Thread

The Escalation of War in Ethiopia

153 points · 167 comments · mooreds

csense · 1791038527 · focus · HN ↗
Interestingly, Ethiopia wasn't always poor and backward. Back in the classical era, Ethiopia (then known as Axum or Aksum) was a major power [1].
[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum
1. miohtama · 1791040570 · focus · HN ↗
  Same is for Songhai empire, a great power most Western people have never heard of
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire
  1. oppaoppa · 1791041301 · focus · HN ↗
    What is the Songhai empire known for, apart from size, gold and slave trading? Any great architecture or scientific achievements?
    rawTruthHurts · 1791044515 · focus · HN ↗
    With all due respect, not mentioning applying modern standards to an ancient culture, that sounds as Monthy Python-esque as it can get.
    oppaoppa · 1791045437 · focus · HN ↗
    Does the Songhai empire really have nothing besides size, gold and slave trading? Surely they must have had something. What about architecture? Ancient Greeks, Romans, ancient Chinese, etc., all had impressive achievements, and they were around many centuries before the Songhai empire. Perhaps even Meso-American empires and civilizations had achievements relatively speaking, especially considering that they were much more isolated from the rest of the world than the Songhai empire.
    jltsiren · 1791058411 · focus · HN ↗
    Its cultural and scholarly centers were Timbuktu and Djenne. They were effectively inaccessible to Europeans during their golden age, but they had established connections to Morocco and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of historical manuscripts were preserved in Timbuktu. The manuscripts are still largely unstudied, though I guess the digitization efforts should have finished by now.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.