October 2016

Revisiting history of Gafat: Was emperor Tewodros’s military reform an attempt at “translative adaptation” of western technology?

Gafat is now a desolate spot located a few kilometers Northeast of Dabra Tabor, capital of South Gondar. Some one hundred and fifty years ago, it was a busy village. It was there that Emperor Tewodros II (1855 to 1868) set up his foundry to produce modern arms. Gafat did witness the production of many mortars including the largest one named “Sebastopol.” The purpose of this study is to evaluate the...

Author(s): Fantahun Ayele