DiplomacyPolitics & Society
Player Submission
🔥 1
Shewa, 1815 · The Shattered Congress
Nathaniel Pierce, Henry Salt.
By player
The Great Emperor Egwale Seyon had his first encounter with the so called "Ingiliz" (English) in the year 1805. They had sent 2 diplomats by the names of Henry Salt and Nathaniel Pearce to secure an alliance with the Ethiopians, in case of French influence in the area, and to document what they saw.
The Emperor had just finished a nasty civil war between the Muslims and Christians in his kingdom, and was not interested in these foreigners promises, no matter how grand they seemed. Up until this point, Ethiopia was in a state of Isolationism, so they had little knowledge or care of outside influence.
But the Emperor understood that they had to understand their neighbours, the bigger players, if they wished to expand and survive, so while he did not undergo diplomacy with the "Ingliz", he began sending out his own diplomats to neighbouring nations, to better understand his surroundings, and as such began the process of building Ethiopia's reputation in the region.
Henry Salt would end up returning to England, but Nathaniel Pierce ended up staying and living in Ethiopia, where he ended serving the next Ras (Emperors), ultimately leaving after marrying a Greek woman and dying in 1810 in Cairo, Egypt due to exposure,
Henry Salt would return in 1814, to Ethiopia, to document more of the nation, and to continue attempts to create diplomatic and trade links between the British and Ethiopians but was constantly rebuked. Eventually he understood it wasn't the right time, and would leave in 1815, not after bringing back a species of small Antelopes, not seen to the Europeans.