Administrative and military impediments of medieval Ethiopian economy

Abstract

The administrative and military structures of the medieval Ethiopian state were based on a system called the gult system that gave tribute-collecting rights to state officials and military personnel. Nevertheless, there were various occasions in which the administrative and military system and structure of the state were hampering the economic development of the medieval Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia. There were different factors that were responsible for the underdevelopment of medieval Ethiopian economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the administrative and military impediments to the economy of medieval Ethiopia. Using different primary and secondary sources, this study endeavoured to thematically analyse how the administrative and military structures were hampering the economic development of Ethiopia in the period. Analysis of fragmentary sources of the period has revealed that the inherently precarious nature of the gult system, the military deployment, the soldiery, and the incessant war that had been fought in the state had been impeding the economic prosperity of the medieval Ethiopian state.

Keywords

• economy
• gult system
• medieval Ethiopia
• administrative and military structures
• wars
• Christian kingdom