French Scholarship – and the new Ethiopian Millennium

Ethiopia has intrigued explorers, scholars, painters, bards and the itinerant wonderer since the mists of time. Our country is arguably the most written about nation in Africa next to Egypt. Weighty tomes have been laboriously compiled by Greeks, Romans, Portuguese, British, Italian, German and French writers in various languages. Unfortunately, few of these works have bibliographies compiled for them. Professor Pankhurst in a previous article, shed light on this issue and gently reminded all historically minded Italians to consider publishing a Bibliography of works by Italians on Ethiopia.

This week, he illuminates the French contribution to Ethiopian studies and repeats his advice for the compilation of the works of eminent French-Ethiophiles into a Bibliography.

Charles Poncet

Ethiopian ties with France are appreciably less old than those of Italy – but nevertheless date back to the end of the 17th century when the Ethiopian Emperor Iyasu became conscious of a French medical presence in nearby Egypt – and sought to exploit it. The result was the visit to the then Ethiopian capital, Gondar, of the Cairo-based French physician Charles Poncet - who had the distinction of writing the first detailed account of Gondar – and of the embattled Ethiopian state of which it was the capital.

French awareness of Ethiopia developed further during the Napoleonic age when French scholars in Egypt investigated the lives of Ethiopian slaves in that country – and probed into their history.

Edmonde Combes and Maurice Tamisier

French interest in Ethiopia expanded greatly in the early 19th century, initially as a result of French Saint Simonian hopes of finding a Female Messiah in the East. This led to the visit to northern and central Ethiopia in the early 1830s of two French Saint Simonians: Edmond Combes and Maurice Tamisier.

This pioneer initiative was followed by the travels to Shawa of the notable French explorer Rochet d’Héricourt – who produced two important books and a no less valuable article on his travels. This was followed by the dispatch to Ethiopia of two French scientific missions, the first led by Ferret and Galinier; and the second by Theóphile Lefebvre. This led in turn to the publication of further scholarly works - including remarkable volumes of engravings without equal in the annals of scholarship on Ethiopia.

Franco-Ethiopian links found expression in diplomatic exchanges between Dajazmach Webé, ruler of Tegray, and King Sahla Sellase of Shawa on the one side and Rochet and other Frenchmen on the other.

Tewodros and Yohannes

French interest in Ethiopia was scarcely less important in the ensuing decades. Though the British took centre-stage during the reign of Emperor Tewodros, the French were also in the picture – as manifest in Guillaume Lejean’s notable work Théodore II. Le nouvel empire d’Abyssinie, which was published in Paris in 1865.
The subsequent reign of Emperor Yohannes IV was likewise illuminated by the writings of several Frenchmen, most notably the traveler Alex Girard – and Jean de Coursac, sometime French Vice-consul in Massawa.

 Mention should also be made of French historical writings on neigbouring areas, such as G. Douin’s multi-volume history of Egypt during the reign of Khedive Ismail, and the even more voluminous study by Albert Kammerer of the Red Sea area throughout its history.

Emperor Menelik

Franco-Ethiopian links in those days pale in comparison with those which developed in Menilek’s day; when the country was visited by literally dozens of French travelers, including several scientific missions; when French was taught at the newly-opened Menilek School, and the Alliance Française; when French loan-words, such as biro, entered the Amharic language; when the railway, or chemin de fer, led from the Ethiopian capital to the French port of Djibouti; and when the Ethiopian currency, and postage-stamps, were both produced in Paris.

French Scholarship

Throughout this time French scholarship on Ethiopia played an equally important role. One of its early land-marks was the publication in Paris in 1881 of Antoine d’Abbadie’s remarkable, and beautifully-printed, Amharic-French Dictionary.

Little over a generation later one recalls the great Marcel Cohen, a man of scholarship and integrity (whom the present writer had the honour to meet) – who wrote extensively on Ethiopian linguistic and cultural matters; and, teaching in Paris for over half a century, made that city the European capital of Ethiopian Studies.

One can but recall the publication, by Sylvain Grébaud, of his Ge’ez Bulletin Aethiops, of Marius Chaïne’s tireless work – relevant in this Millennium Year - on Ethiopian chronology; and of Maurice De Coppet’s French translation of Gabra Sellasé’s great chronicle of Emperor Menilek.
And yet; and yet…

We currently have no comprehensive, up-to-date Bibliography of French writings on Ethiopia – and today’s Millennium wish is that French scholars should get together to produce one!