Talk:Ethiopian birr

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Contents 1 Metonnya 2 Liberation 3 Exchange in 1936 4 Bank of Abyssinia -> Bank of Ethiopia

[edit] Metonnya

Heh heh, 'matonas' is fine, even if a little misleading as to the pronunciation... (many such mispronunciations arise, from the twin facts that first linguists would use diacritical marks and write it eg. /mätoñ:a/, then typesetters in the old days would discard all these marks and turn it into 'matona'...!) As for "widely used", if it was only used from 1931 to 1936, and then 'santim' was used after the war, it sounds to me like it would be exceedingly rare to actually come across one! Bet it would be worth a lot more now, eh? ፈቃደ 16:30, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Liberation

Is it really appropriate to call the transfer from Italian colonial rule to British colonial rule in 1941 "Liberation"? I'm not saying that it's definitely not -- for all I know, the British allowed local autonomy. I was just surprised to see the word used in a context that didn't involve independence. Ingrid 15:28, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is absolutely appropriate, because for one thing Ethiopia never transferred to "British colonial rule"; it was liberated from the fascists just like France or any other country was. Most Ethiopians will vehemently argue that their country was never even under "Italian colonial rule", since the Italians were unable to do much of anything succesfully there during those 5 short years, thanks to Ethiopian patriot resistance on the part of 100% of the people. This is why Ethiopians have a slogan, "ETHIOPIA HAS NEVER BEEN COLONISED". ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 16:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Also, His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I entered Addis Ababa 5 years to the very day after he departed for exile and resumed his throne; it seems some British also seemed to have this idea in their heads that Ethiopia was now suddenly a British colony, and His Majesty did everything in His Power to let them know that it was no more under their authority Constitutionally than it had been under that of the Italians. So I don't know what you are getting at by suggesting that this liberation "did not involve independence". ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 16:26, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I am by no means a geography expert. I am trying to learn, mostly through Wikipedia, but also through my interest in currency. Some sources that I've read about currencies suggested that the Italian East African lira was used in Ethiopia during the Italian colonial period, and the (British) East African shilling was used from 1941-1945 when the Ethiopian birr was reintroduced. I assumed this meant that Ethiopia was colonized, but I should've checked the Ethiopia page for more details. I'm sorry if I've offended you (or anyone else), that was certainly not my intention. Do you have information about what currencies were used in Ethiopia during the Italian period (which I believe is 1936-1941) or the British/early independence period (1941-1945)? I'm interested in knowing what was official as well as what was actually used. Ingrid 18:25, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Exchange in 1936

There are two different exchange rates for 1936 that I can find. The first is in http://users.erols.com/kurrency/africa.htm, the second in http://www.globalfinancialdata.com/index.php3?action=detailedinfo&id=5541. The first states 1 lira = 5 talari (presumably meaning birr/thaler). The second states 5 lira = 1 thaler. To my mind, the later makes more sense and I've put this in the article but we need clarification.
Dove1950 20:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bank of Abyssinia -> Bank of Ethiopia

From what I've read, the Bank of Abyssinia was not renamed, but bought by Emperor Haile Selassie & reorganized as the Bank of Ethiopia. In fact, in an interview with Sylvia Pankhurst, he is quoted explicitly as having done so:

Question: "What do you regard as the most important achievements of your reign?" Answer: "The construction of schools, hospitals, roads; financial reforms, the purchase of the Bank of Abyssinia and its transformation into a State bank; the fight against slavery and the establishment of a school for freed slaves." (Richard Pankhurst, Economy of Ethiopia, p. 29)

However, if we edit this article to reflect this fact, then we are faced with the question whether Haile Selassie requested that his country be referred to as Ethiopia & not Abyssinia -- & if not, when did this change in usage take place? -- llywrch 20:32, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

His Majesty specifically mentions this in Chapter 12 of His Autobiography - My Life & Ethiopia's Progress, vol. I. He says he bought and renamed it in 1928. It was around this time that he first became crowned as Negus, and also roughly around this time that he formally requested that his country, which had already been domestically referred to as "Ethiopia" for centuries, be known by that name instead of "Abyssinia" in Western countries. (In the same general time period, the monarchs of Persia -> Iran and Siam -> Thailand made similar requests, though I can't say off hand in what order.) ፈቃደ (ውይይት) 21:59, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, that doesn't answer my question -- although obviously we agree on many of the details. My question was since it appears that the name of the currency was not changed because the name of the bank was changed, then we can write that up until a certain date the Birr was known as the "Abyssinian dollar", when the Emperor requested that the name of his country be known as "Ethiopia", & the currency was then officially known as the "Ethiopian Dollar" -- & that there is verifiable proof for this statement. (If there isn't verifiable proof for this at hand, I for one would be happy to simply drop all mention of the Abyssinian Dollar for the time being & avoid the problem.) -- llywrch 21:47, 1 May 2006 (UTC)