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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Sixteen Letters of Ras Makonnen and His Sons to Hajj Ahmad, Abonn of Harar |
Author: | Seifu Metaferia |
Year: | 1974 |
Periodical: | Journal of Ethiopian Studies |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | July |
Pages: | 179-199 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
Subjects: | public administration history 1850-1899 1900-1949 letters (form) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965873 |
Abstract: | Publication of sixteen letters in Amharic, with English translation, written to Hajj Ahmad by Ras Mäkonnen and his two sons Däjjazmac Yelma and Ras Täfäri. Hajj Ahmad himself was born in Harar in 1866/67 and had a long career as an official in the procincial administration. The letters touch on a variety of matters: yearly account of income (most probably from the personal property of Ras Makonnen's family); salary payments; taxation of land or animals; distribution of gäbbars (land); better relations with the Muslim community of Harar; the purchase and storage of grain; and the Hajj's personal affairs. These letters, as part of the corpus of Amharic epistolary literature, embody the traditional means of communication called däbdabé (letter) and serve as useful sources for the study of linguistics and of Ethiopian history and administration. Notes. |