The buried culture of Ethiopia and Somalia: ancient land of high culture

Now that I have finished and published my history of Byzantium and its world (January 22, 2022), next I will do the history of 'Black' Africa, starting with Ethiopia and Somalia.

I have begun to realize how deeply buried knowledge of the rich ancient culture of Ethiopia and Somalia has become.

Somalia has rich native traditions of art music related to classic Arabic music, and a rich native tradition of poetry. Although the poetry was originally oral, in the 13th or 14th Century the Arabic script was adapted to writing Somali. Needless to say, the great cities of north Somalia must have been highly literate in Arabic before then. Yet if you look up Somali literature you will rarely find mention of literacy, nor how far back the rich oral tradition goes back.

Similarly, if you look up Ethiopian literature you might learn that Ethiopia has a Christian sacred literature translated from The Bible. A tiny mention of translation of other Greek Christian writers might be found- just a hint. If you don't know anything about the Greek church fathers (I just completed a history of Byzantium), you will have no idea how rich and deep a literature that is. But there's more- alongside the written church literature, Ethiopia has a rich oral tradition of poetry related, like that of Somalia, to the rich and deep Arabic tradition of poetry, which was originally primarily oral, even though it might be occasionally written down- until the coming of Islam and the settling of many Arabs in places like Egypt and Iran, after which the poetry was often written down. Ethiopian poetry may have been occasionally written down, but like Arabic poetry it is a highly developed oral tradition- Arabic poetry is a highly developed oral tradition that is also written down, but whose roots are oral. The preislamic Arabic poets, from before it was common to write down Arabic poetry, are regarded as among the best in the whole rich history of Arabic poetry. Homer was also an oral bard. How many Homers and Omar Khayyams have existed in Ethiopia since early Christian times? Right alongside the religious literature. All long before a primarily written secular Ethiopian literature was developed alongside all the rest around the same time Somalia was adapting the Arabic script to writing Somali!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Ethiopia and Somalia were for 2,000 years a great crossroads of the world, where ships from India to Persia came to Egypt and the Mediterranean, and to meet traders from the interior of Africa. For some 1600 years ships from China to Egypt met in the great ports of Ethiopia and Somalia.

I am devoted to uncovering as much of this rich culture and history as I can find. This is my next book: A Wonder of Civilization in a Crossroads of the World: The Beautiful Civilization of Ethiopia and Somalia.

After that I will do a history of civilization in 'Black' Africa south of the Sahara beyond Ethiopia and Somalia: a land of beautiful sophistocated music and dance, rich traditions of oral storytelling and perhaps (probably) poetry, and beautiful kingdoms and cities for a thousand years before Industry and the 19th Century. This is my next project: uncovering the rich culture of Africa, whose culture is rich but knowledge of this culture has become deeply buried by the fear and guilt of European colonialists who are long dead.

My next project. Wish me luck!

I feel privileged to tell the story of these beautiful civilizations!

God loves you!

Sincerely,

David S. Annderson