Let's Have Coffee
INTRODUCING ETHIOPIA

By: Mesfin Wolde-Mariam
Professor of Geography

Ethiopia has always been a land of mystery, a mystery that is still unfolding. In the 16th century, Europeans wrote of "the land of the great Lord Prestor John" who was "the sole Christian ruler in a heathen continent." The land of Presot John was believed to have abundant agricultural and mineral wealth. This land was rich in gold and important in the international trade of the time. It had fat sheep with six horns, and "with smooth hair and such broad tail that it dragged it behind, it weighed abut one-third of the whole sheep." Even later, after relatively more was known about the country and the people, the exaggeration of the wealth continued. In the middle of the sixteenth century, a Portugese priest, Bermudez, wrote to his king pleading to "secure" Ethiopia for Portugal and for "the Holy Mother Church." In order to persuade the king of Portugal, the priest wrote "as far as worldly affairs also there would be such profit there the neither Peru with its gold, nor India with its commerce, would be superior to it."

When Edward Gibbon wrote his oft quoted sentence that "Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion, the Aethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten," he had in mind Islam and the western perception of it. He was not, for instance, thinking of the likes of Bermudez, nor of the fact that Islam is as much Ethiopian as Christianity.

It was in 1948 that the British scholar, Margery Perham, wrote: "Truth is an elusive query in Ethiopian studies, historical or contemporary." But she did recognize some truth when she wrote:

……..the kingdom which was the forerunner of the modern Ethiopia first enters history, not gradually from the modest beginnings of a barbarian tribe, but as an established power sharing in the commerce and culture of the ancient world.

A famous American cultural geographer, Carl O. Sauer, writing in 1952 said: "Archaeology has never pointed a finger at Ethiopia as a cradle of civilization, but this (that Ethiopia is a great center of origin of cultivated plants ) and other biological evidence does so, and very strongly." Eventually archaeology did point a finger at Ethiopia. Hardly three decades later, with the discovery of Lucy, or Dinkinesh, her Ethiopian name, Ethiopia has become, as far as present paleoanthropological ancestor. In, Lucy: the Beginnings of Humankind, the authors describe Lucy as being "approximately 3.5 million years old. She is the oldest, most complete, best-preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ancestor that has ever been found." Archaeological and historical studies, too, are gradually uncovering more and more of Ethiopia's past.

Furthermore, Martin Bernal, the author of Black Athena: the Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, has charted a new historical perspective that places Ethiopia at the center of ancient history. By all accounts, Ethiopia is one of the oldest states in the world. Its long and almost uninterrupted history of independence is full of valiant sacrifices against all types of forces which one after another attempted to dominate it. The climax came when Ethiopian forces crushed an incomparably superior and technologically advanced European power, Italy, in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Fascist Italy resisted Ethiopia in 1935 and occupied most of the country until 1941, although Ethiopian patriots were resisting this in the various mountains of the country. Ethiopia's commanding position with regard to the Red Sea and the Nile Valley has always attracted external powers that wish to control the region.

Ethiopia's landscape is characterized by rugged topography as its people are by rugged individualism. Whether there is a relationship between rugged topography and rugged individualism may be debatable. But the facts are incontestable. Rugged individualism, however, is more of a mental peculiarity rather than a social one, for Ethiopians are intensely social in their own milieu. There are also other characteristics of Ethiopians: a profound and unshakable faith in God who controls thought, speech and action, and that nothing ever happens outside His will. Ethiopian greeting is a form of prayer. The polite way of greeting, tena yistilign, means, "may God grant you health." The more egalitarian morning greeting, indet aderk (for male) or indet adersh (for female) means, "how did you spend the night?" It is not a question intended to satisfy one's curiosity about night-time activity. It is an expression of personal concern and a means of providing an opportunity to thank God for surviving through the night. Different forms of the same greeting apply for different parts of the day.

It is also faith in God and conviction that all human beings are created in the image of God that forms the foundation for the sense of justice, the sense of compassion, the sense of honor and independence that are characteristic of traditional Ethiopians. It must also be the source of their resolute courage for defending the freedom and the independence of their country against intruders throughout the centuries.

From historical and cultural perspectives, the location of Ethiopia has also played a significant role. Located between the Arabian Peninsula in the east from which it is separated by the Red Sea (which is only 40 kms. at its narrowest), Arab Africa in the north and sub Saharan Africa in the south, Ethiopia could not escape significant interaction with these three rather different cultural regions. This interaction has created a manifest diversity of physiognomy and culture. It is with good reason, therefore, that the Italian scholar Conti Rossini described Ethiopia as " a museum of peoples." Some 80 to 100 language groups constitute this "museum of peoples."

Ethiopian Judaism, Ethiopian Christianity, Ethiopian Islam, and Ethiopian Animist religions are superimposed on the pre-existent Ethiopian diversity as greater unifying factors. Each one of the three great religions of the world - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - has its own Ethiopian peculiarity. Not only is each one of them different from its western or eastern component, but each has also unmistakable Ethiopian cultural stamp that provides a common and unifying element. These great religions share an uncommon spiritual bond in Ethiopia.

It is important to bear I mind that all the three great religions developed in isolation in Ethiopia. Not only was contact with the outside world rare and far between, even internal contact was gravely constrained by the rugged topography. What Ethiopia's proximity to the three broad cultural regions - the Arabian Peninsula, Arab Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa - has administered, Ethiopia's topography has been preserved. Some interpretations for the peculiarity of the great religions in Ethiopia see it as the juxtaposition of these religions on a pagan base. For instance, Spencer Trimingham, in his outstanding book, Islam in Ethiopia, states that "the gods of pagans were not rooted out of the people's lives, but continued underground in a modified form as good or evil spirits." Ethiopians prefer to see it as an independent process of their cultural development.

Coming to Ethiopia's natural resources, the location of the country between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn is important. This location makes Ethiopia a tropical country. But altitude modifies the temperature conditions so much that the highlands of Ethiopia are cool to cold throughout the year. Altitude also affects rainfall, the leeward sides of mountains receiving considerably more than the lowlands. Because of the rugged topography and considerable variation of altitude, even within short distanced the climatic variations are significantly great. In less than 50 kms. one may experience great extremes of temperature, from very cold and misty weather to a very hot and scorching tropical conditions. The great variation in climate is the basic indicator of the immense agricultural potential of the country. Warm weather tropical crops as well as cold weather crops grow in different parts of the country. Moreover, differences in the seasons of rains in different parts of the country allow different harvesting seasons. With the introduction of new technology, water conservation and irrigation, much more land could be brought under cultivation.

Ethiopia is the water-tower of Eastern Africa, dominating the drainage systems of the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The Bbaro (or the Sobat), the Abbay (or the Blue Nile) and the Gash (or the Atbarab) are the major Ethiopia components of the Nile River. In the summer months Ethiopia's contribution to the Nile from the Abbay alone may reach 80% or more. The Ghenale reaches the Indian Ocean while the Wabi Shebelle disappears in the coastal sands of Somalia. The Awash River fails to reach the Red Sea and dwindles into a series of pools near the border of Djibouti. The Bhibe (or the Omo), too, flows south and drains into Lake Rudolf on the Ethiopia-Kenya border.

The Ethiopian Rift Valley has seven lakes at elevations ranging from 1200m. to 1850m. above sea level. With their wealth of fish, crocodiles and water birds these lakes provide exciting experience for naturalists and bird watchers. But the most famous lake in Ethiopia is Lake Tana, in the northwestern part of the country. It is the source of the Abbay, or the Blue Nile. At an elevation of over 1800m above sea level this heart-shaped lake has islands with ancient monasteries which have preserved some of the precious historical treasures of the country. Very old monasteries are found in many part of the country.

The great diversity of altitude and climate has made Ethiopia, in spite of its relatively small, home of many plants and animals. Ethiopia is the home of numerous endemic mammals, such as the semen Red fox, the Walia ibex, the Gelada baboon, the Mountain nyala, and others. Both as tourist attractions and for the protection of these endangered species of animals, there are several nation parks. The Awash National Park, the Bale Mountains National Park, the Semen Mountains National Park and the Omo National Park are the important ones.

That Ethiopia is a very important and an independent center of cultivated plants has long been established. N. I. Vavilov, a famous Russian botanist wrote:

……according to the number of its botanical varieties of wheat, Ethiopia occupies first place … This is also the center of origin cultivated barley.

No here else does exist in nature such a diversity of forms and genes of barley. A number of genera of cultivated plants are found only in Ethiopia, for example, the bread grain Eragrosists Abyssinica and the oil bearing Guixotica Abyssinica.

In this connection, it may be noted that many authorities believe that Ethiopia is also the origin of coffee. In fact, some say that the work "coffee" comes from Kafa, the Ethiopian region most famous for its wild coffee forests.

Coffee grows wild in many of the wesern parts of Ethiopia, including Kafa, Illubabor and Wellega. In addition, there are coffee producing regions in the south, in a belt extending from Guraghe through Dembata and Hadiyaa to Welayita, Sidamo, Ghidewo, and Gamo Gofa. The peculiarity of these coffee producing regions in southern Ethiopia is that coffee plantation is associated with inset (the so-called false banana) cultivation. Some of the best Ethiopian coffee such as the one from Yirga Cheffe, in Ghidewo, comes from this part. There is also a coffee-producing region in the east, in Harer.

In the literature on famine, there are many writers who point to the dominance of cash crops and the decline of food production as one of the reasons. In the case of Ethiopia, this is far from the truth. Even including the so-called wild coffee forests, the land under coffee is small. In the major coffee producing regions where the geographical conditions are very favorable, the land under coffee is in the range of 6 to 14% of the total cultivated land. Moreover, the major coffee producing regions have not so far been vulnerable to famine.

Coffee was a cultural crop before it ever acquired its present economic importance as a cash crop. It still plays a pivotal role in the Ethiopian culture of hospitality. "Come and have coffee," (note that we do not say 'a cup of coffee' because Ethiopians do not drink only one cup of coffee), may mean many things. It may be for a discussion of some family problems, or for introducing a relative or a friend, or for a serious business, or for a trivial chat, or it my be an invitation t a special treat of raw meat, an Ethiopian delicacy.

It is ironic that this country that has now come to be associated with famine, the tradition has been that food is not a commodity. It is extremely disgraceful to sell food. Food must be given, not sold. In fact, feeding travelers is considered as a God-sent opportunity to do good. It is still not uncommon to find oneself in a strange situation in small hotels in rural towns. When one asks for the bill, one gets it only for the rent of the room and not for food or for coffee! Ethiopian hospitality knows no bounds: whatever food or drink is available must be finished to satisfy the host. For traditionally the more one eats and drinks the more one would please the host or hostess. It would be wrong to assume that this applies only to the well to do. This is true for the poorest Ethiopian peasant. Eating and drinking is a very important social function in Ethiopia.

If there is noting else, there will always be coffee in the house of the poorest Ethiopian. It serves a double purpose: it socializes and it curbs hunger.

The socialization associated with eating and drinking in general and of drinking coffee together in particular may not be unique to Ethiopians. But there is a certain friendly warmth and sincerity that makes it special. That may be the reason for the fact that very often Ethiopia humanizes visitors in very subtle ways. That is why many outsiders literally fall in love with Ethiopia.

If not lives in Ethiopia for some years, one will surely fall in love with it. James Marshall, a Scotsman, a man of many talents and who was teaching mathematics in Ethiopia, made Ethiopia his permanent home, even after death. He wrote and sang the song which begins with the following words:

Once you have drunk of the waters of Ethiopia,

you will return to imbibe in them again.

That, too, is one of the mysteries of Ethiopia.