History of the City of Gondar (review)

The establishment of the historical city of Gondar in northern Ethiopia around 1636 signaled the end of the medieval tradition of roving capitals. Emperor Fasiladas (r. 1625–1660) may have chosen Gondar as his seat of government for its strategic placement and fertile lands. More significantly, in the relative peace of seventeenth-century northern and central Ethiopia, caravans from Sudan and the Red Sea converged on and dispersed from Gondar. Sustained by its local and long-distance trade, the city flourished as a major urban center until the second half of the nineteenth century. This book traces the history of Gondar, with particular emphasis on the twentieth century.

It begins with a foreword by the historian Bahru Zewde, who highlights the significance of Gondar (described by French travelers as “the Paris of Abyssinia”) as a thriving commercial and religious center. Four chapters and a conclusion follow; they focus on Gondar’s historical background, on the colonial presence and the shifting political terrain from the 1930s to the 1950s, on developments in infrastructure in this same period, and on economic activities in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s.

The author makes ample use of local municipal records in reconstructing the city’s past, supplemented with oral testimonies and newspaper accounts. The second chapter in particular, on the local and international dimensions of the end of Italian occupation, offers insightful details about the complex dynamics of power at a difficult juncture of transition. In the mayhem that followed Italian withdrawal, attempts at restoring order were constantly defied by rival patriotic groups and rebels vying for control. Municipal authority, which relied on the modern administrative structure introduced by colonial rule, was circumscribed by both its own burdensome structure and the challenges presented by traditional nobility and church leaders.

It is worth noting that from the 1990s Addis Ababa University’s Department of History has encouraged graduate students to pursue inquiries in regional histories and urban centers. The resulting body of research has explored a wide range of issues on urbanization, including trade, migration, the establishment of administrative organs, and the expansion of services and infrastructure. This present work, which grew out of a master’s thesis in the department, may well be the first to have been elaborated to book form.

Though it successfully marshals a range of facts, the necessary revisions to transform the text into a book manuscript are less apparent. There is no clear central thesis, and except for the brief reflection in the conclusion, little analysis connects the chapters. The publisher’s editorial work also leaves much to be desired: the book would have benefited from an index as well as a map and visual illustrations demonstrating spatial relations. In at least one section, endnote numbers and notes are not in synch. There are noticeable inconsistencies in orthography and grammar, and the extensive use of passive sentence construction often leads one to question the source of statements. Texts in Amharic are sometimes presented without explanation and typographical errors abound. In addition, the author uses the Ethiopian calendar for chronology throughout the book, but the list in the glossary equating Ethiopian to Western months is misleading, because the days in the months do not correspond exactly. This is sure to create unnecessary confusion both for general readers and specialists attempting to chart unfolding events.

Despite these shortcomings, the book provides useful documentation for future researchers on the beginnings and subsequent transformations of an important urban center. Although cities like Addis Ababa, Asmara, and Harar have had their share of scholarly and popular attention, this work, by its choice of focus and period, illuminates our understanding of the history of a provincial town. By this very orientation, the book fits in with similar scholarship on Africa’s urban past.