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The Indian Door of Tāfāri Mākonnen's Houseat Harar (Ethiopia)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
Extract
Indian commercial relations with the Red Sea area, andin particular with Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa,date back to the dawn of history. Craftsmen from thesub-continent were also active in the Ethiopianregion for many centuries, most notably in the early1620s when “a noble Indian” there is said, by theJesuit Affonso Mendes, to have thrown white pebblesinto the fire, as he had seen done in Cambay, and tohave thereby produced “a very glutinous lime”. Thethen ruler of the country, Emperor Susenyos, wasreported by another of the Jesuits, Manoel deAlmeida, to have shortly afterwards given orders forthe construction of a stone bridge which was erectedby a craftsman from India. The latter, according toa contemporary Ethiopian chronicle, was a Banyancalled Abdāl Kerim who was also responsible forbuilding Susenyos a palace at his capitalDānqāz.
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References
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11 I am indebted to Dr Berhanou Abbebe, of Addis Ababa University, for help in deciphering the inscription, and for drawing my attention to this linguistic variation.
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