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Hunting, Ivory and Firearms Trade in the Ethiopian Region, c. 1840s-1940s

Fri, April 1, 10:30am to 12:00pm, Westin Seattle Hotel, Cascade 1C

Abstract

Before the spread of modern firearms, hunting served as popular socio-cultural event among various communities in Northeast Africa. Hunting expeditions were popular sports that served as training exercises for the youth where they learned how to endure and survive under harsh conditions, skills essential for future military service and defense of their communities. Hunting also helped to control the over population of wildlife and to maintain an ecological balance between the domestic and wild animals. Although regularly hunted, elephants were abundantly found and roamed in the forests and grasslands throughout the Ethiopian region until the late nineteenth century. But the expansion of ivory trade and the spread firearms drastically reduced their number and threatened their survival in the twentieth century. Currently, less than 2000 elephants live in Ethiopia all confined to eight conservation sites along the borderlands. This paper explores the social and cultural history of hunting in Ethiopia before the spread of modern firearms, and the impact of ivory and arms trade on elephants and the environment the since the mid-nineteenth century.

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