrean warlord Ras Michael Sehul
• Gondar also suffered from internal splits within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, with the clergy engaged in conflicts over religious principles or doctrines that also had a regional character
• The combination of political and religious disputes finally led to the period of the Zemene Mesafint or the Era of warlords
• Libne Dingil


  Sent a letter to Portugal requesting military assistance for the war against Imam Ahmad Ibrahim
• The Portuguese soldiers killed Imam Ahmad and forced the Muslim army to retreat to Adal
• The Portuguese soldiers did not withdraw from Ethiopia after accomplishing their task, but stayed in the country and invited the Catholic missionaries, known as the Jesuits, who sought to convert the Orthodox Christians of Ethiopia to Catholicism
• Bermudez, the Portuguese messenger, later claimed that Libne Dingil had promised to give a third of his kingdom to the king of Portugal and to be converted, together with his subjects, to Catholicism
• Gelawdewos rejected the request of Bermudez to convert to Catholicism and recognize his position as a patriarch of the kingdom
• The king of Portugal, John III, refused to recognize Bermudez as the patriarch of the kingdom
• The official appointment of patriarchs and bishops for the Christian kingdom began after the retirement of Bermudez, with the appointees selected from the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits
• Gelawdewos wrote a letter of objection to the Portuguese governor of India when he heard about the arrangements made in Europe for his conversion
• Gelawdewos rejected the demand for his conversion and the young Jesuit priest Rodriguez returned to Goa
• Gelawdewos wrote a book called Confessions of Gelawdewos, in which he defended the practices of the Orthodox faith of his kingdom against the criticisms of the Catholic priests
• After the death of Gelawdewos, the bishop Oviedo joined the leader of opposition forces against King Minas, assuring Yeshaq that Portuguese military assistance would come soon to depose Minas and appoint a puppet king of their own choice
• Oviedo's promise was not fulfilled and he himself died in 1597 without any success in his mission
• After the death of Oviedo, two other bishops, Pedro Paez and Alfonso Mendez, were successively ordained for the Christian kingdom
• Paez was particularly successful in converting many influential dignitaries of the kingdom, including King Suseniyos (1607 - 1632)
• Suseniyos officially converted to Catholicism in public and made Catholicism the official state religion in 1622
• The first peasant rebellion against Suseniyos and Catholicism broke out in 1617 and from 1626 to 1632 Suseniyos fought many battles
• Suseniyos eventually abdicated in favor of his son, Fasiledes, whose first measure was the restoration of the Orthodox Church to its traditional position
• In the reaction that followed, many Catholic converts were killed, with the first victim being Si'ile Kristos, who was publicly hanged
• The Catholic missionaries were not harmed, because Fasiledes feared Portuguese interference
• Christian practices were also banned. So, both the peasantry and the clergy joined in rebellion to defend their religion from falling to Catholicism and the period witnessed one of the large scale peasant uprising in Ethiopian history.
• Suseniyos came to understand that he could not suppress the staunch opposition of the Church and peasants militarily. In the meantime, the Portuguese soldiers and firearms which he had hoped to obtain from Portugal failed to arrive.