Alfred Ilg

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Alfred Ilg

Alfred Heinrich Ilg (30 March 1854 – 7 January 1916) was a

Menelik II. He was born in Frauenfeld
, Switzerland and died in Zurich.

Early life

colonial power who he did not trust.[2] The Swiss merchants of Furrer & Escher served as intermediaries between the two and in May 1878 Ilg left Zurich for Aden (present day Yemen).[2] After having crossed the Red Sea on the African continent, he was detained four months in Zeila, Somalia.[2] After his release, he traveled with camel forty-five days until he reached Ankobar on the 1 January 1879.[2]

In Ethiopia

He received a warm welcome by Melinek II who at the time was the King of Shewa. Ilg learned soon Amharic, and was involved in all sorts of technical issues.[3] He built houses and waterworks or was involved in the construction of Addis Ababa.[3] A major work of his was the construction of a bridge over the river Awash in 1886.[3] But he was also entrusted diplomatic missions to Europe and once he also managed to get hold of a factory for ammunition production, which in the respect made Menelik independent from the colonial powers.[3] Following, Menelik expanded his territory defeating the tribes to the east and southwards and after the Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV died in 1889, he became his successor.[3] In 1889, Ethiopia and Italy agreed on the Treaty of Wuchale which made them to friends and allies and in which Italy assured to refrain from expanding into Ethiopian territory.[4] However, a slight adaption was made, in which Art. 17 of the Amharic version ensured Ethiopian sovereignty, while the Italian one made Ethiopia into an Italian protectorate.[4] According to Helmut Stadler, this was pointed out to the Ethiopians by Alfred Ilg, who then sent him to Europe and inquire on the position of the other European powers.[3] Ilg advised to prepare for war, when he learned Italy was planning an expedition into Ethiopia, attempting to force it to accept the Italian protectorate.[3] In 1896, the Ethiopian army defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa and Italy acknowledged Ethiopian sovereignty in the Treaty of Addis Ababa.[4]

Menelik II rewarded Ilg with the title counselor in the range of an excellency in 1897 and, furthermore, named him

Star of Ethiopia
.

Further achievements worth mentioning are the creation of a unified national currency system and the erection of a postal system. When Friedrich Rosen, an orientalist and leader of an official German delegation established several treaties between Ethiopia and Germany on 7 March 1905, Ilg's influence at court began to dwindle. He could not (or did not want to) do anything against several intrigues at court; which led to his resignation in 1907.

Later life

Alfred Ilg returned to Switzerland and settled in Zürich where he died at the age of 61.

Ilg was a contemporary of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, and was a frequent correspondent of him.[6]

Exhibitions

His collection of 300 Ethiopian artifacts which included pottery, weaponry or musical instruments was displayed in a variety of Swiss localities in 1891 and 1892.[6] In 2003 it was again exhibited in the Ethnographic Museum in Zürich.[6]

References

  1. ISBN 3-85823-108-8
    )
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-907291-21-4
    . Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Stalder, Helmut (2020),p76
  4. ^
    ISSN 0002-9300
    .
  5. ^ Chris Prouty and Eugene Rosenfeld, Historical Directory of Ethiopia and Eritrea (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994), pp. 104-05, 171.
  6. ^
    ISSN 0764-471X
    .

Bibliography

Films

External links

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