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7 no.
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t977.
THE RISE OF THE AMHARA
Datc}r.
//
In:
Thc
ÀfrÍcan
p.106-109.
STATE
COLIN DARCH'
(LonR.H. Kofi Darkwah, Shnua,Mmilek andtheÈthiopíanEmpire1913_1889
don: Heinemánn, L97í), 233 pp.
lr
This book deals with the expansion of the emaÌl and isolated Amhara chiefdom of Menz into the Kingdom of Shoa in the early nineteenth century, and
the struggle for hegemony between Shoa and the northern provinces which
Ìvas Í-rnally resolved after the death of Yohannes tV by the accession of
Meniìik to the irnperial throne in 1889. Dr Darkwah, a Ghanaian, originally
submitted the work as a doctoral dissertation under Roland Oliver at the
S c h o o l o f Ori e n ta l a n d Afri c an S tudi es i n 1966; but duri ng the ni ne-year i nterval between completion arÍd publication, some major changes have taken
place in Ethiopian hisüoriography, and Darkwah's tert has in several respects '
been overtaken by morìe recent, and indeed more scientiÍïc works.
The book is organized into thrèe narrative chapters, which recount the
story of Menz and Shoa almost exclusivety i. terms of traditional political
history, and three descriptive chapters, which deal with the social and
e c o n o m i c o rg a n i s a ti o n o f th e A mhara state. A s a resul t, the reader i s l eft to
ma k e h i s o w n c o n n e c ti o n s betw een the apparentl y stati c economi c.system
a n d th e a p p a re n tl y d y n a mi c pol i ti cal hi story of S hoa..The narrati ve chapters
d i v i d e th e p e ri o d i n to th re e secti ons: the ri se of the dynasty (roughl y from
d e a th o f N e g u s s i e K ri s to s i n about 1703 unti l the death of S ahl e S el l assi ei n
1847); the period of decline (from 1847 until Menilik's escape from captivity
a t Ma q d a l a ); a n { th e re i g n of Meni l i k up unti l hi s becomi ng E mperor i n
1 8 8 9 . T h i s p e ri o d i c i z a ti o n fa i l s to take i nto account qual i tati ve changes i n
the process of Amhara expansion into and domination over Oromo territory
in Shoa, and later in the south generally. Until the assassination of Wassen
S e g g e d i n 1 8 1 3 , th e mo v e m e nt out of Menz u/as one of col oni sati on, i n w hi ch
th e Amh a ra s e i th e r s i m p ly extermi nated l ocal Oromo popul ati ons or,
s o me ti m e s , a s s i m i l a te d th em. The assi mi l ated Oromo adopfed A mhari c
n a m e s , u s e d Amh a ri g u a , embraced Orthodox C hri sti ani ty, and absorbed
Amh a ra c u l tu ra l v a l u e s ; th e i r l oyal ty to the S hoan state w as absol ute and
fa n a ti c a l . B u t a fte r 1 8 1 3 , d uri ng the rei gn of S ahl e S el l asi e, the processhad
c h a n g e d to o n e i n w h i c h th e ti l l ers of,the soi l w ere l eft on the l and as tenant-
'Librariarl
106
University of
'Dar
es Salaam.
,
farmers under a dominant and exploitative landlord class. Assimilation, of
course, continued. After the brief interruption caused by Tewodros' conquest
of Shoa,.Menilik gained power and continued to strengthen the Shoan state
and to expand southwards, even into the 1890s after he had become Emperor.
Darkwah is correct in emphasizing the significance of firearme as the
basis of Shoan military predominance. He is much less convicing when he attempts to explain the forces behind the expansionist drive. He writes of the
noble aspirations of the Shoan dynasty, and attributes the attacks on the
divided Oromo communities to a desire to save Amhara culture from destruction. This is inadequate. The process of expansion brought th'e markets and
trade routes of the south under the control of the Shoan warlords, permitting
them to obtain firearms from Europe in exchange for such commodities as
gold, ivory, musk and coffee. In addition, since the Shoan army was largely
unpaid and had to providè itself with both food and weapons, the promise of
rich booty was an incentive for the peasant soldier, and a necessity for the
continued stability of the regime. Darkwah, however, denies the importance
of plunder as a motive force in the later expansion, and argues that individual warriors were driven to excel themselves in battle by a desire to attract the attention of the king, and thus to gain promotion.
The narrative of Menilik's reign concentrates on the king's relations with
European adventurers and emissaries, and desribes the ipperialist rivalry
between Britain, France and ltaly in the Horn of Africa. Darkwah fails,
however, to analyse in any depth the causes of this rivalry, or of Menilik's
success in maintaining his independence. He writes, for instance, of Antonelli's conclusion of a contract for the sale of guns, which as approved by
the Italian government:
... this was a stroke of luck for An[onelli since the time was favourable to him. The dÍicial
Italian attiiude of absolute disinterestedness lsicJ in colonial ma&ers underwent a transformation between 18?9 and 1882 and thereafter became one of territorial acquisition.
No further explanation is offered.
The three chapters on government and administration, agriculture, industry and trade, and the army contain much material of interest. Dark*'ah
describes the graduaÌ elimination of local hereditary chieftainships, and their
replacement by a hierarchy of appointed governors who owed their positions
entirely to tl.e favour of the king. By constant shuffling of these appointees,
the central authority was able to ensure that none of them was able to build
an independent power-base and thus to avoid a return to the baronial
struggles of the Zemene Metsafint This process of centralisation and
simultaneous expansion of political control over non-Amhara populations
provided the underlying dynamic for the creation of the Ethiopian empire.
y e t th e h a n s fo rma ti o n o f Menz/S hoa i nto the centre of an empi re i s i ncomprehensible without some understanding of patterns of agriculture, land
107
te n u re , a n d fe u d a l (o r a c c o rdi ng to some schol ars, tri butary) rel ati ons. The
A m h a ra s , w h o c u Ìti v a te d , tel f, w heat and barl ey, had survi ved the ori gi nal
Oro mo i n c u rs i o n s b y o c c u pyi ng rel ati veÌy i naccessi bl e deep-cut vaìl eys i n a
p a ttg rn o f s i n g l e fa rm s te ads. TÌre Oromo (referred to throughout the book as
G a l l a ), c a ttl e -h e rd e rs a n d horse-men, tended tow ards hi gher gtound rvi th
heavier rainfaì1.While the ambilinear risl system of tenure in IlIenz cont i n u a Ì l y s u Ì r d i ' " i d e di n a l i e n a b l e l a n d r i g h t s , t h e g r r / / h o l d i n g s i n c o n q u e r e d
a r e a s s i m u Ì t a n e o u s ì yp r o v i d e d a n e f f e c t i v e m e c h a n i s m f o r t h e e x p r o p r i a t i o n
o f t h e r u r a Ì s u r p Ì u s , a n d a m e a n s o f c e n t r a l i s i n g p o l i t i c a l c o n t r o l , s i n c e g r r i/
r i g h t s c o u l d n o t b e i n h e r i t e d . E v e n t u a l l y , o f c o u r s e ,g r / / h o l d i n g s d e v e l o p e d
i n to a fo rm o f p ri v a te p ro perty i n l and.
Darkrvah wilihave virtually none of this. He states quite explicitly that
" t h e i m p o r t a n t q u e s t i o no f l a n d t e n u r e , Ì i n k e d a s i t w a s w i t h t h e e x p a n s i o n o f
S h e w a ,h a s o n l y b e e n t o u c h e d u p o n . " H e d e n i e st h a t t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t q , e e n
t h e a r i s t o c r a c ya n d t h e p e a s a n t r y w a s f e u d p Ì o n e , o Ì ì t h e g r o u n d s t h a t a n a d m i n i s tra ti v e a re a w a s n o t a Íìef. H e hardl y di sti ngui shes betu,een the
Amhara populationof Menz in particular and the Oromo population of Shoa
i n g e n e ra l , re fe rri n g m o s t o ften-to an undi fferenti ated " peoD l eof S hew a" , an4
to their loyaltl'to the regime. He claims, surprisingly, that "the nature of
Sh e w a n s o c i e t-va l s o o ffe re d, i n a curi ous w ay, protecti on for thc i ndi vi dual
against exploitation," but it is unclear what type of individual he has in
mind.
'l'he
w e a k e s t s e c t i o n o f t h e b o o k i s t h e d i s c u s s i o no f a g r i c u l t u r e , i n d u s h y
a n d t r a d e . T h e c h a p t e r t s a l m o s t e n t i r e l y d e s c r i p t i v e ,a n d t h e a u t h o r d o e s n o t
e ffe c ti v e l y re l a te th e d a ta whi ch he has pai nstaki ngl y coÌl ected from pri mary
s o u Ì ' c c se i t h e r t o t h e p o l i t i c a l s t r u c t u r e o r t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l p r o c e s s .L a t e r
rvriters like Addis Hiwet (Ethiopia from Autcracy to Revolution, London,
1975 and MichaeÌ Stahl (Ethiopia: political contraditions in Agriculturai
D e v e l o p m e n t ,L l p p s a l a , l g ? 5 ) h a v e o f f e r e d m u c h m o r e c o n v i n c i n g a c c o u n i s o f
theirelationship between economic conditions and political dynamism in
n i n e te e n th c e n { u ry S h o a .
" Ironically for a writer who describesthe Amhara expansion as an exte n s i o n o f th e p a x Sh o a n ai n to the conquered regi ons, D arkw a' s chapter on the
a rmy d e m o n s tra te s th e e x tent to w hi ch A mhara soci ety w as mi l i tari sed, and
the great importance attached to the purchase of fircarms from Europe.
A l th o u g h h e d e s c ri b e s w h a t w as i n effect a professi onal mi l i tary cl ass, from
which administrators were often drawn and which was the main recipient of
g ra n ts fro m th e c r ow n, D arkw ah argues that S hoan soci ety w as
g tl l
casteless, since the centralisation of politicaì power prevented the
i n h e r i t a n c e o f w e a l t h a n d h e n c e o f i n f l u e n c e .H e s i m i l a r l y m i n i m i z e s t h e r o l e
of the Church, maintaining that it played no direct part in the poìitical Ìife of
t h e k i n g d o m . Y e t t h e t h e o l o g i c a l d i s p u t e sb e t w e e n t h e T e w a h d o a n d K e b a t
s e c t s d u r i n g T e w o d r o s 'r e i g n , t o w h i c h . h e d e v o t e s s e v e r a Ì p a r a g r a p h s , c a n b e
shown to have been part of a fierce struggie between religiousand secular
108
authorities for hegemony. It is, after all,'unlikely that the Church as landowner would have had no political role to play.
Dr Darkwah has made extensive use of government and missionary archives in London, Paris and Rome, and of the printed travel literature.. He
has not used Ethiopian-language sources, except for translations of the Royal
Chronicles, and his bibliography of secondary literature is sparse, omitting
s e v e ra l i te m s o f i mp o rta n ce that have appeared si nce 1966. The book l acks
an adequate theoretical framework, and fails to make any serious attempt to
relate the economic base of Shoan state formation to the dynamics of expansion into southern markets and trade-routes, or to the European scramble
for Africa, which was taking place during the later period. Acconding to his
publisher, Darkwah attempts to show how Shoan trading and military power
e n s u re d th e s u rv i v a l o f E th i opi an i ndependence.B ut al though he succeedsi n
presenting a detailed narrative history of the Menz dynasty and the Shoan
k i n g d o m , th e a u th o r fa i l s t o l ocate the events he descri besconcretel y i n the
c o n te x t o f th e s o c i a l a n d economi c rel ati ons of A mhara soci ety, and so has
described but not explained the rise of Shoa and the establishment of
Amh a ra d o m i n a n c e .
109