Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa, with its civilization dating back thousands of years. Abyssinia, or "Ze Etiyopia," was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians (Habesha), primarily composed of the Amhara, Tigrayans, and the Cushitic Agaw. The Harari/Harla people, who founded sultanates like Ifat and Adal, and the Afars inhabited the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian highlands and lowlands.
One of the first kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of D'mt in the 10th century BC, which established its capital at Yeha.
In the first century AD, the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the modern Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating South Arabia and Meroe and its surrounding areas. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state religion. Not long after, the Aksumite empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, which slowly shifted trade away from the Christian Aksum. It eventually became isolated, its economy slumped and Aksum's commercial domination of the region ended.
The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe dynasty, who established a new capital at Lalibela before giving way to the Solomonic dynasty in the 13th century.
The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, "an Ethiopian") is a compound word, later explained as derived from the Greek words αἴθω and ὤψ (aithō "I burn" + ōps "face"). Reference to the Kingdom of Aksum (designated as Ethiopia) only dates as far back as the first half of the 4th century AD. Following the Hellenic and biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a 3rd-century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's ruler governed an area that was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu.
Read also: India to Kenya routes
The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia. In the following century, a Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated with the unvocalized Ḥbšt and Ḥbśt (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum. In the 15th-century Ge'ez Book of Axum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp'is. In English, and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was historically known as Abyssinia.
It has been hypothesized that Punt was a kingdom in the Horn of Africa, based on stable isotope analysis of Egyptian mummified baboons suggesting they originated from an area encompassing modern-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. Egyptian traders from about 3000 BC refer to lands south of Nubia or Kush as Punt and Yam.
Recent archaeological excavations in Mai Adrasha, located near Shire in Northern Ethiopia, have uncovered a significant early settlement that predates the Kingdom of Aksum and D'mt by centuries. Findings at this site date back to circa 1250 BC, making it the oldest known town in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mai Adrasha appears to have been a major center for metalworking, with evidence of large-scale slag deposits and remnants of substantial stone-walled buildings.
Aside from Mai Adrasha, and Land of Punt, the first kingdom that is epigraphically known to have existed in Ethiopia was the kingdom of Dʿmt, which rose to power around the year 980 BC. Its capital was at Yeha, where a so-called Sabean style temple was built around 700 BC although no evidence of such architecture being found in Yemen.
The first verifiable great power to rise in Ethiopia was that of Axum in the 1st century CE. It was one of many successor kingdoms to Dʿmt and was able to unite the northern Ethiopian Highlands beginning around the 1st century BCE. They established bases on the northern highlands of the Ethiopian Plateau and from there expanded southward. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time.
Read also: Visa Requirements: India (Morocco)
Inscriptions have been found in southern Arabia celebrating victories over one GDRT, described as "nagashi of Habashat [i.e. Abyssinia] and of Axum." One inscription which was found at Axum states that Ezana conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory.
Expeditions by Ezana into the Kingdom of Kush at Meroe in Sudan may have brought about its demise, though there is evidence that the kingdom was experiencing a period of decline beforehand. As a result of Ezana's expansions, Aksum bordered the Roman province of Egypt. The degree of Ezana's control over Yemen is uncertain.
Toward the end of the 5th century CE, a group of monks known as the Nine Saints are believed to have established themselves in the country. They fueled the spread of Christianity in Ethiopia by establishing many churches such as Abuna Yemata Guh (also known as the Chapel in the Sky). Once again, the Axumite Kingdom is recorded as controlling part - if not all - of Yemen in the 6th century CE.
Around 523 CE, the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas came to power in Yemen and after he announced that he would kill all of the Christians, he attacked an Aksumite garrison at Zafar, burning the city's churches. Emperor Justin I of the Eastern Roman Empire requested that his fellow Christian, Kaleb, help him in his fight against the Himyarite king. Around 525 CE, Kaleb invaded and defeated Dhu Nuwas, appointing his Christian follower Sumuafa' Ashawa' as his viceroy.
Procopius records that after about five years, Aksum general Abraha deposed the viceroy and made himself king (Histories 1.20). Despite several attempted invasions across the Red Sea, Kaleb was unable to dislodge Abraha and acquiesced in the change; this was the last time Ethiopian armies left Africa until the 20th century when several units participated in the Korean War.
Read also: ZWL/INR Currency Exchange
Details about the history of the Axumite Kingdom, never abundant, became scarcer after this point. The last king of Axum who is known to have minted coins was Armah, whose coinage refers to the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614. Lacking a detailed history, the kingdom's fall has been attributed to a persistent drought, overgrazing, deforestation, a plague, a shift in trade routes that reduced the importance of the Red Sea-or a combination of all of these factors.
About 1000 (presumably c. 960, though the date is uncertain), a Jewish princess, Yodit (Judith) nicknamed "Gudit", conspired to murder all the members of the royal family and establish herself as monarch. At one point during the next century, the last of Yodit's successors were overthrown by an Agaw lord named Mara Takla Haymanot, who founded the Zagwe dynasty (named after the Agaw people who ruled during this time) and married a female descendant of the Aksumite monarchs ("son-in-law") or previous ruler.
The new Zagwe dynasty established its capital at Roha (also called Adefa), where they built a series of monolithic churches. These structures are traditionally ascribed to the King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, with the city being renamed Lalibela in his honour; though in truth some of them were built before and after him. The architecture of the Zagwe shows a continuation of earlier Aksumite traditions, as can be seen at Lalibela and at Yemrehana Krestos Church.
Around 1270, a new dynasty was established in the Abyssinian highlands under Yekuno Amlak, with aid from neighbouring Makhzumi dynasty deposed the last of the Zagwe kings and married one of his daughters. According to legends, the new dynasty were male-line descendants of Aksumite monarchs, now recognized as the continuing Solomonic dynasty (the kingdom being thus restored to the biblical royal house).
Under the Solomonic dynasty, the chief provinces became Tigray (northern), what is now Amhara (central) and Shewa (southern). The seat of government, or rather of overlordship, had usually been in Amhara or Shewa, the ruler of which, calling himself nəgusä nägäst, exacted tribute, when he could, from the other provinces. The title of nəgusä nägäst was to a considerable extent based on their alleged direct descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba; but it is needless to say that in many, if not in most, cases their success was due more to the force of their arms than to the purity of their lineage.
Under the early Solomonic dynasty Ethiopia engaged in military reforms and imperial expansion which left it dominating the Horn of Africa, especially under the rule of Amda Seyon I. There was also great artistic and literary advancement at this time, but also a decline in urbanisation as the Solomonic emperors didn't have any fixed capital, but rather moved around the empire in mobile camps.
Under the early Solomonic dynasty monasticism grew strongly. The abbot Abba Ewostatewos created a new order called the Ewostathians who called for reforms in the church, including observance of the Sabbath but was persecuted for his views and eventually forced into exile, eventually dying in Armenia.
Modern Challenges: Psychoactive Substance Use Among Adolescents in Eastern Ethiopia
Psychoactive substance use is a growing health problem in both developing and developed countries. These substances affect brain functions and cause disturbance in thought, feeling, mood, awareness, or any other behavior. Substance use is a growing problem in both developed and developing nations. Drug prescription abuse and psychoactive substances like heroin, cannabis, smack, and crack have increased considerably in the youth people, along with the already high burden of alcohol and tobacco consumption. Again, an increasing number of novel psychoactive substances are emerging worldwide.
Among many children and adolescents, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and using other substances are growing tremendously throughout the world. In addition, licit and illicit substances consumption is also growing more than ever globally, and surprisingly, these groups of the population are starting the consumption at their early life stage. In 2016, 10.3 million cancer-related disability-adjusted life years lost were attributable to substance use. In 2015, the attributable disability-adjusted life-years were the peak for tobacco consumption (170.9 million DALYs), followed by the consumption of alcohol.
In Ethiopia, the most frequently used substances by adolescents are cigarettes, khat, and alcohol. A study conducted in the central part of Ethiopia revealed that about 16.3% of individuals were substance users. Of these, 8.3%, 6.4%, and 5.9% of them were alcohol drinkers, cigarette smokers, and khat chewers, respectively. The burden of smoking in high school students was 11% of which 9.4% were current smokers. A substantial number of the students were exposed to common substances and those who used the khat, alcohol, and cigarette smoking as a lifetime in Ethiopia was 22.5%, 41.4%, and 21.5%, respectively.
Despite adolescents being at high risk of practicing risky behaviors including substance use, there is no adequate information on the problem in the Harari Region, in the Eastern part of Ethiopia.
To address this gap, a school-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Harari region state of Ethiopia, between 10th April and 10th May 2022. The region is situated 525 km away from the capital city of the eastern part of Ethiopia and is encircled by the Oromia region. There are two public and four private secondary schools in the region.
High school students who were attending their education from 9th to 12th grade in Harari Region were the target group of this study. Students who were in the randomly selected schools were considered the study population. The students were on the roster and actively attending their education during the semester in which this study was conducted.
A designed self-administered tool was utilized for collecting all relevant information. The tool was developed from different literature using the English Language. Once prepared in English, the tool is retranslated into two local languages (Afaan Oromo and Amharic) to which the participants can read, write, listen, and speak. The substance use status was measured using Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). This checklist was prepared by the World Health Organization international group of substance use investigators. The tool is primarily used to evaluate the substance use of both the lifetime and current use.
The Haramaya University College of Health and Medical Sciences (CHMS) Institutional Health Research Ethics Review Committee (IHRERC) reviewed and provided an ethical approval letter for this study. Taking part in the study was voluntary, and any information collected from the study participants was kept confidential. Participants were informed about the purpose of the study. Reports and other documents did not include the names of participants.
The data of 1498 high school students are included in this study. More than half (n = 815, 54.41%) of the students were females, while the rest 45.59% were males. The average age of the students was 15 years with +3 Standard Deviation (SD). Nearly three-fourths of the study respondents lived in an urban area with their parents. More than three-fourths of both fathers and mothers attended at least primary education.
Among a total of 1498 students, only 102 (6.8%) had a familial history of mental illness, while about 46 (3.1%) had a history of committing suicide in the family. About 83 (5.6%) of them had a history of suicidal attempts in their family. Many of the students (70.2%) slept for a maximum of 7 hours per day.
About one-fourth of the students were users of any form of psychoactive products throughout their life. These ever-used substances were Khat (24.1%), smoking (1.8%), alcohol (3.3%), and others (1.4%). The reason why the students were using substances included availability (14.85%), peer influence (9.75%), academic purpose (8.2%), and his/her friends used (19.43%), and family used (39.49%). About 1043 (69.63%) of the students had a strong family control over using substances. Nearly one out of two students were challenged with poor social support.
The overall psychoactive substance use was 373 (24.9%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI); 22.8-27.1%). The substances included khat (21.6%, 95% CI; 18.6-23.6%), alcohol drinking (1.8%; 95% CI; 1.3-2.6%), and smoking (1.2%, 95% CI; 0.75-1.9%).
The rate of substance use in male adolescents was 1.2 times more likely to occur than in female students (IRR = 1.2, 95% CI; 1.1-1.4). The psychoactive substance use rate was observed as 2 times more likely among adolescents who could easily get the substance around their living area (IRR = 2.02, 95%; 1.53-2.66). Among the students who had a friend of a psychoactive substance user, the substance use rate occurred 1.6 times than those whose friends were non-user of psychoactive substances (IRR = 1.60; 95% CI; 1.28-2.02).
The overall use of any psychoactive substance rate in the last three months was 24.9% in students attending high school students. The report is lower compared to the study conducted in Southern Ethiopia disclosed that the current substance use was 35.5% among university students. As the majority of high school students are more attached to their families than University-level students, this lower finding indicates the paramount role of the family in shaping their siblings’ behaviors.
In the current study, substance use was high among male adolescents in school. Younger high school students used psychoactive substances higher than older adolescents. This could be due to the fact that younger age is the time when people start to practice something that they perceived to be new or told to do so by peers. This study presented that having a friend who uses psychoactive substances is another important factor that increased the substance use rate among school students.
The psychoactive substance use rate was 2 times more likely among those adolescents who easily got the substance nearby their living area. This finding is supported by the reports from the USA, South Africa, and Abu Dhabi. It could be due to the fact that available substance can be used by other population segments in the area. If others use it, the age of adolescence is the time at which adolescents exercise something which is practiced by others. Therefore, the availability and common utilizing psychoactive substances by the community could increase the tendency of practicing what others are utilizing.
One out of four adolescents was a current user of psychoactive substances in the Harari Region, Ethiopia. Being male, substance availability, having substance user friends, and being at younger age increased the rate of using psychoactive substances in-school adolescents in Eastern Ethiopia.
Exploring the Rich Tapestry of Ethiopian History: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Times
The intervention that involves the schools’ community, students’ families, and executive bodies should be strengthened to overcome the substance use-related burdens among high school adolescent students.
| Substance | Prevalence (%, 95% CI) |
|---|---|
| Any Psychoactive Substance | 24.9 (22.8-27.1) |
| Khat | 21.6 (18.6-23.6) |
| Alcohol | 1.8 (1.3-2.6) |
| Smoking | 1.2 (0.75-1.9) |
Popular articles:
tags: #Ethiopia
