История золота Эфиопии: от древних сокровищниц до экологических угроз современного горнодобывающего бизнеса

For centuries, gold was woven into Ethiopia’s political and economic history. Gathered from riverbeds and mining regions, it served as a medium of international trade and accumulated in royal treasuries. It also figured in land transactions, church endowments, inheritances and long-distance commerce under successive Ethiopian states. Today, gold extraction is taking place on a vastly different scale. In some frontier regions, informal and illegal mining operations, aided by heavy machinery and involving the use of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, have altered landscapes and raised concerns about environmental damage and the loss of archaeological sites. In his historical review, The Gold, Currency, Trade and Wealth of Medieval Ethiopia, researcher Isaac Samuel traces the role of gold from the Aksumite era through the 19th century. His research shows that gold was not simply an extractive commodity, but was tied to systems of wealth, tribute, trade and political authority. 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The account records Aksumite expeditions to obtain gold from a region known as Sasu. Other historical accounts identify Aksum and its port of Adulis as important centers in the trade of gold dust, ivory, leather, hides and aromatics. Between the third and seventh centuries, Aksum became the first known African polity south of Egypt to issue its own coinage. Its early gold coins were between 93 and 97 percent pure and weighed about 2.4 to 2.8 grams, apparently following monetary standards used in the Roman world. From The Reporter Magazine From Unwilling Investors to Bidding Wars: Ethiopia’s T-Bill Market Turns on Its Head Published on 2026-09-03 By Mahlet Mehdi Competition, Trapped Funds, and Connectivity: Aviation Guru on Realities in a Fast-Evolving Industry Published on 2026-09-05 By Yared Nigussie Behind Ethiopia’s Stalled Iron Ore Mining Published on 2026-08-29 By Bewket Abebe The Myth of International Currency Reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Published on 2026-08-16 By Mussie Delelegn Arega (PhD) Gold coinage disappeared in the seventh century, a development generally associated with Aksum’s declining access to Red Sea trade. Gold itself, however, remained part of Ethiopia’s systems of wealth and exchange. Samuel notes that different forms of currency circulated in the medieval Christian and Muslim kingdoms of Ethiopia, including silver and copper coins, foreign gold coins and commodity money, while barter remained important in some areas. Gold re-emerged as an important medium in international commerce from the 14th century. Gold, Tribute and the State Gold occupied a distinctive place in Ethiopia’s systems of wealth, taxation and political power, according to Samuel. Francisco Álvares, who visited Ethiopia in 1520, reported that the largest annual tribute, or geber/gibre, paid to the emperor came from Gojjam. The tribute included gold alongside horses, mules, textiles and other goods. Álvares recorded 30,000 ouquias of gold, which Samuel identifies with the waqet, a unit of approximately 39 grams. The distinction is significant: geber/gibre was not a gold-only tribute system. Rather, gold was one of the major commodities included in tribute presented to the imperial court. Gold reaching the court could be used for trade and religious donations or retained as royal wealth. Álvares described gold being stored in guarded “treasure baskets” and pits that could move with the royal court. Samuel also notes that Ge’ez texts refer to Warq Wasa, or “gold cave,” whose guards were described as keepers of the caves. Other historical accounts trace the movement of gold from producing regions to Ethiopia’s political centers. Poncet, who was in Ethiopia between 1698 and 1700, reported that some of the country’s richest gold mines were in Enarea and Gojjam. He wrote that gold was carried to Gondar, where it was refined into wedges and used to pay troops and meet court expenses. Citing the Scottish explorer James Bruce, Samuel also identifies Lasta, Damot, Shewa, Enarea and Kuara among the provinces associated with gold tribute. Gold’s history in Ethiopia was not confined to royal treasuries and markets. It was also embedded in the landscape. Archaeological evidence around Aksum and elsewhere in Tigray suggests that some of the gold used by the ancient kingdom may have come from areas near its capital. Stone basins known as mistah werki, or “where gold is spread out to dry,” have been interpreted as possible sites for washing gold-bearing earth. Archaeologist Laurel Phillipson has also suggested that disturbed terrain west of Aksum may have resulted from ancient alluvial gold mining. Samuel notes that much of the gold in medieval Ethiopia was obtained by panning riverbeds rather than through deep mining. Historical accounts describe gold being found after rainfall and exchanged for textiles, cattle, salt and other goods. According to Samuel, gold from western and southern regions moved toward markets and royal centers and, in some cases, to the Red Sea coast. In places where ancient settlements, historic trade routes and centuries-old mining grounds overlap, the landscape can preserve evidence of how earlier communities lived, worked, traded and extracted resources. Modern mining has introduced new pressures to some of these traditional gold-producing areas. There is no documented evidence that the current gold rush has destroyed specific ancient sites. But large-scale excavation and other forms of physical disruption could disturb unexcavated archaeological sites and historical traces before they are identified and studied. A 2024 analysis by Chatham House describes a modern gold economy operating under markedly different conditions, with gold increasingly linked to conflict and illicit trade networks. According to the report, Tigray has emerged as a central part of this shift. Chatham House estimated that artisanal mining employed at least 1.5 million people and accounted for more than 95 percent of Ethiopia’s mineral export earnings in 2023-24. Yet official gold exports fell from a peak of 12 tons in 2011-12 to 4.2 tons in 2023-24. Before the conflict, the region hosted more than 90 licensed gold companies and was a major supplier of gold to the National Bank of Ethiopia. Chatham House reported that wartime instability weakened regulatory controls, allowing gold to be extracted and traded through illicit channels. The study estimated that up to six tons of Ethiopian gold are smuggled out of the country each year. A November 2025 investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented the postwar expansion of illegal gold mining in Tigray. The investigation identified heavy machinery operating at the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk sites, which had been legally assigned to subsidiaries of the Canadian company East Africa Metals. The Bureau also reported the involvement of former soldiers and foreign miners at the sites. Its investigation documented the use of mercury and cyanide near local water supplies at another location, describing a gold trade involving military networks, foreign actors and illicit traders in the aftermath of the conflict. For author and historian Yves-Marie Stranger, the historical record provides context for gold’s enduring role in Ethiopia’s past and its place in the country today. “The precise historic account given by Samuel corroborates the myths and legends of the tremendous wealth associated with figures such as the Queen of Sheba and Prester John,” Stranger said. “However fanciful and exaggerated these accounts were — including depictions of the ‘Library of Mount Abora,’ which Luis de Urreta fabricated in his History of Ethiopia — the fables were often rooted in real wealth.” Stranger said that travelers and mythmakers often overlooked the labor and political systems through which that wealth was accumulated. “What travellers and mythmakers alike often glossed over was the painstaking time and effort involved in the accumulation of these riches, as well as the ‘apex predator’ nature of traditional rulers, who were able to hoard goods accrued from immense territories,” he said. Stranger compared this accumulation to developments in South America, where Spanish forces looted gold from the Inca Empire after generations of accumulation. In Ethiopia, he said, a comparable dynamic emerged during the conflicts of the 16th century. Forces of the Adal Sultanate gathered significant quantities of precious metals from churches and treasuries, Stranger said, but the influx of looted metal also created practical difficulties. According to Stranger, the abundance of precious metals contributed to local price inflation, increasing the cost of everyday goods rather than providing long-term economic stability. Stranger also cautioned against drawing direct parallels between historical systems of tribute and modern trade. “If a parallel would be made between this period of Ethiopian history and today, it would rather be in the fact that medieval Abyssinian monarchs were pressing their subjects for tribute in order to purchase luxury goods from outside the Horn,” he told The Reporter. “But this simile is not in fact correct, as whereas once it was ‘only’ luxuries that were imported, today’s flow of goods into Ethiopia concerns daily necessities.” Samuel’s historical account traces gold through systems of tribute, market exchange and long-distance trade, where it also served as a measure of wealth and a source of political authority. Historical records describe imperial decrees restricting the use and formal display of gold to royalty and the nobility, noting the practical limits of state control over those who physically extracted the metal. The history of gold-producing regions extends beyond questions of production and trade. In areas where mining has occurred alongside settlements and trade routes over centuries, changes to the landscape may also affect physical evidence of that history. Where gold once moved from producing regions to royal centers, markets and international trading networks, modern extraction is reshaping some of the same areas.