Modern Education Development, Challenges and Current State in Eritrea (1839 to 2016)

Part 2. The flourishing publications in the late of the 19th century and early of the 20th century

Compiled and researched by Resoum Kidane 

Pt. 2c Other publications published between 1900 and 1941

A brief backgroung information of the printing press in Eritrea: Excerpt from Italian Printing Brands to Eritrean Sabur

The first printing press in the Horn of Africa was in Eritrea, about 150 years ago in 1863 Swedish Evengelists started modern press work in Eritrea by printing religious books and newsletters before Italians set foot in the country (Reta, 2013.)

In 1890 Italian colonists in Massawa also established Eritrea's first commercial press and newspaper L Eritreo, both were transferred to Asmara in 1900 ( Connell 2011. page 397). The Italian company Franccescanna Printing Press was one of the oldest printing press firms launched in 1911 and is still functioning today in Asmara.

Initially, the process of printing in Eritrea was introduced by an Italian Bishop, Lughi Bianchier from the Catholic Lazarist order, for the purpose of imprinting spiritual scriptures. In the subsequent years, the Italian regime manipulated and used this opportunity to print military papers and documents.

The printing press failed under the administration of British with the defeat of Italians in 1941. All the printing firms in Eritrea were confiscated by the British. They remained under it and eventually returned to Italian government when the British left Eritrea.

Later on, the Italian government sold the firms to private owners. The printing firms then consolidated into one name, EI Poligraphico, until they were nationalized by the Ethiopian Derg regime in January 1975. In 1984, the name El Poligraphico was changed into Adulis Printing Press. source From Italian Printing Brands to Eritrean Sabur By Semir Seid January 18, 2017

The printing press in Asmera around 1920

ቤት ማሕተም ኣብ ኤርትራ

ቤት ማሕተም ኣብ ኤርትራ ንመጀመርታ ግዜ ብ1863ብላዛሪስት ሚስዮን ኣብ ጥቓ ወደብ ምጽዋዕ ሙንኩሉዝተባህለ ቦታ ብኣቡነ ልዊጂ ቢያንካሪ ተመስረተት። እዛ ቤት ማሕተም ብወርሒ ግንቦት
1867 ትመህርተ ክርስቶስ እትብል መንፈሳዊት መጽሓፍ ብኣቡነ ጴጥሮስ ሎዊስቤል ካብ'ቲ ናይ ኣቡነ ያዕቆብ ዮስጢኖስ ብኣምሓርኛ ብ1850 ኣብ ሮማ እተሓትመ ናብ ትግርኛ ተተር
ጉሙ ብ500 ቅዳሕ ተሓትመ። ምስኡውን ፊደል ትግርኛ ዘርእስታ መጽሓፍ ብ1500 ቅዳሕ ተሓትመት። ከም'ዚ ኢሉ ብመንፈሳውያን ማሕበራትን በቶም በቲ
ግዜ'ቲ ዝነበሩ ግዱሳት ውልቀ ሰባትን ንምዕባለ ስነ ጽሑፍ ዝሕግዝ መጻሕፍቲ ምሕታም ቀጻሊ ኮነ። በዚ መሰረት እዚ'ውን ብ1918ብቀሺ ኢቫርስንን እተጻሕፈ Notizie Storiche e varie sulla missione Evangelica Suedese dell’Eritreaዝብል መጽሓፍ ከም ዝሕብሮ ኣብ መንጎ 1896 -1917 ዝነበረ ግዜ ዕስራን ሓሙሽተን መጻሕፍቲብወንጌላዊት ምስዮን ብቛንቋ ትግርኛ ተጻሒፎም እዮም ይብል። ኣብ መንጎዚ እታ ብቪንክፊስት ብ1896 እተጻሕፈት ፊደል ትግርኛ ዘርእስታ ኣብ ስነ ጽሑፍ ትግርኛ ኣዝያ ኣገዳሲት ዝኾነት መጽሓፍ ትርከቦም። እዛ መጽሓፍ
እዚኣካብ ናይ ባዕዳውያን መጻሕፍቲ ዘይተተርጎመት መምሃሪ ፊደልን ባህልን ልምድን ወግዕን ህዝቢ ብአፈታሪኽ ዝተሓላለፍ ዝነበረ ኣብ ስነ ጽሑፍ ዘስፈረት
55ጽውጽዋይ፡
78 ሕንቅል ሕንቅሊተይን
471ምስላታትን ዝሓዘት ደብተራ ሩፋኤል ዝተባህሉ ብዶ/ር ቪንክፊስት ዝተባህለ ሽወደናዊ ተመዚዞምዝጸሓፋዎ እዩ።

ካብ'ዚ ቀጺሉ ብ1900ብሓልዮት ናይ ሽወደን ምስዮን ብማርቆስ ግርማይን ዶ/
ር ካርል ቪንክፊስትን ተተርጉሙ ክሳብ800ቅዳሕ ተሐትመ። ቀጺሉ ከኣ ካብ ግብረሓዋርያት ክሳብ ራእይ ዮሃንስ ቀሺ ተወልደ መድህንን ካብቲ ቅድሚ ሕጂ ኣብ ላዕሊ ዝተረቑሔ ቋንቋታት ከም ብሓድሽ ናብ ትግርኛ ተተርጎመ። ክትርጎም እንከሎ ገለ ምምሕያሽ ብምግባር ካብቲ ግእዝ ብማርቆስ ዝተገብረ ረቂቅ እንደገና ተገምጊሙ ብ1903 -1904ብሓልዮት ክልተ ኪኢላታት ቋንቋ ቀሺ ተወልደመድህን ገብረመድህንን ተወልደ መድህን ገብሩን ምሉእ ናይ ትግርኛ ሓድሽ ኪዳን ብወርሒ ታሕሳስ 1909ብማሕተም ስዊዲናዊት ወንገላዊት ምስዮን ኣብ ኣስመራ 501 ገጽ ዘለዎ 5000 ቅዳሕ ተሓትመ።ማሕተም ኣብ ኤርትራ በዞም ዝተጠቕሱካቶሊክን ወንጌላዊት ሚስዮን ምስ ተጀመረ ብዙሓትኣብያተ ማሕተም ኣብ ኣስመራ ኣሰሮም ተኽቲለን ክሳብ 17ዝበጽሓ ቤት ማሕተም ስለ ዝተኸፍታን ብዙሐት መጻሕፍቲ በብግዚኡ ተሐትመ። ክሳብ ሕጂ ብሓፈሻ ብቋንቋ ትግርኛ ዝተሓትሙ ካብ 629ንላዕሊ ይኾኑ ዝብል ዘይጥሉል ሓበሬታ ኣሎ።እዚ ዘይተረጋገጻ ዝኾነሉ ድማ እቶም ኣብ እዋን ብረታዊ ቃልሲኣብ ሜዳን ኣብ ወጻኢ ሃገራት በብኩርንዑ ዝተሓትሙ መጻሕፍቲ ብሙሉኦም ስለ ዘየማልእን ገለ ብውሑድ ቅዳሕ ተሓቲሞም ዘይተረኽቡ 18 እውን ስለ ዘለውን እዩ።እዚ ዝተጠቐሰ ቁጽሪ መጻሕፍቲ ኣብ ምንታይ ኣተኩሩ ይጽሓፍ ከም ዝነበረ ንምብራህ ኣብ 12 ዓይነት ተጠቃሊሉ ቀሪቡ ኣሎ።ምኽንያቱ በቲ ዝንባለን ሞያን ናይ እቶም ደረስቲ ዝተጻሕፉ ስለ ዝኾነ ፤ ንምፍላዮም መታን ክሕግዝበዞም ዓበይቲ ኣርእስቲ ተጠቓሊሎም ኣለው። Source The Origin and Development of TigrinyaLanguage Publications (1886 - 1991) Volume One by Abraham Negash

Meshafe Meweledan (Midwifery Books)  Asmera : Wengelawit Maheber, 1928 [1936].1928 ኣቦና ቀሺ ግርማጼን ገብረ ብዛዕባ ኣካላት ደቂ ሰባት እትገልጽ ልዕሊ 300 ገጽ ዘለዋ መጽሓፍ "መዋልዳን" ዘርእስታ መጽሓፍ ብቋንቋ ትግርኛ ኣዳልዮምን ኣሕቲሞምን።። Source: Aklilu Abraham

The first tigriny and tigre publications were published in Eritrea by the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM). Connell (2011) states that the SEM opened its first Tigrinya school in 1890, and had published 25 texts in the language by 1917. Most notable of SEM lingustis was Tewolde-Medhin Gebre-Medhin (1860-1930) who translated much of the Bible and assisted J. Kolmodin in compiling an important collection of Eritrean folktales and oral history. Among early Catholic, the most important linguist was Aba Yaqob Gebre Yesus (1881-1961), who published Tigrinya grammars and religious texts in 1920s.

Abraham Negash also states European missionaries were responsible for a stream of publications from the 1890s onwards, including the first Tigrinya language newspaper in 1909. It was very short-lived. According Connell(2011) the Italian colonial was interested in developing litarary Tigrinya as an alternative to Amharic as part of its " Politica Tigrina"). In 1903 the first Tigrinya-Italian-Arabic dictionary was published by Haagos Tekeste, and in 1918, Francesco Da Bassano published a Tigrinya-Italian dictionary.

Most of the books that documented the Tigre language oral tradition were written between 1907 and 1908. This was when Nefae Utma went to German to work with Enno Littman. These two years could be described as the ‘golden years’ in the history and development of the Tigre language, especially the written one. They both wrote four volumes on the subject, most of which were later published between 1910 and 1915 at Leyden University in Holland. with a short introduction on the people who live in the land of Tigre. Volume 3 was published in 191 .by Enno Littmann [link to the ebook A collection of Tigrait songs in Tigre text in 578 pages, 1913 They were also translated into English and German languages and were published at the same time.

In the early years of the 20th century, several further works appeared: the first of these was a collection of forty fables and folktales by Ghebre-Medhin Dighnei. This was published in a journal in Rome in 1902. It contains nine fables with animal characters, typically depicting the stronger animals as unjust and untrustworthy, while the weaker animals are virtuous but powerless. The other 31 stories are folktales, including (number 34) ".publication

.The most known former figures of Tigrinya oral poetry, such asWeldedingel (mid-nineteenth century), Blata Debesay Bahre-Negasi Chirum(active in the late 1920s were Grazmacth Solomon Kaleb(1878-1935) Bahre-Negasi Tombosa (active in pre-colonial time and during the Italian colonialism)Tewelde Measho(1895-1975) etc 158. During that period the major collections of Tigrinya oral poetry were published by Europeans roughly between the first decade of the twentieth-century and the 1940s. Conti Rossini (1872-1942.), Jacues Faitlovitch, Johannes Kolmodin and others greatly contributed in publishing the Tigrinya poetry.

1. Conti Rossini (1872-1942.)who studies on languages include facsimiles, reports and grammatical articles on Tigre, Amharic, Saho, Tigrinya and Harari languages,i translated and published numerous manuscripts from Ge'ez . He also published the land charters of Eritrea's principal monasterires and the hagiographies of its principal saints, as well as the major codes of customary law of both the Tigre and Tigrinya speaking peoples and numerous collections of local history derived from oral traditions. He sketches the ancient and medieval history of Eritrea from a wealth of sources, and his work. Among his numerous publications, the Principi di diritto consuetudinario dell' Eritrea ( Origins of Eritrean Customary Law [ Connel p157

.Additionally, Conti Rossini published his Tigrinya Popular Songs between 1903 and 1906: this ran to 166 works, with notes and commentary in Italian. Carlo Conti Rossini"Canti Popolari Tigrai" in Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete 17(1903)pp.23-52; 18(1904/1905), pp320-386; 19(1905/1906),pp288-341. e Carlo Conti-Rossini, Proverbi Tradizioni e Canzoni Tigrine (1942 source Johannes Kolmodin)

2.Richard Sundstrom was the physician and the researche In 1915 Richard was sent to establish a new missionary station in Keren. During his life in Gheleb and Keren, Richard has collected about a thousand pages in Tigre on the different tribes and clans in Eritrea. R.Sundstrom and K Roden  were engaged in anthropological and cultural studies. Roden completed his work on the Menda Tribes (published in Tigre and Italian in 1913) while  Sundstrom’s work on the history of the Mensa People was published in Tigre and English in 1913 and 1923 respectively. Sundstrom had also published a number of articles on diseases and their remedies in Le Mond Orienta, in 1909. [235] Sundstrom died from Cancer on June 1919, before his death, however, he had completed both a Tigre grammar and translation of books of Isaiah, Genesis and Exodus into Tigre.
Some of Richard Sundström´s books in Tigre languag

Richard Sundstrom  collection work on Tigre language wouldn't be achieved without involving of Naffa wod Etman,  a young convert from Islam.

 Naffa wod Etman(1882-1909)

 Naffa wod Etman(1882-1909) introduced Sundstrom and Littmann to Mensa folklore and culture. Naffa used to ask his father to recite these poems and explain every  simile and metaphor. In 1901 he was employed as a teacher, and was very close to Sundstrom who owned much of his Tigre production to him.  In April 1907, Naffa was invited to go to Germany to assist Littmann in his work. He contributed much to the work that was published under the title: Publications of the Princeton Expedition to Abyssina. Naffa had a desire to continue his education in Sweden. The SEM Board, however, stood firm in its resolution not to educate any more Eritreans in Sweden.He therefore had to return home. On his way home he disappeared from the ship on which he was sailing, under mysterious circumstances. His feath was a great loss to Tigre evangelism and scholarship. [Lundstrom 230]

.3 Jacues Faitlovitch, a French scholar lived and worked in Eritrea and Ethiopia . Jacues Faitlovitch"Qenie Habasha"Habasha Poetry")in Giornale della Societa Asiatica Italiana 23(1911), pp.188; Faïtlovitch's Habasha Poetry is a collection of 125 dog'a poems, assembled from the preceding work of Winqwist and Twolde-Medhhin of the Swedish mission.[ source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrean_literature ]. Faitlovitch's main sources were two people from the Swedish Evangelican mission of Eritrea. They were Dr. Karl Winqwist (1847-1909), a medical doctor and a philologist, whose contribution to the development of the Tigrinya language, and Twolde-Medhin(1860-1930). The poem in Habasha Poetry published by Jacues Faitlovitch for the first time are directly gathered from the voice of the people. [traditions Of Eritrea linking the past to the future.171)

4. Johannes Kolmodin , a prominent German theologian and missionary who contributed greatly to the new Turkish alphabet also wrote Zanta Tsazzaga Hazzegan(traditions of Tsazzega and Hazzega, 1922). Two of the masse are accounts of the late-19th-century conflict between two chiefs, Ras Weldamichael of Hazzega and Deggiat Hailu of Tsazzega, an event which has continued to be the subject of folk narratives down to the present day.[7] It is also a substantial presence in Kolmodin's collection, Traditions of Tsazzega and Hazzega, which forms a narrative of the history of Eritrea over the few centuries preceding the Italian colonization

5.Dr De Pertis  who was a Swedish medical doctor also prepared  a textbook on midwifery in Tigrinya for training a nurse, this was published by the mission Press in 1928 [307], which is available  at the Wellcome Trust library   in London. Title of the book is.........

6.ኣብ'ዚ ብ1935ዓ.ም.ግ. ዝተጻሕፈ መጽሓፍ ሕጊ ሎጎ ጭዋ መእተዊ ገጻት ዝሕብሮ ቅድሚ ሕጂ ብ1484 ተጻሒፉ ከም ዝነበረ ካልኣይ ግዜ ብ1650፡ሳልሳይ ግዜ ከኣ ብ1892ከም ዝተሓደሰ ገሊጽዎ ኣሎ።(source Abraham Negash)

7.ስርዓት ኣድግናተገለባ ፡ እትብል መጽሓፍ ኣብ ኣስመራ ብ1938 ዓ.ም.ግ. ኣብ ቤት ማሕተም ጰጥሮስሲላ ዝተሓትመት ኣብ'ቲ መእተዊ ገጽ ናይ'ቲ መጽሓፍ እዚ ዝስዕብ ተጻሒፉ ይርከብ። እቶም ንኣና ዝወለዱ ለባማት ኣቦታትና ህ ዝቢ ብዘይ መመሓደሪ ሕጊ ምንባር ዘይግባእ ሙዃኑ ኣስተውዒሎም ስርዓት ምዔምሓዛ ቢሎም ሰምዮም ሕጊ ኣቆሙ። እዚ ሕጊእዚይ ምስ ሓገግዎ ተጻሒፉ ኣብቲ ዓብይ ገዳም ናይ ዓጋመ እንዳ ማርያም ጉንዳ ጉንዶ ኣሎ ይበሃል። እዚ ስርዓት ኣድግና ተገለባ ተባሂሉ ዘሎ ቅድምዙይ ሕጊ ስር ዓት ኣከለ ጉዛይን ዒናይን  ለጓይን ወይ ስርዓት ምዔም መሓዛ ተባሂሉ ይስመ ምንባሩ ይገልጽ። (source Abraham Negash)

8.Sewasew Tegrenna[ A grammar of Tigrinna, in Tigrinna]
ስዋስው ትግርኛ ንዚመ ሃሩ ቆላኣ መስተምሃሪ
ብኣባ ያቆብ ገብር ኢየሱሰ ሔቦ   1940 ማህተም ፍራንቸሰካና
Available  from SOAS library   QQB 415 164,724

9.Zenan taraten messelan nay qaddamo t[3300 stories and proverbs]
ዝናን ተረትን ምስላን ናይ ቀዳሞት
ብኣባ ያቆብ ገብር ኢየሱሰ ሔቦ  1947 ቤት ትምህርቲ  ኮምቦኒ
Available  from SOAS library  QQB 398.164.729

The last three books which are located at the Wellcome Trust and SOAS libraries probably  were donated to these libraries when Eritrea  was a British mandated  country. between 1941-1951

Regarding the contribution of the SEM to the development of Tigrinya and Tigre text  Koschork states that doctor Kurl Winqvist who became”Trailblazer” in a trend to make Tigringya  a firmly established literary language among the Eritrean missonaries like K.Rodein and R Sandstrone played a similar role in development of the Tigre language. The study of those languages opened the way for research into cultural history, folklore, ethnology, and literature, like Marqos Girmai,  Tweldemedhin Gebremedhin, Begushet Enggeda, Embai Habte Egzi, Buiru Oqbai and others worked hand  in hand with the missionaries in the translation of either the scriptures/or hymes in Tigrinya, Naffa Wod Etman made an enormous scholarly contribution in the area of Mensa with out the contributions of these Eritreans we would not have the refined texts in several languages  for which we have now become heirs [Koschork, 2004 p 203]

Generally the European missionaries had greatly contributed to the flourishing of Tigrinya and Tigri publications from the 1890s onwards which included the first Tigrinya language newspaper in 1909.

Furthermore as a legacy of  the Woldab Woldemariam, Isaac Twelde Medhen  Abdulkadir Kebire,Sheikh Ibrahim Mukhtar Ahmed Omar who were educated  between 1900 sand 1920s they played a great role  in the revival of education after the end of the Italian apartheid in 1941.

During the Italian colonialism several book were also written in Italian and Tigrinya. The purpose for writing and translating such a book was to improve the welfare of Eritrean mothers and children. At that time morbidity and mortality rate during pregnancy and birth was very high, due to the fact that expectant mothers were assisted by untrained traditional birth attendants. In order to rectify the situation, the Italian administration began to give elementary training on “how to assist a woman at delivery” to some Eritrean women.
Lists of some health related books which were published during the Italian colonialism such as

• NOZIONI DI OSTETERICIA GINEC
• OLOGIA E PEDIATRICA written by PROF. DOTT. ALBERTO CIOTOLA and translated into Tgrinya by SIGNORA TEREZA PALMKUST DI PERTIS, printed in MARIA FIORETTI printing press Asmara, Eritrea 1934
• Nursing Education for indigenous people "
•  Clinical Pharmacology for indigenous people”.
• NOZION DI Medicina Pratica AD
• USO DEGLI INDIGENI. Written by Prof. Dott. Alberto Ciotola in 1932 and1933 successively and printed in ASMARA TIPOGRAFIA
  

Credit for this should be given to the European missionaries who opened schools and introduced modern educational system in the late 19th century which lay a good foundation for the Eritrean education system section in 1940s and 1950s..

Generally the European missionaries had greatly contributed to the flourishing of Tigrinya and Tigri publications from the 1890s onwards which  included the first Tigrinya language newspaper in 1909.

Background information on flourishing of newspapers in the 1940s

The arrival of the British in Eritrea in 1941 and the subsequent limited civil and political liberties they initiated ushered in a period of intellectual and cultural vitality. The main fora in which these intellectual and cultural activities found expressions were the newspapers among which the Eritrean Weekly News stood out. Immediately after its first print on August 31 1942, the Eritrean Weekly News became a big hit. All along its ten years of publication, it ran 522 issues, each of four (occasionally six) pages (Negash 1999: 115). This amounts to a huge corpus of ‘a total of more than 2100 pages or some three million words’ (Ullendorff Cited in Negash1999: 115).

After the British Military Administration allowed the creation of political parties in thesecond half of the 1940’s, many other Tigrigna newspapers like Semunawi Gazetta (Eritrean Weekly News), the weekly organ of the British Military Administration of Eritrea, the editor of the paper was Major Mumfort, assisted by two sub-editors, Mr Woldeab Wolde Mariam and Dr. Edward Ullendorg; Hanti Eritra (United Eritrea), Memhir Wolde’ab was one of the first Eritrean journalist and editor of Semunawi Gazaetta and contributor to the Hanti Erita wrote a scathing article in Hanti Eritra condemning  the divisive agenda that Stafford was advancing in the late 1940s and early 1950s to destroy the coalition of the nationalists in the Independence Block (selfi natsnet).

Hbret(Union)and Mebrahti Eretria, which served as official mouthpieces of the political parties,flourished. Other newspapers like Brhan,which featured non-political writings, also got into print
.Beside creating democratic space and promo ting political engagement, the newspapers made an indelible service in vastly improving the modern grammatical and stylistic tone of the Tigrigna language. Hundreds, if not thousands, of essays, articles, and poems of high literary value were produced. And it is in this period and through the medium of the largely political newspapers that the essay as a distinct prose composition came into its full form.Even though the essay in Tigrigna flowered around this time, the question of its beginning is far from being settled. According to Negash it was ‘discovered’as a literary form in the 1940’s (Negash 1999: 119) read more

ንምዕባለ ቋንቋ ዝሓገዙ ዝርዝርጋዜጣታት

ንስነ ጽሑፍ ትግርኛ ንምምዕባል ዝሓገዙ መጽሔታትን ጋዜጣታትን ምንባሮም ምግላጹ ኣድላይ እዩ። ኣብ
ግዜ ባዕዳዊ መግዛእቲ ጣልያን እታ ናይ መጀመርታ ተሓቲማ ዝወጸት መንፈሳዊት መጽሔት ትግርኛ መልእክተ ሰላም ዝተባህለት ብኤሪክሰን ኦላ ዝተባህለ ሽወዳናዊ ኣዳላዊነት ካብ 1909 -1915 ዓም.ፈ ትሕተም ነበረት። መጽሔት፡ ጋዜጣ ኣስመራብትኽክል ንኽንዳይ ግዜ ከም ዝተሓትመት መሉእ ሓበረታ ዘይብላ ጋዜጣ ኣስመራ እትብል ብኣመሓዳሪ ኦሎሪ ዝተባህለ አብ ዝነበረሉ ግዜ፡ብኢድ ትጻሐፍ ዝነበረት ።ንሓበሬታ ናይዛ ጋዜጣ ኣብ ኣሰመራ ዩኒቨርሲቲ መጽናዕቲ ቐርኒአፍሪቃ (Asmara University Institute of African Studies)
ሓደ ቅዳሕ ሸውዓተ ገጽ ዝሓዘ መረዳእታ አሎ።ናይ ዕለት ወረ ኤርትራ