East Africa-Abyssinia Diplomatic Relations Upgraded

September 12, 1887.

Abyssinian Empire, Bahir Dar.

Bahir Dar was the new capital of the Abyssinian Empire. Johannes IV had moved the capital here in 1880.

The entire history of the Abyssinian Empire had been transformed beyond recognition by East Africa's intervention. Johannes IV had ended the civil strife within his country and built a new political center on the shores of Lake Tana.

"Tana" meant "water stored without drying up" in the local language. It was the largest lake within the Abyssinian Empire and the most important source of the Blue Nile River, known as the water tower of Northeast Africa. As for the African Water Tower, that was the East African Highlands within the Kingdom of East Africa.

Fishing and shipping were highly developed. However, as it was a new city, its population was only just over fifty thousand.

The original core of the Abyssinian Empire lay in the northeast, near the Red Sea coast. Yet the Northeast region faced the dual threats of Italy and Egypt, while the Red Sea shipping lanes' importance to the Abyssinian Empire's economic interests had gradually been replaced by East Africa's development of southern trade.

Guided by both economic interests and strategic value, Johannes IV had no choice but to move the capital from the northeast to Bahir Dar, now at the center of the Abyssinian Empire.

Arland, the former East African minister, said, "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Abyssinian Empire, from today onward, the East African Legation in Bahir Dar will be elevated to an embassy. I will be promoted to East African Ambassador to the Abyssinian Empire and will continue serving to safeguard relations between our two nations. In the future, East Africa will construct railways, telegraph lines, and factories within the Abyssinian Empire, strengthening the ties between our