Ethiopia and the Arab world

The migration of Yemenis to Ethiopia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly to Gondar, remains a complex and understudied phenomenon. This study examines Italy’s political maneuvers during its occupation, and focusing on the Arab settlers in the Gondar region and the Ethiopia’s relations with the Arab world and local responses to them. Using a qualitative approach based on archival records, diplomatic diaries, reports, and both published and unpublished sources, the research highlights the enduring legacy of colonization. Yemenis migrated to Ethiopia as laborer and trader under Italian sponsorship, fostering marriages and social bonds that facilitated cultural integration. However, after three decades of coexistence, the Eritrean secessionist struggle disrupted these legal communities, and by 1969 and 1970’s many Yemeni migrants began returning to Yemen due to escalating conflict in the Gondar governorate. They also faced discrimination in their homeland based on skin color and language, even after receiving support.

Dynamics (music · Government (linguistics · Nationalism · Politics · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues