African culture: Ethiopias and eritreas cultural/ethnic diversity appreciation thread

[Raptor]

Amazing! The Ancient Adulis Port of Eritrea- port of the legendary Aksumite empire
Posted by revolutions on 07 Mar 2014, 02:19


The Ancient Adulis Port of Eritrea

Eritrea - The ancient Adulis port lay buried for centuries near Massawa. Now one can see both the excavations as well as unearthed ruins. Adulis has been excavated; and its links with the Roman, Egyptian and Greek Empires and with distant ports are shown by broken pottery made by many manufacturing methods that can be used to date the past and its Events the vast bay, which Adulis overlooks, extends from Massawa to the Buri peninsula and is known as the gulf of zula. You can identify the site of Adulis from the large piles of tailings, repetition from excavations by archaeologists. Most of the ruins are constructed in black basalts; these are tombs and Places, the remains of what is possibly an eighth century Christian Church and an earlier temple for sun-worship Adulis' importance was eclipsed in the 7th century; probably by a combination of Arab raids and the port silting up.

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Second phase of excavation underway in Adulis

Foundations of 5th century Byzantine church in Adulis.

Adulis, Eritrea – The second phase of excavation is underway in Adulis in order to further analyze the ancient civilization of the ancient port, disclosed Dr. Yosef Libseqal, director general of the Eritrean National Museum.

Dr. Yosef said that the excavation that is being conducted in four places in five phases is in progress with cooperation of Eritrean and Italian archeologists so as to scientifically rewrite and deeply understand the different unscientific excavations made by different researchers.

He indicated that so far traces of potteries, charcoal and bones similar to that of Adulite, Axumite and modern architecture have been found and with that there is indication that the site has been damaged and buried due to consecutive natural calamities.

Likewise, Mr. Lalimba Tsehaye, Mr. Yonas Zemui and Mr. Medhane Gebrezgiabher, members of the National Museum who are participating in the excavation activities said that the site has been severely damaged as a result of the unscientific excavation previously undertaken by foreign archeologists and reiterated that the current encouraging finding would open the door for further exploration and research.

Italian Archeologists Professor Serena Nassa, Dr. Giulio Bigliardi and Dr. Chiara Zurraro explained that they are fascinated by the finding of ancient traces and indicated that these are indications that Adulis has been the basis of ancient civilization.

Likewise, Mr. Umer Idris and Mr. Mohammed Sheik, residents of the area who are working at the site, expressed their impression for they have witnessed with their own eyes from the excavation of the Adulis civilization that they use to get aqcauinted through legend. (Shabait)
http://eastafro.com/Post/2012/02/20/sec ... in-adulis/

 

[Raptor]

AFRICA · CULTURE

Finding Punt; Africa’s Last, Lost Great Civilization Is In Eritrea
by Thomas C. Mountain May 19, 2012 12 Comments

After many years of often rancorous debate, Africa’s last, lost, great civilization, The Land of Punt, has been proven to be located in the modern east African country of Eritrea.

Using laboratory analysis of Baboon mummies from Punt found in ancient burials in Egyptscientists have conclusively established that the nearestrelatives to the Punt baboons are found in Eritrea on the Red Sea. The closest relatives were found in the hills behind the modern port city of Massawa which lies at the mouth of Zula Bay behind which can be found the ruins of the ancient city empire of Adulis.

In Africa’s Nile Valley civilization known today as Egypt, The Land of Punt was frequently written of as “Punt, the land of the gods”.

From Punt came, amongst other precious goods, Frankincense and Myrrh, which when combined with Onycha, styrax benzoine, an operculom shell found only along Eritrea’s coastline, were used to create the sacred incense used in Egyptian (and Hebrew) temples. Myrrh oil was used to anoint the bodies of the Pharaohs, arequirement for their souls to pass into the afterlife.

From Punt came other trade goods of high value such as gold (from the highlands of the northern African Rift Mountains), salt (still harvested in Massawa and used as currency in much of the region in not so ancient times) and ebony and ivory (ebony wood is found at its furthest point north in east Africa in Eritrea’s western lowlands where even today a herd of elephants still roam).

Such was the prestige of Punt that the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut sent a flotilla of ships there during her reign in the 18th dynasty that some historians claim was an attempt to legitimize a female head of state in ancient Egypt by linking her rule with this most ancient and sacred of lands.

Though the ancient libraries of Africa’s Nile Valley were destroyed by order of the Emperor of Rome in the 4th century A.D. (the burning of the Library of Africa a.k.a. the Library of Alexandria, the greatest destruction of knowledge in the history of mankind) records of Punt going back to the 4/5th Egyptian dynasties remain.

Punt is again found mentioned in the 12th dynasty and of course, found carved into the walls of the Temple of Hatshepsut on the Nile River from the glorious 18th dynasty, where frankincense and myrrh were planted upon the return of the mission.

In later periods Punt became the center of a major maritime trade between first Greece and then Rome.

Known as the “Persepolis of the Erythrean (Red) Sea” (equating Punt with the city of Persepolis in Persia, considered one of the wonders of ancient times is a major mark of respect if not awe) the civilization based in today’s Zula Bay was a critical port of trade between Greece and Rome, and India and the far east.

At one point Rome had a colony of several thousands on the eastern coast of India and a major maritime trade was carried on bringing spices, silks, precious stones, animals and Asian manufactured goods to meet the demand of the Roman Empire. All of this passed through Punt, or as it was later known, Adulis.

History shows that in ancient times, as is still the case today, sailors stick to the west, African, coast of the Red Sea where water is available, safe anchorage easily found and the sudden storms that blow up out of the Arabian Desert do not threaten disaster. When sailing down the Red Sea from present day Egypt or up from the Indian Ocean, landing in Massawa is still a preferred safe harbor.

Today all that remains of this great, glorious, lost African civilization are sand covered ruins a few miles from the coast of Zula Bay wherethe city empire of Adulis is only now being uncovered.

It is only in the past two decades since Eritrean independence in 1991 that any significant archeological work has begun along the Red Sea coast where once a long lost civilization flourished. In 2006 a British team did a very cursory survey of Zula Bay and discovered at least 4 major maritime complexes (multiple ports to each complex).

This writer is the only historian so far to lay the foundations of a survey of what must be thousands of years of shipwrecks from Punt, the world’s earliest and longest lived maritime civilization, along the windward reefs of the islands lining the channels leading into Zula Bay.

What great discoveries lie under thousands of years of coral reefs still waiting to be discovered? Gold and silver from Greece and Rome headed for India (the Indian’s like the Chinese, had little use for the crude manufactured goods of Europe, forcing Rome to bleed its precious metals in exchange for the precious goods from the east).

Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires and Jade along with porcelain from the east may still survive though the silks and spices would have long since disappeared.

Much has still to be learned about Punt, but studying modern Eritrean society has already lead to a major breakthrough in historical research with the language of the Nara ethnic group known now to be a survival of ancient Kush, today’s Sudan, and is being used to finally decipher the mysteries of the Demotic scripts.

And what of the lost land of Saba or Sheba, which most historians seem to think lay in the modern land of Yemen?

An Italian linguist has found pre-Arab dialects in remote Yemeni villages that are cousin to the Eritrean language of Tigrinia making a connection between the Land of Punt and Saba even more interesting.

Geez, the “Latin of Africa”, used today in the Eritrean and Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Churches is reputed to have come from Yemen, where today little trace of it can be found.

One must not forget that before the rise of Islam, Christianity spread across east Africa from Egypt in the north, to the pre-Islamic Christian kingdoms of Meroe and Napata (found in present day Sudan, both of which successfully resisted the military invasion of the Islamic armies from the north for hundreds of years) across the Ethiopian highlands to the Christian city empire of Adulis on the southern Red Sea coast.

Time will bring more discoveriesand more discoveries will certainly bring more light to Africa’s last, lost, great civilization, Punt, land of the gods.

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[paste:font size="5"]Thomas Mountain
Thomas C. Mountain, author of “Storm Clouds Over South Sudan” in 2010 and “US Plan To Destabilize Sudan” in 2012 is a life long activist, educator and cultural historian, living and writing from Eritrea since 2006. He can be reached at thomascmountain_at_yahoo_dot_com.

 

[Raptor]

ko

 

[NZA]

i dont know much about ethiopia, but i do apperciate the krar collective

 

[RTF]

Show some love to the Bilen too. These types of threads are often Triginya dominant.

 

[Raptor]

Show some love to the Bilen too. These types of threads are often Triginya dominant.

I'm on my phone.

 

[Raptor]

Local designer weaves Eritrean fabrics into success
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Added by admin on February 7, 2014

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Eritrean Fashion News: Creating beautiful and stylish clothing from hand-woven fabric sourced from Eritrea, Admas Mahdere has quickly made a name for herself as a designer to watch.

Following her success at Cayman Fashion Week last year, Mahdere’s locally made creations are now in high demand by her loyal clientele.

Madhere, who grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, after her family emigrated from Eritrea when she was 6, has always had an interest in fashion and a connection to her native country.

“My mum used to bring back beautiful dresses from her trips back to Eritrea and Ethiopia, and she would bring back fabric so that I could have a seamstress make dresses for me that were more modern in design, to wear whenever there was a special family occasion, such as a wedding,” she says. “The material was usually silk or cotton and really beautiful with intricate patterns that must have taken a particularly gifted person to make by hand.”

When Mahdere was in her early 20s, she attempted to start a fashion design business with her sister and a friend, but the timing wasn’t right, so she continued her training as an accountant. In 2009, she moved to Cayman, where she continues to work as an auditor.

Once settled in Cayman, Mahdere quickly realized that the island possessed a very vibrant social scene with a plethora of glittering events to attend on a regular basis.

In 2010, she attended what was then called the Fashion Solstice in Cayman, an event which sparked her imagination, so much so that she decided to volunteer for the 2011 event. Soon after, she began to make custom pieces that impressed Cayman’s fashion lovers.

“I wore a white dress that I had made for myself for the Breast Cancer [Foundation] Gala in 2012, and a client asked me to make a similar dress in red for the Cayman Heart Fund Gala the following March,” Mahdere says. “This dress was so well received, it really kicked off interest in my work.”

With the encouragement of Fashion Solstice organizer Cindy Jones, Mahdere decided to take the leap and show her own collection at the April 2013 Cayman Fashion Week.

“I traveled to Eritrea in 2012 to see if I could find fabric that would be suitable,” she says. “I went with an open mind, knowing that there would be a language barrier as I don’t speak the native language. I made contact with a nonprofit organization which works with local weavers and gives them the tools to make the fabrics. My aunt helped with the translation and I was eventually able to advise them of the kind of fabrics I was looking for, having brought with me 30 to 40 fabric swatches to show the colors I wanted.”

Her collection was created over eight months, but Mahdere concedes most of the work was actually undertaken in the final month before the show.

“I was quite indecisive at the beginning, but as time went on I knew I had to make decisions as to which pieces I should show,” she says.

Mahdere approached the design of her collection by working on single pieces initially, working with seamstress Norma Ebanks, with whom she had previously undertaken sewing classes in order to prepare her for the work ahead.

“I took my inspiration from everywhere,” she says. “But I knew I wanted a signature, a common design feature throughout the collection. I decided to incorporate handmade weaving into the pieces, sometimes on the collar or on the neckline.”

Although she says she loves dresses and tends to gravitate to designing them, Mahdere says she was mindful that the collection needed to be well rounded, so she incorporated separates into the collection as well. In addition, she says, designers usually end their shows with a grand design, but she decided to work backwards, focusing on the showpiece first and then working on the rest of the collection.

Positive response

Mahdere says her collection was very well received at last year’s Cayman Fashion Week.

“I was really happy with how well it was received, but I didn’t expect the response, nor was I properly prepared for it,” she says. “After the show, people were saying that they loved my work and where could they buy the clothing. I really hadn’t worked on the production side at all.”

A gray dress with cut-outs in the skirt was a particular winner with the audience, as was a jumpsuit with a plunging neckline designed for women who like an edgier look.

Participating in Cayman Fashion Week, and also in Africa Fashion Week in New York last July, opened up Mahere’s eyes to the fashion world.

“It’s a completely different world to the one I’m used to as an accountant. It’s very chaotic and you have to learn to deal with very big personalities,” she says.

Following on from her success, Mahdere says she began making custom pieces only for close friends or well-established clients, as well as selling pieces at Kerry’s Karma Closet, where she says her resort wear has sold well.

“I’ve been so lucky to have such lovely clients and friends who have been so supportive,” she says.

New collection

Looking ahead, Mahdere says she wants to concentrate her energies on producing a first-class spring/summer collection to be launched in September, giving herself plenty of time to properly work on logistics, establishing production in the U.S. with a view to expanding sales and marketing there also, as well as further afield to places such as the U.K.

“I want to work on producing a ‘look book’ so buyers can advise what they are interested in. My focus is also on sales and marketing of the collection,” she says.

Still working full-time in accounting, Mahdere says it is her dream to eventually dedicate herself to her fashion business. For now she is content building up her brand to fully market her 2014 collection.

 

[HideoKojima]

Show some love to the Bilen too. These types of threads are often Triginya dominant.

I just googled that and apparently some natural hair guru chick is named that and from Ethiopia/Eritrea.
Horn Chicks with Kinky hair always bad

 

[Raptor]

Show some love to the Bilen too. These types of threads are often Triginya dominant.

The Bilien people


The Bilen—also variously transcribed as Blin or Bilin and also formerly known as the Bogo or North Agaw[1]—are an ethnic group on the Horn of Africa. They are primarily concentrated in central Eritrea, in and around the city of Keren and further south toward Asmara, the nation's capital.
ReligionEdit
The Bilen practice both Christianity and Islam. Muslim adherents mainly inhabit rural areas and have interbred with the adjacent Tigre, while Christian Bilen tend to reside in urban areas and have intermingled with the Biher-Tigrinya.[1]


LanguageEdit
The Bilen speak the Bilen language as a mother tongue, which belongs to the Cushytic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Many also speak other Afro-Asiatic languages such as Tigre and Tigrinya. In addition, younger Bilen often employArabic words and expressions in their everyday speech.[1]

For some reason t heres not many pics of them...must be a small ethnic group. Im guessing theyre related to the beja people

 

[Raptor]

Asmara - The gem of the Horn

During Mussolini's time, Italy invested a lot of capital and manpower in embellishing Eritrea's capital. Asmara was even dubbed Piccola Roma, although it of course never attained the historical importance of Italy's capital. Still, the Italians made Asmara a gem among African capitals, and this can be appreciated to present days. After the Italian period, also other western architects experimented with styles and it is thus possible to walk for hours in Asmara admiring curious and beautiful buildings.


Apart from the architecture, the city was also consciously planned and this planning still makes for an orderly city rarely seen elsewhere in this continent. It also makes visiting architectural highlights easy. One area was where Italian businessmen and well-off people lived. It is the area where many villas are now used as embassies, hotels, or schools. This part of Asmara has quiet corners, squares, trees and flowers, and it is a true pleasure walking around it and appreciating the beauty of it all. Best of all, it is possible to stay in these villas as some of them are now being used as hotels or guesthouses.


Then there is the Liberation Avenue area, which is the place of many official buildings, larger and more formal than those in the residential area. Here, you can find the Cathedral, clearly following the example of Northern Italy's church building of the Middle Ages, the Opera House, the Ministry of Education, the Cinema Impero, and some other noteworthy buildings. Then there are other houses and constructions scattered all over town which are worth to be seen.

 

[Raptor]

 

[RealAryansRtheIndians]

Euroman brought the wrong Africans to America. (just kidding brahs.)

Seeing these beautiful people have definitely opened my eyes in regards to 'race'.

I always had my doubts about the existence of ''races'' and now it completely is shattered. I have now fully come to the conclusion that ''race'' indeed is a social construct. There is no such thing as Black race, white race, brown race, etc. These features Eurocentric people like to claim as ''white'' is definitely African in origin as you can see in these photos. Although I have yet to find a black African with straighten hair like North Africans, Euros, Asians, Native Americans and Indians, perhaps that type of hair developed outside of Africa, since even Somali people that I have personally seen have curly hair similar to the typical West African.

Hell Some of these people can easilly pass in India, where I am from.


Btw. check these photos below

These people are 100% Indian, although they suffer from albinism:

If they didn't suffer from Albinism, they had look like the regular Indian.

this is the photo for comparison. the albino Indians are not much different from the normal darker Indians.

 

[Gab]

eritreans, ethopians, north sudanese and somalians are one people breh

 

[GetInTheTruck]

Euroman brought the wrong Africans to America. (just kidding brahs.)

Seeing these beautiful people have definitely opened my eyes in regards to 'race'.

I always had my doubts about the existence of ''races'' and now it completely is shattered. I have now fully come to the conclusion that ''race'' indeed is a social construct. There is no such thing as Black race, white race, brown race, etc. These features Eurocentric people like to claim as ''white'' is definitely African in origin as you can see in these photos. Although I have yet to find a black African with straighten hair like North Africans, Euros, Asians, Native Americans and Indians, perhaps that type of hair developed outside of Africa, since even Somali people that I have personally seen have curly hair similar to the typical West African.

Hell Some of these people can easilly pass in India, where I am from.


Btw. check these photos below

These people are 100% Indian, although they suffer from albinism:

If they didn't suffer from Albinism, they had look like the regular Indian.

this is the photo for comparison. the albino Indians are not much different from the normal darker Indians.

What part of India u from.

 

[Knicksman20]

The last sis has a beautiful smile. Wow!!!!