1972
Exert from the Addis Abeba Ministry of Education and Fine Arts
PRINTED BY THE BERHANENA SELAM HAILE SELASSIE 1ST PRINT PRESS

HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA

PEOPLE AND ORIGINS

The earliest inhabitants of Ethiopian plateau were probably related to the bush men; but they other and other Stone Age peoples, who have left tools and some paintings (e.g. the remains of Melko-Kontoure, some of which are very early, and the paintings at Dire Dawa and at Cascase in Eritrea), have not yet been properly studied. (1972)

Abut 10,000 years ago Hametic (Cushitic speaking) peoples came in to North Eastern Africa from Western Asia. They spread all over what is now Ethiopia. The Cushitic speakers can be divided into two groups: the lowland group and the highland group. Examples of the highland Cushites are the Agaw and the Sidamo tribes. Examples of the lowland ones are the Galla and the Somali; modern research has shown that the later home of these lowland peoples was probably southern Ethiopia around Lake Margherita (Abaya), and that they moved to their present homes during the last 1000 years.

Later, some Nilotic peoples from the Nile valley penetrated into the western borders of Ethiopia. In addition Northern Ethiopia was strongly influenced by a movement across the Red sea. The people Saba and other areas of the Yemen set up kingdoms in Northern Ethiopia from quite early times – the earliest Sabean influenced so far discovered (1972) dates from the 7th or 8th century B.C. This influenced on the local peoples of the North caused a change of culture; and from the mixture of foreign and local cultures grew up eventually the civilisation of AXUM.

Mattania