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.Â
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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