Eritreans Introduced Modernization to Ethiopia

Eritrean Air Force in 1928 - Eritreans were the first black Africans to fly planes. Click on image to enlarge  (Credit: Issayas Tesfamariam)

Eritreans Introduced Modernization to Ethiopia 

By Barnabas Araya Yohannes,

Eritrea is so illuminated by Italian architectures raised in Asmara, Keren, Mendefera, Massawa, Asab, etc. with endless chain of beautiful homes in which masculine strength of outward form is always balanced by feminine grace and delicacy of interior ornaments.

In these sprawling villas-some with 25 rooms- all comforts and elegances were gathered: mosaic floors, columned halls, landscape murals, chandeliers, sculptures in marble and bronze, great fireplaces and baths, gardens and tennis courts, and environing woods in which ladies and gentlemen might hunt with all the glamour of falconry.

They brought not only magnificent marbles and bronze doors, but their craftsmen also adorned the interiors of their homes with mosaics, enamels, and artistry in metal, ivory, and wood.

Perhaps, out of all the Italian works, the most advanced and complex work was the 2400 m. Massawa-Asmara Cableway (La Teleferica) for transporting goods and services to and from the port to the capital. It was built in 1938/39.

The greater number Italian merchants and craftsmen became powerful corporations; they dealt in a variety of goods, purchased raw materials wholesale, organized the food supply and sewage disposals of the towns, paved streets, built highways, roads, bridges, tunnels, utilities, and docks, deepened harbors, policed highways, supervised markets, regulated wages, hours, conditions of labor, terms of apprenticeship, methods of production and sale, prices of materials and wares.

They brought their own minted currency, ordered and supervised public works, organized the food supply, forbade forestalling, engrossing, or leveling prices, brought seller and buyer into direct contact at markets and fairs, examined weights and measures, inspected commodities, punished adulteration of products, controlled exports and imports, stored grain for lean years, provided grain at fair prices in emergencies, and regulated the prices of essential foods, wine, and beer.

We must not forget, when the Italians were building and operating all these infrastructures, the Eritreans were working as paid laborers. Thus, through their engineers and craftsmen, Eritreans learned architecture, woodwork, metalwork, mechanical, textile and electrical skills. By the time the Italians left Eritrea (1947), the Eritreans were the most experienced and most skilled people in Africa. Once the Eritreans learned these skills, they went to Ethiopia and opened the eyes of the Ethiopians towards modernization.

Before, the Ethiopians were building their homes with water and mud. Then the Eritreans taught them building homes with bricks, marbles, and stones. Even their kings were walking barefoot and wearing only jalabiya (a long shirt); and some of their tribes were still naked. It was the Eritreans that built their cities, opened their first garage shops, adorned their women with fashionable sweaters, skirts, exquisite shoes, and their men with appealing pants and stylish shirts by opening the first tailoring, the first boutiques, the first shoe shops, and the first sweater factories.

Until the Eritreans came to Ethiopia, even their capital city Addis Ababa did not have a sewer system, let alone other cities. The Eritreans not only beautified the city, they were also the first to open and operate many car and truck servicing companies. Eritreans were among the richest owners of agricultural, mechanical, technical, and electrical turfs.

Ethiopia owes that vibrant awakening which caused and resulted in the flowering of Ethiopia’s new beginning towards modernization. However, unfortunately, Eritrea’s contribution to the modernization of Ethiopia is unappreciated.

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