New answers

This blog post isn't going to be relevant to a whole lot of people, but when you realize you've gotten something wrong for several years, you feel like writing a blog post about it.

Here is a quick quiz about Ethiopia:

1. How long has the country of Ethiopia existed?
2. Was Ethiopia ever a colony?
3. What language is spoken in Ethiopia?
4. What do traditional Ethiopian clothes look like?
5. What are some important sights in Ethiopia? 

Here are the quick answers, as might be given by our adoption agency, by a cursory Google search, by many Ethiopian Americans, by me during the last few years.

1. How long has the country of Ethiopia existed?
The country of Ethiopia is one of the oldest in the world. The fabled Ethiopian Queen of Sheba, who had a son with King Solomon, lived in the 10th century BC. Homer and Herodotus wrote about Ethiopia in the 8th and 5th centuries BC. 

2. Was Ethiopia ever a colony?
No. During the Scramble for Africa, the Ethiopians defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. Ethiopia is the only African country to have never been a colony.

3. What language is spoken in Ethiopia?
The main language is Amharic. It's a Semitic language that uses an alphabet called fidel.

4. What do traditional Ethiopian clothes look like?
The traditional clothing is the shamma, which is a long white cotton cloth, often with embroidered edges. A heavier version, more like a blanket, is called a gabbi. Women cover their heads with a gauzy ne'tela. 

5. What are some important sights in Ethiopia?  
The stelae at Axum, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the castles of Gondar, Bahir Dar, Lake Tana and the Blue Nile. 



But for my children, none of these answers are correct. 

My children are from the south of Ethiopia, not from the center or the north. And that's a whole different history and culture.

I realized this over a year ago (See Whose culture is it anyway?) but until recently I hadn't tried to find the answers that would apply to my kids. Busy learning how to be a family and all. Only now, with our trip to Burjii coming up, am I finally doing some research.

So here is my first attempt at new answers.

1. How long has the country of Ethiopia existed?
The country of Ethiopia, with its current borders that include the south, has existed since the end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th century.

I just read Nomads in the Shadows of Empires. One of the most interesting parts was about how the Ethiopian empire and British Kenya drew the frontier line between the two countries. Something I had never thought about before.

2. Was Ethiopia ever a colony?
Yes. The states of what is now southern Ethiopia were invaded and colonized by the army of Emperor Menelik. The Amhara neftenya (soldier-settlers) enforced a system called gabbar among the indigenous population, which was something very close to slavery. Some would say southern Ethiopia is still colonized.

3. What language is spoken in Ethiopia?
Of the approximately 85 languages in Ethiopia, the most widely spoken first language is Oromiffa. It is a Cushitic language related to Somali, Sidamo and Burjii. Cushitic languages use the Latin alphabet, not fidel. Other language groups in Ethiopia are Semitic, Omotic and Nilo-Saharan. Amharic is the most widely spoken second language due to the Amhara conquest and the resulting (now-past) language policies.

4. What do traditional Ethiopian clothes look like?
Each ethnic group has its own traditional clothes. Traditional Burjii clothes are made from a bright blue woven cloth. The shamma, gabbi and ne'tela are traditional Amhara clothing.

http://www.1000starsfest.com/burji/

5. What are some important sights in Ethiopia?  
The sights listed above are all in the north. Most of the southern Ethiopian sights listed in tourist guides fall into the categories of wildlife (Ne'chisar National Park, Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary) or anthropological (lower Omo valley). I am sure there are historic sites that are important to the people of southern Ethiopia, including sites marking their struggles against the Ethiopian empire and against the Italians. But I don't know what they are yet.



Final thoughts:

History is written by the victors.

Ethiopia ≠ Amhara

"It is time to move beyond... 'empathy with the victors' and tell the story of the vanquished, the poor, those who can't 'write,' those who have no 'Book' in their name.  - Teshale Tibebu, The Making of Modern Ethiopia