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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Conflict and Environmental Stress in Ethiopian History: Looking for Correlations |
Author: | Rubenson, Sven |
Year: | 1991 |
Periodical: | Journal of Ethiopian Studies |
Volume: | 24 |
Period: | November |
Pages: | 71-96 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Northeast Africa |
Subjects: | political action environment History and Exploration Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment History, Archaeology history environmental degradation Conflicts |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965994 |
Abstract: | Ethiopia's long history presents a series of events where environmental stress and political conflict have interacted and possibly reinforced each other. There are abundant records of famines and serious epidemics. There is also considerable evidence as to the immediate causes of the disasters, whether drought, pests and other natural hazards, or warfare. Past generations have had no problems in articulating the connections. However, while warfare was somehow perceived as manageable, natural disasters were often perceived as supernatural, and generally caused human misery on a much larger scale. The survey presented here ranges from medieval times until the present, paying special attention to the eastern parts of the central highlands from Eritrea through Tigray to Wello, the areas which have suffered most from the droughts and famines of the twentieth century. In Wello and Tigray especially, environmental stress has repeatedly caused or aggravated political conflict. The most prevalent long-term answer to environmental stress and degradation in the Ethiopian region in the past has been migration, mainly from north to south and from east to west. The present-day modern State system, under which economic or ecological 'refugees' take second place, encourages the politicization of population movements which are caused primarily by ecological stress. Ref. |