AHC: Kickstart Ethiopian Industrialisation

How would you guys start a pre-colonial Ethiopian Industry? That's not to say they didn't. To a degree Ethiopia did achieve a localised industry, but I want to see the growth of a regional industry magnet.

*It is not a priority that Ethiopia remain independent, more points if you can.

*More points if you can keep the monarchy around.
 
I would go with the following:

The French occupy Djibouti in the 1880's as OTL. Seeing the richness of this colony depends also heavily on the hinterland, they seek opportunities for investment.
The Ethiopian King, seeing this as a good opportunity to play the English against the French and get money in return takes advantage of this. Advances in medicine and technology, the coming of European goods and new markets for their products make him popular among the populace.
He ties the nobility through financial arrangements in semi-public companies bolstered by European funds.

The UK and France see it as a good way to penetrate into the interior and reach those markets with reduced costs as well as establishing new manufacturing center for India, Indochine and Madagascar, especially in the arm industry and transportation industry, those factories then serving for the pacification of Madagascar, Indochine and Afghanistan as well as Soudan and East Africa. With the creation of the Addis Abeba-Djibouti railway, the supply chain is indeed much closer and more reactive than resupplying entirely from the metropole.
 

GdwnsnHo

Banned
It depends what you mean by Industrialisation - if you mean the typical coal-powered stuff? I haven't the faintest how you could do that pre-colonially short of discovering a vast coalfield and exploiting it. There is coal, but I'm not sure if it is accessible by pre-industrial tech. Certainly something to look into.

Myself, I've always thought the best approach is a focus on

1) Lumber Production - so much of Ethiopias problems would be solved with concerted efforts to produce lumber as a serious crop. Not easy, but very valuable.

2) Hydro-power - much of Britains early industrialisation was built on water power - with a bit of ingenuity, and some dams, Ethiopia could historically build many dams that could power industries (oddly enough, including coal mine pumps).

Now, this does mean dedicating serious expanses of land to wood production (with the associated side effects), and completely flooding numerous valleys - but the advantages of mechanical power would be useful - they're very close to many resources in the Indian Ocean, which extra lumber would help them build ships to access, and they can trade Ethiopian goods throughout the Indian Ocean, and with Europe via Egypt.

The key is the PoD - ideally they want money and knowledge - I think the best chance for this is with Romans ruling Egypt, and one of their engineers (say someone who works on water mills and aqueducts) is sent to Ethiopia (the Emperor thinks that they could benefit from Roman Clergy and Scholars and be a long term ally/client?), the engineer is more useful than the clergy, and Ethiopia starts using wind and water for grinding grains - knowledge sticks, and the Ethiopians eventually consider the idea of a dam.

It is vague as anything - but the fundamental points are wood, and water power - coal power requires a shallow outcropping that I'm unaware of, and then the ability to harness steam power - more complex than it sounds.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Earlier Addis- Djibouti railway and give Britain their Lake Tana dam they so desperately wanted.

Then again the Ethiopian monarchy wasn't open to change, partly because they feared the loss of independence if they allowed too many foreign projects, especially Projects in the provinces. Since Ethiopia wasn't exactly a strong unified state, and development outside the grasp of the Royal Court would just mean the provinces grow more autonomous and the central government becomes more insignificant.
 
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