Ethiopian-Portuguese relations

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Ethiopian-Portuguese relations
Location of Portugal and Ethiopia
PortugalPortugal EthiopiaEthiopia
Portugal Ethiopia

The Ethiopian-Portuguese relations describe the intergovernmental relationship between Ethiopia and Portugal . The countries have had direct diplomatic relations since 1959.

Relationships today are good, even if they are comparatively weak. Historically, both the merits of the Portuguese in maintaining Christian Ethiopia against the Arab conquest of 1534–1543 and the guilt of the Portuguese missionaries in the bloody civil war in the 17th century should be mentioned.

In 2015, 53 Ethiopian citizens were registered in Portugal, with 22 most of them in the capital Lisbon .

history

Until the 19th century

Cristóvão da Gama , who died in Ethiopia , immortalized at the Padrão dos Descobrimentos in Lisbon

Pêro da Covilhã was probably the first Portuguese to come to Ethiopia in 1493. The diplomat was well received at the court of the Negus Eskandar , but he was no longer allowed to leave the country. He was visited there by later Portuguese embassies, including Francisco Álvares in 1520 . He stayed in Ethiopia for six years and then brought Pope Clement VII in Rome a letter from Negus David II. Álvares also wrote a book (" Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias ", " Truthful report from the kingdom of the priest John of India ”, published in 1540), which for the first time brought Europe more precise knowledge of Christian Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Empire under David II came under massive pressure from 1534 onwards from the Islamic attempt at conquest under Mohammed Gran . A Portuguese military expedition from Portuguese India under Vasco da Gama's son Cristóvão da Gama came to the aid of the empire in 1541, which was meanwhile ruled by Claudius . The battle of Bacente in 1542 deserves particular mention , as a result of which the Arab invaders were repulsed before they were finally driven out in the Battle of Wayna Daga in 1543. Da Gama himself was later captured by the Arabs and executed, but in the end the Ethiopian-Portuguese forces retained the upper hand and the conquest failed. As a result, Ethiopia remained Christian.

Among the 400 soldiers in the Portuguese expeditionary force were around 70 skilled craftsmen and engineers. Their technical knowledge and the modern Portuguese weapons such as pikes , arquebuses and mortars impressed the Ethiopian emperor, who wanted to take advantage of these innovations.

Bridge built by the Portuguese in the 17th century at the Tisissat waterfalls on the Blue Nile .

Several Portuguese communities emerged in Ethiopia, including from 1543 in Fasil Ghebbi , where they greatly expanded the fortress there. The first groups of Jesuit missionaries came to Ethiopia between 1555 and 1557 . Initially only traveling to the region around Adwa as a religious advocate for the small Indo-Portuguese community , the Jesuits gained increasing influence at the Ethiopian court in the following decades. One reason for this was the theological and political activities of the Jesuits, who were respected for their knowledge of architecture, construction and engineering. Equally important was the emperor's hope for further military and technical assistance from the Portuguese side.

Map of Ethiopia from 1690

After the growing influence of the Jesuits, especially Father Pedro Páez , the Ethiopian Emperor Sissinios (Susenyos) converted to the Catholic faith in 1622 . The most important buildings of this time included the church of Mertule Maryam ( Godscham ) and the cathedrals of Gorgora ( Amhara ) and Danqaze.

Resistance to Susenyo's decision to incorporate the Coptic Church of Ethiopia into the Catholic Church ultimately resulted in a bloody civil war. As a result, the Portuguese missionaries were expelled and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church became the independent leading church of Ethiopia again. By the end of these events, the churches and houses built by the Portuguese were looted, their religious and civil instruments destroyed, and their books burned. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church thus sought to destroy any legacy of the Portuguese Jesuits.

The missionaries were first detained in Fremona , from where Jerónimo Lobo had already directed them, and then expelled completely.

From this period of Portuguese presence in Ethiopia, numerous fortresses have been preserved, partly as ruins, partly as the basis for later facilities, including today's UNESCO World Heritage Site Fasil Ghebbi, which was expanded into the residence of the Ethiopian Emperor Fasilides in the 16th and 17th centuries .

Portuguese missionaries remained banned from Ethiopia until the 19th century.

Emperor Haile Selassie and Egypt's President Nasser (right) in Addis Ababa, on the establishment of the Organization for African Unity in 1963. Subsequently, Ethiopia broke off its diplomatic relations with Portugal.

Since the 20th century

The Portugal of the Estado Novo regime entered into diplomatic relations with the Abyssinian Empire in 1959 , and Armando de Castro e Abreu was the first ambassador in the newly opened legation in Addis Ababa . In 1960 the Legation became a full embassy .

After the outbreak of the Portuguese colonial war in 1961, Portugal became increasingly isolated internationally. Portugal's dictator Salazar and the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie were in correspondence during this troubled time. After the expansion of the Portuguese colonial war in 1963 and in connection with the establishment of the Organization for African Unity in Addis Ababa in May of the same year, Ethiopia finally broke off diplomatic relations with Portugal.

After the overthrow of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie by the communist Derg in March 1974 and the end of the colonial regime in Portugal by the left-wing Carnation Revolution on April 25 of the same year, the two countries came closer together again.

On July 4, 1984, the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.

Since 2002 Portugal has again had its own embassy in Addis Ababa.

Portuguese heritage in Ethiopia

In the course of the civil war, which ended in 1634 with the expulsion and persecution of the Portuguese missionaries from Ethiopia, the churches and houses of the Portuguese were destroyed and their contents destroyed. All books, furniture and everyday objects that showed different European-Indian influences were also lost.

Ruins of a Portuguese church from the early 17th century on Lake Tana

Only ruins of fortresses and some churches have been preserved, especially in the Dembya region , near Gonder , on Lake Tana or in the area of Godscham on the Blue Nile . The more important examples such as in Enfraze, Danq'aze, Gorgora or Debra May all show the same pattern: a stone wall surrounds a square castle on a raised landscape. Church ruins that show European influences can usually be found nearby. Most of these structures were probably built after 1620, in connection with the increasing tensions at the end of Susenyo's reign.

The fortress at the later imperial seat of Fasil Ghebbi , which was largely expanded by the Portuguese from 1543 , has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 .

Even after the expulsion of the Jesuits to Fremona , some Indo-Portuguese Catholics still lived at the court in Gondar, and the art of Gonder also continued to count Indo-Portuguese characteristics among its various influences, for example in the depictions of Maria Hodigitria and others. a.

The Jesuits also had an influence on the theological development of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia through their methodology and the philosophical-liturgical discussions. Since then, however, Jesuit influences have remained unnoticed in the context of the demarcation from Western Christianity and the pronounced idea of ​​independence in Ethiopia.

On the other hand, numerous legends that are told in the oral traditions in Ethiopia to this day have remained alive . In the remote villages in the north of the country in particular, the legends handed down deal with stories of extravagant courtly life and the religious civil war, but also tell of the arrival of the 400 Portuguese soldiers who saved Christian Ethiopia from the bloody Islamic invaders. Cristóvão da Gama is often seen as the martyr who made the victory over the Arab conquerors possible. The later intrigues between the Orthodox clergy and the Catholic missionaries and their competition for the favor of the emperor are also dealt with.

diplomacy

Portugal maintains an embassy in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa . There are also no Portuguese consulates in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia does not have its own embassy in Portugal; its representation in Paris is responsible for Portugal. There is an Ethiopian honorary consulate in the northern Portuguese city of Matosinhos near Porto .

economy

Bean harvest in the dodicha cultivation cooperative: green beans are Ethiopia's most important export to Portugal, even before coffee

The Portuguese Chamber of Commerce AICEP maintains a branch at the Portuguese Embassy in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

In 2016, Portugal exported goods worth EUR 9.146 million to Ethiopia ( 2015 : 11.180 million; 2014 : 3.953 million; 2013 : 5.837 million; 2012 : 1.897 million), of which 28.5% were agricultural products (including Malt), 15.1% machines and devices, 13.2% metal goods, 11.8% vehicles and vehicle parts and 8.9% chemical-pharmaceutical products.

In the same period, Ethiopia delivered goods worth 4.808 million euros to Portugal ( 2015 : 3.623 million; 2014 : 5.676 million; 2013 : 2.852 million; 2012 : 1.865 million), 98.0% of which were agricultural products (pre especially green beans and coffee) and 1.4% textiles.

In terms of Portuguese foreign trade, Ethiopia was 103rd as a buyer and 113th as a supplier, and in Ethiopian foreign trade, Portugal was 36th as a buyer and 47th as a supplier.

Culture and religion

Main portal of the University of Addis Ababa, seat of a lecturer at the Instituto Camões in Ethiopia

The Portuguese cultural institute Instituto Camões is present in Ethiopia, in particular with a language center in the capital Addis Ababa and a lecturing department at the University of Addis Ababa .

In Portugal, the Rastafarian faith is also known, who venerated the last Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as savior. However, it only exists there predominantly in the context of the Portuguese reggae scene .

In the 17th and then again in the 20th and 21st centuries, a number of books were published in Portugal that deal with various aspects of the common Ethiopian-Portuguese history.

Literature (selection)

  • Pedro Mota Curto: História dos Portugueses na Etiópia (1490-1640). (Campo das Letras, 2008 ISBN 978-989-62-5326-4 )
  • Pedro Páez : História da Etiópia. (first in 1620, last: Assírio & Alvim, 2008 ISBN 978-972-37-1056-4 )
  • Maria Antonieta Gomes Raposo: A Invasão da Etiópia em 1935 vista pela Diplomacia Portuguesa. (Edições Colibri, 2003 ISBN 978-972-77-2427-7 )
  • Ivo Carneiro de Sousa: A Crónica como Missão - A 'História da Etiópia-a-Alta ou Preste João' do Padre Baltasar Teles (1660). (Granito Editores, 1998, ISBN 978-972-97-5302-2 )
  • Relações diplomáticas entre Portugal ea Etiópia: textos das cartas trocadas entre o Imperador Hailé Selassié eo Presidente do Conselho de Portugal, Dr. Oliveira Salazar (correspondence between Salazar and Haile Selassie published in 1963 by the information service of the Estado Novo regime, SNI)
  • Cláudia Jacques: Perdida na Etiópia. (Lugar da Palavra, 2012 ISBN 978-989-82-5589-1 )

Web links

Commons : Ethiopian-Portuguese Relations  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Overview of diplomatic relations with Ethiopia at the Diplomatic Institute in the Portuguese Foreign Ministry , accessed on May 4, 2019
  2. ↑ a b Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 ), pp. 805f.
  3. ↑ Official Portuguese aliens statistics by district , Portuguese Aliens and Borders Authority SEF, accessed on August 3, 2017
  4. ↑ a b c Entry of the fortress Fasil Ghebbi in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA, accessed on August 11, 2017
  5. ↑ Relações diplomáticas entre Portugal ea Etiópia: textos das cartas trocadas entre o Imperador Hailé Selassié eo Presidente do Conselho de Portugal, Dr. Oliveira Salazar , entry of the correspondence between Salazar and Selassie, published in Portugal in 1963, OCLC WorldCat accessed on 11 August 2017
  6. ↑ List of the Portuguese ambassadors in Ethiopia , website of the Diplomatic Institute in the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed on November 15, 2019
  7. ↑ Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 ), p. 806.
  8. ↑ List of Portuguese diplomatic missions abroad (under Etiópia ), website of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed on August 3, 2017
  9. ↑ Entry by the Ethiopian Honorary Consulate in Porto on www.embaixadas.net, accessed on August 3, 2017
  10. ^ AICEP page on the branch in Ethiopia , AICEP website, accessed on August 3, 2017
  11. ↑ a b c Bilateral economic relations between Portugal and Ethiopia , Excel file retrieval from the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce AICEP, accessed on August 3, 2017
  12. ↑ Overview of the activities in Ethiopia , website of the Instituto Camões, accessed on August 7, 2017