Abissinia, doue sono le Fonti del Nilo..

Title

Abissinia, doue sono le Fonti del Nilo..

Description

Map shows the whole of Ethiopia (Abissinia) and a partial map of the Nile at top right. There is also a title cartouche and a mileage scale cartouche, each with a coat of arms.

ca. 1695

Artist

Coronelli (1650-1718)

Coronelli Vincenzo, (1650 – 1718). He was a cosmographer, geographer, biographer, encyclopedist, globe maker, inventor and an expert of engeneering and hydraulics. Extraordinarily versatile mind and an extremely tireless man, he produced more than 140 pieces in different genres. At the age of 15, he entered the Franciscan Order, which he then guided as Gran Generale from 1699. He became famous as geographer and mathematician, awakening the interest in these subjects in Italy at the end of the XVII century.

Historical Description

Since the 14th century, the Ethiopian rulers have sought contacts and alliances with the Christian empires in late medieval Europe. European knights of fortune came repeatedly to the Negus court, and European art was in vogue in Ethiopia. In 1493 the Portuguese Pêro da Covilhã reached the Negus court. He was supposed to promote a Portuguese-Ethiopian alliance since Portugal was then beginning to build its rule in the Indian Ocean. In 1543, Portuguese auxiliary troops under the son of Vasco da Gama, Cristóvão da Gama, supported the Ethiopians at the Negus' cry for help against the troops of Ahmed Graññ from the Sultanate of Adal, whom they inflicted devastating defeat. However, their plan to convert the country to Catholicism failed. In the course of colonialism, Ethiopia had to resist the influence of European powers, first under the Emperor Tewodros of the British Ethiopian expedition of 1868, then at the end of the 19th century under the influence of the Italians and their colony Eritrea. At the Battle of Adua, the Ethiopians in 1896, under Emperor Menelik II, repelled the Italian invaders. This result is still considered an important victory for an African army against a European army and has since become an integral part of Ethiopia's national consciousness.