History Of Addis Ababa

History Of Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa is Ethiopia’s capital city. It is one of the fastest-developing cities, with a population of more than 3.5 million people. In 1886, King Menelik II established the town, bringing an end to a period of frequent relocations of Ethiopia’s capital, primarily for military purposes. Menelik’s wife, Queen Taytu, was instrumental in the establishment of Addis Ababa. She preferred the pleasant environment of the Finfinne lowlands to the steep Entoto, a very remote, chilly, and windy summit located a few hours north of the then-capital city. In 1886, while Menelik was fighting in Harar, Taytu camped in Filwoha (“hot spring”).

She chose to build a residence north of the hot springs. Queen Taytu settled completely in 1887, upon Menelik’s arrival in March of that year, and named it Addis Ababa (“New Flower”), presumably due to the prevalence of mimosa trees. The capital city officially changed its name from Entoto to Addis Ababa in 1906. Menelik assigned territories around the royal camp to his generals. Each lived in a safar (encampment), where family, servants, soldiers, and priests associated with that person gathered. Rivers and valleys divided safars.

As a result, Addis Abeba became a sprawling city, requiring many hours to navigate, particularly during the rainy season. Just before Menelik’s emperorship, construction on the royal palace began in 1889. In 1992, a fire devastated the palace, prompting its swift restoration. Many people from the countryside fled to Addis Abeba during the famine of 1889–1892. Another wave of immigration followed the 1896 battle of Adwa, in which Menelik’s forces repulsed an invading Italian army. 

After the battle, the nobles settled in Addis Abeba, as did foreign advisors, dealers, businessmen, and diplomats. This accelerated Addis Abeba’s transition from a military camp to a major civilian community. Tents gave way to plastered houses and wooden structures. Italian POWs expanded the gebbi (palace complex), built bridges, and constructed modern roads. Addis Abeba became an important religious center after archbishops of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church settled there. 

Menelik began construction of Addis Alem (“New World”), about 60 kilometers to the west, between 1900 and 1901. Menelik, however, was determined to keep Addis Abeba alive through significant investments in public and private facilities, as well as the adoption of the fast-growing Australian Eucalyptus tree in c. 1894 that rescued the city. Within five years, this tree grows to a height of more than twelve meters, albeit at a significant water consumption. Addis Abeba was given the nickname Eucalyptopolis.

The first decades of the twentieth century saw the construction of the Bank of Abyssinia, the first hotel, the first modern school, the capital’s first hospital, a brickmaking industry, a hydroelectric power station, and the Djibouti railway track, which reached Addis Abeba by 1917. Addis Ababa’s initial growth was mostly unplanned. The fundamental advantage of this “spontaneous growth” was the absence of specific quarters (rich against poor, foreigners versus Ethiopians), as was common in African cities created under colonial authority. 

By the mid-1930s, Addis Abeba was Ethiopia’s largest metropolis, with a population of around 300,000. Thus, it was an obvious target for colonization by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935. He vowed vengeance for the Adwa humiliation and aimed to build an Italian East African empire with Addis Abeba as its administrative capital. Menelik’s successor, Emperor Haile Selassie I, had fled just before the Italian takeover. 

Mussolini reopened the debate over whether to leave Addis Abeba, but decided to stay. The authorities approved an Italian strategy emphasizing the “prestige of the colonizer.” It planned two residential districts in the city’s east and south for only Italians, one for officials and the other for “ordinary” Italians. The relocation of Ethiopians to the west coincided with the relocation of the major market (Arada) from St. George’s Cathedral to Mercato, Africa’s largest open-air market still operating today.

After the patriots and Allied Forces fought the Italians in April 1941, they restored the equestrian statue of Menelik II and the Lion of Judah statue. They renamed several streets, including Churchill Street, in honor of Allied leaders. The Italian occupation resulted in hundreds of European-style offices, shops, and houses, which are still visible today in the city’s piazza area, despite the intended settlement of thousands of ordinary Italians in Addis Abeba never materializing.

After the Italians left, the Ethiopian aristocracy carried on their legacy of enhanced homes and amenities. Except for the split of Addis Abeba into 10 administrative districts (woredas), the post-Italian period saw steady growth without any systematic urban planning. The Abercrombie Plan of 1956 (Abercrombie had previously been in charge of town planning in Greater London) attempted to guide Addis Abeba’s growth.

However, neither this proposal, which included satellite towns and ring roads, nor a British consulting group’s 1959 redrafting attempt, came to fruition. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Addis Abeba saw the development of a number of much larger and more modern structures, including the Africa Hall, Addis Abeba City Hall, Jubilee Palace (now the National Palace), and Hilton Hotel. 

A French city plan (1965) governed the construction boom period. Ethiopia’s capital is now widely regarded as Africa’s unofficial capital. In 1963, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) recognized Haile Selassie’s pan-African diplomacy by choosing the city as its headquarters. However, during the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, the capital witnessed the overthrow of Haile Selassie and the rise to power of Mengistu Haile Mariam.

His policies on mobility restriction and land reform delayed the urbanization process until 1991. During this period, the destruction of over one-third of the city’s forests occurred, with minimal efforts made towards reforestation. The Derg dictatorship established kebeles, a type of urban residents’ cooperative. In the 1980s, the Derg dictatorship established home cooperatives to address poor living conditions and established new communities around the city’s borders. A Hungarian planner constructed the massive Revolution Square, the most prominent physical development commemorating the revolution. The Derg government’s fall in 1991 led to the renaming of Meskal Square.

Between 1984 and 1986, the Addis Abeba Master concept underwent preparation. It was a collaboration between the Ethiopian and Italian governments, as well as the Venice School of Architecture. Although they defined the city’s new boundaries, the authorities did not authorize them until 1994. The master plan provided an ideal vision of the future metropolis, but it lacked practical applications for the ideas proposed. 

Ethiopia divided into fourteen areas following the overthrow of the Derg dictatorship, with Addis Abeba designated as Region 14. Under certain constraints, the government encouraged private initiative, leading to the construction of new office buildings and apartments. The 1995 constitution of the “Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia” declared Addis Abeba a self-governing city, renaming the Region 14 administration as the Addis Abeba City Government. The Office for the Revision of the Addis Ababa Master Plan (ORAAMP) was established.

By early 1998, the city government had developed the “5-year Action Plan for the City of Addis Abeba.” The document was the focus of citywide discussion and deliberation. Since 2001, the city has operated under a new charter, master plan, and urban management system. The Dire Water Dam and the Ring Road project are two of the most notable achievements. 

However, critics point to the lack of job creation, the management of waste collection and other sanitary initiatives, and, in particular, the housing strategy that involves rising rents, bulldozing slum neighborhoods, and investment policies. The issues facing Addis Abeba are vast, beginning with the provision of basic city services such as trash collection, access to clean water, jobs, housing, transportation, and so on. 

The city’s new administration, which took office in 2003, has stated that it plans to form councils in collaboration with all stakeholders to handle these issues in a transparent manner. This should help to realize the vision statement “Addis 2010: A Safe, Livable City,” which presents Addis Ababa as an effective center for national economic growth and Africa’s diplomatic capital.

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History Of Accra

Accra, like many of Ghana’s main coastal towns, originated as an offshoot of a key inland metropolis, but geography and history conspired to cause the split between parent and offspring to occur sooner than elsewhere. Archaeological evidence suggests that in the late sixteenth century, the Ga people settled in the grassy plains south of the Akwapem escarpment, establishing Ayawaso, also known as Great Accra to Europeans. 

Initially, the Ga were hesitant to allow Europeans to construct permanent settlements on the coast, but in 1649, they let the Dutch West India Company build Fort Crèvecoeur at “Little Accra.” In 1661, the Danes erected Christiansborg Castle at Osu, two miles east of the Dutch fort. Eleven years later, the Royal African Enterprise, an English enterprise, began building on James Fort in the settlement of Tsoco, half a mile west of Fort Crèvecoeur. 

Ga traditions suggest that the establishment of the coastline area occurred during Okai Koi’s reign (1610–1660), likely due to migrations over a longer period. In 1680–1681, the Akwamu invaded and destroyed Great Accra. Fifty years later, the Akyem vanquished the Akwamus, and shortly after, in 1742, the Asante invaded this territory and integrated it into their southern provinces. Consequently, they severed the link between the interior capital and coastal town at an early age.

Nonetheless, the presence of rival European commercial businesses on the coast hindered the development of a centralized state. Even in the nineteenth century, three distinct towns (Ussher Town, also known as Kinka, James Town, or Nleshi, and Osu), each with its own akutsei, or quarter, separated Accra.

It wasn’t until 1867 that the British ultimately bought all of the forts along the coast and unified the towns under one administration. Connections with Europeans increased the influence of numerous mantses, or governors of cities and quarters, with the Abola akutso mantse reigning supreme. However, this arrangement, hotly debated at times, would remain a fundamental topic in twentieth-century political life.

The history of invasions and conquests that made this one of the most culturally diverse locations on the coast, exacerbated these conflicts. Other than Ga, there were Adangme, Allada, Akwams, Akyem, Fante, and Asante. Additional individuals from what would become Nigeria and liberated slaves from Brazil continued to swell the population into the nineteenth century. Undoubtedly, the Akan element was most crucial, contributing to the Akanization of Ga institutions. 

For example, Ga patrilineal inheritance became intertwined with Akan matrilineal inheritance. Opposition to a British attempt to impose a poll tax in 1854 demonstrated the contestation of the spread of European rule. Only after two sea bombardments were the British able to restore control of the territories surrounding their forts. Nevertheless, in 1877, the British shifted the colony’s capital from Cape Coast to Accra. 

The area was healthier, and the broad plains of its hinterland allowed for far greater expansion than the tight, hilly Cape Coast. These advantages made up for the harbor’s unfavorable conditions, which were among the worst on the coast, as well as the region’s vulnerability to earthquakes, as the disastrous 1862 tremor showed. Accra was already the major commercial town on the coast, with a population of approximately 20,000 people. 

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Initially, growth was modest, but by 1921, the population had surpassed 38,000. Accra became the first town on the Gold Coast to establish a municipal government in 1894. The combination of high housing costs and an African minority in this body contributed to its substantial unpopularity. Not until 1898 were three Africans convinced to accept the nomination. 

Plague and yellow fever scares in the early twentieth century expanded the council’s role as an arm of government, with minimal African participation. These diseases also stimulated growth outside of the original, dense settlements. The 1908 plague prompted the development of new suburbs such as Kole Gonno, Riponsville, Kansehie, and Adabraka. British officials began moving to Victoriaborg in the 1870s. 

The 1910 yellow fever outbreak led to the creation of the Ridge residential neighborhood, which was slightly further inland. There were also significant infrastructure improvements. Construction on the harbor’s breakwater began in 1907. In 1909, construction began on a railway line to Nsawam, which was to reach Kumasi in 1923. Accra received piped water from the Weija reservoir in 1914 and received electricity two years later.

Compensating local chiefs for the land needed for these projects always led to heated litigation, and much of Accra’s political life was tied to the city’s expansion. In the 1920s, infrastructural development continued, with significant projects including the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (1923) and the Prince of Wales College at Achimota (1927). 

By the 1930s, Accra had emerged as the colony’s political center. The National Congress of British West Africa (founded in 1920) was dormant, but new political organizations emerged, including J.B. Danquah’s Gold Coast Youth Conference (1930 and 1937), the Central National Committee (1934), which organized protests against the “Obnoxious Ordinances,” and Sierra Leonean I.T.A. Wallace Johnson’s West African Youth League (1935). 

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Nigerian Nnamdi Azikiwe edited The African Morning Post, the first regular daily newspaper, in 1934. The town’s population doubled as newcomers from various parts of the colony and West Africa arrived. A severe earthquake in 1939 caused extensive property damage and prompted the government to build housing complexes in the suburbs, which aided the town’s spatial expansion. 
Following World War II, Accra became the epicenter of nationalist activism. In 1948, Accra’s chief, Nii Bonne, launched an anti-inflation campaign. Shortly after, a march of ex-servicemen resulted in shootings and widespread establishment theft. Building on these events, Kwame Nkrumah declared the formation of the Convention People’s Party at Accra’s Arena meeting place in 1949, eight years before Ghana gained independence. 

As the colony moved toward independence, Accra expanded at a rapid pace. A 1954 estimate put the population at just under 200,000, with an annual growth rate of about 10%. Kwame Nkrumah declared Accra a city in 1961, uniting previously independent suburbs like Adabraka to the center. Greater Accra is believed to have a population of more than two million people, and the metropolis, along with its many suburbs, stretches over eight miles inland. 

To address Accra’s harbor concerns, an artificial harbor was developed in Tema, 25 kilometers to the east, in 1961. More recently, there has been significant roadway construction to alleviate traffic congestion in this quickly expanding metropolis. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly, which dates back to the Town Council in 1898, is in charge of administering this enormous territory.

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Gabon History

Gabon History: Three major events characterized Gabon’s history in the nineteenth century: French settlement in the Gabon estuary; French exploration of the Como, Rembwe, and Ogooué Rivers; and Fang migrations throughout the Ogooué basin. In 1839, French naval commander Bouet-Willaumez and Mpongwe leader Denis Rapontchombo signed a pact that marked the beginning of the French colonization of the Gabon estuary. 

The ratification of this pact granted France access to a small piece of land on the Gabon estuary’s left bank in exchange for Rapontchombo receiving French “protection.” France employed this station to suppress the slave trade on Africa’s west coast. American missionaries established a mission at Baraka in 1842, and the Mpongwe chiefs approved the relocation of the French post to the right bank of the Gabon estuary a year later.

The French assisted Roman Catholic missionaries in settling in the Gabon estuary in 1844. The French utilized this new enterprise, known as the Comptoir du Gabon (Syndicate/Cartel of Gabon), not only to capture slave ships but also to challenge the British and German dominance in the region’s trade. However, the establishment of this garrison heightened tensions between the residents of Glass and the French navy. 

After resolving relations with Britain and destroying the uprising in Glass, France began organizing its comptoir between 1845 and 1859. The construction of the Fort d’Aumale, which moved from the beach to the Okolo plateau in 1850 due to its higher elevation and perceived sanitary conditions, distinguished this organization. Nonetheless, this French institution encountered difficulties because food was scarce, sickness was common among French immigrants, and the company lacked manpower.

French commerce struggled to compete with the thriving British trade. In 1849, the establishment of Libreville aimed to spread French culture by relocating fifty recaptured slaves from the slave ship Elizia. Libreville later became the capital of both the French Congo and independent Gabon. The signing of contracts with native populations in Gabon is proof that the French started to engage in territorial exploration despite these early obstacles.

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These treaties required local leaders to cede sovereignty while providing France with financial and political advantages. Between 1845 and 1885, France conducted a considerably more aggressive territorial expansion to broaden its sphere of influence. Pigeard explored the Como and Rembwé in June 1846, signing a pact with the Mpongwe and Seke chiefs. The naval commander Roger forged a deal with the Bakele leader Kianlowin in 1848, and placed the Benga of Cape Esterias and Corisco under French “protection” in 1852.

In 1853, Baudin traveled to Como and made direct contact with the Fang. In 1862, Payeur-Didelot and Ndebulia, the Orungou chief, signed a pact. Serval and Griffon du Bellay explored Lower Ogooué in the same year, establishing ties with the Interor’s Orungou, Vili, Galwa, and Bakele populations. In 1873, Alfred Marche and the Marquis de Compiègne investigated lakes Onangué, Oguemoué, and the lower Ngounié before moving on to the Ogooué River and Lopé in 1874. When they arrived at the mouth of the Ivindo River, they encountered the Fang-Meke’s hostility and returned to the Gabon estuary.

However, the most famous explorer of all was Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. In November 1875, he embarked on his first investigation of the Ogooué River. In 1878, he crossed the Alima River with Ballay before returning to the Gabon estuary. Between 1879 and 1882, de Brazza undertook another exploratory voyage to the Ogooué Region, establishing the station of Franceville in 1880. Between 1883 and 1885, the French government asked him to make a third expedition down the Ogooué River, known as the Mission de l’Ouest Africain (Mission of West Africa). 

This mission extended French dominance into the Ogooué and Congo basins. In 1886, de Brazza was named Haut Commandant du Congo-Français (High Commander of the French Congo). In the same year, his brother, Jacques de Brazza, left Maddiville (Lastourville) to explore the Ivindo region in the northeast. In 1888, Paul Crampel toured the north and northwestern parts of the Ogooué and reached the Ntem River, while Alfred Fourneau explored northern Gabon in 1889. 

Bravard and Chaussé, agents of the Société du Haut-Ogooué (SHO), explored the Upper Ogooué toward the end of the nineteenth century. By the turn of the century, Westerners had traversed the whole Gabonese region. Their investigations allowed the French to contact local populations and establish treaties of sovereignty with them, granting the French control over the entire Ogooué River basin. 

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While the French invaded interior regions, the Fang abandoned their northern towns to travel throughout the Ogooué River basin. These Fang were attempting to position themselves as intermediaries in the expanding trade that was taking place not just along the coast but also in crucial economic zones throughout the Ogooué basin. 

Trading with Europeans was critical to the Fang because European-made products were required for dowries and gave social status. The Fang moved from the Woleu-Ntem region to Gabon, where they lived in the Como and Rembwé districts from 1840 until 1860. During their occupation, Ningue-Ningue Island was the principal commerce center. 

Between 1860 and 1875, the Fang left the Crystal Mountains and went to the Mid-Ogooué River. Hatton and Cookson factories in Samkita drew them to the area. Between 1875 and 1900, several of these Fang clans relocated to the Lower-Ogooué region of the southern lakes, where English, German, and American businesses operated. 

In 1875, the Fang-Mekey became involved in commerce and settled in the Ndjolé post, while the Fang-Nzaman, who had previously occupied Ogooué-Ivindo, relocated to the trading hub of Lopé between 1860 and 1900. The Fang contacted the Kwele, occupied the Djaddié, and formed commercial relationships with other Fang tribes in Lower-Ivindo and the Okande of Lopé. 

During these migrations, the Fang displaced other ethnic groups in the Ogooué River region. However, English, German, and American corporations dominated trade in the Ogooué region throughout the nineteenth century, forcing the French government to restructure commerce by establishing concessionary companies that became active in Gabon at the turn of the twentieth century.

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