Mashkov, V.F.: Information about Abyssinia

Title

Svedeniia ob Abissinii, “Izvestiia Russkogo Geograficheskogo obshchestva”, Sankt-Peterburg 1897, 33, p. 443-449

[Published under the pseudonym Fedorov, V.]

Information about Abyssinia

Keywords

Summary

The account of Viktor Mashkov’s expedition to Ethiopia was published in the Report of the Russian Geographical Society in 1897, in the section “Geographic News”. In the introductory note, the author states that this brief geographical sketch will describe the Russian Red Cross’s journey to Ethiopia, but will not be able to provide detailed scientific information. He also notes that he could not bring any luggage, which meant that he was unable to take photographic or scientific tools to the trip. After describing the departure from Petersburg to the port of Odessa and then to Africa, the author turns his attention to Ethiopia. He makes geological and geographical observations concerning the rocks in Harar (mostly red granite), the soil, and the local plantations (coffee, bananas, sugar cane, and corn). After Harar, the author travels to Addis Ababa through the Danakil desert. Here, the rocks are covered with a thick layer of black soil, which, after the rains, becomes a solid swamp. He observes that it is a waterless region but rich in flora. Addis Ababa, which the author reaches on July 26, 1896, at the peak of the rainy season, is also situated on an elevation. During his stay in Menelik’s capital, the author takes meteorological notes, measuring the air temperature three times a day. In his concluding remarks, the author notes that Ethiopia is characterized by a “rather colorful” anthropological composition due to interracial marriages, a beautiful location, a mild climate, and rich soil, flora, and fauna. He concludes that this country must have a bright future ahead, asserting that the “freedom-loving highlanders will never be enslaved by another nation and, enriched by the culture to which they now have a great attraction, will soon be at the forefront of the independent states of black Africa”.

Bio

Viktor Mashkov was a military and political figure, diplomat, ethnographer, and traveller. He studied at the Yaroslavl Military Gymnasium and the Tiflis Infantry Junker School in Georgia. In 1887-1888 he was appointed to the General Staff as a lieutenant. Mashkov first travelled to Ethiopia in 1889 as a correspondent for the newspaper “Novoe Vremia”. He returned to St. Petersburg with a letter from Menelik II to Alexander III, along with ceremonial Ethiopian weapons and other gifts for the Tsar. Following the success of this mission, in 1891 he was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir, 4^th class, and was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society. “Novoe Vremia” published a series of Mashkov’s essays about the journey. His second mission to Ethiopia was also successful: he delivered the Tsar’s response and brought Menelik’s new gifts for the heir to the Russian throne, the future Nicholas II, along with a collection of ethnographic objects, which Mashkov had collected himself (now at the Anthropological Museum of Moscow State University). After this mission Mashkov was appointed to the staff of the Russian Foreign Ministry with the rank of titular counsellor. In 1894, he was sent to Baghdad as secretary of the Russian Consulate. Mashkov remained in Baghdad until 1910, serving as Consul General from 1903. He ended his diplomatic career as the Russian consul in Skopje. After the 1917 revolution, Mashkov did not return to Russia and died in Belgrade in 1932.

Sources

V. Mashkov, Puteshestvie v stranu chernykh khristian v 1891-1892, “Novoe vremia”, 1893, N° 6069, 6076, 6095, 6102, 6131;

M. Zabrodskaia, Russkie puteshestvenniki po Afrike, Moskva 1955;

M. Rait, Russkie ekspeditsii v Efiopii v seredine XIX-nachale XX vv. i ikh etnograficheskie materialy, “Afrikanskii etnograficheskii sbornik”, 1956, 1, p. 220-281;

B. Val’skaia, Vklad russkogo geogr. obshch. v izuchenie Afriki, “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1969, 9, p. 5-18;

M. Gornung, I. Oleinikov, Geograficheskoe izuchenie Afriki v Rossii, in Izuchenie Afriki v Rossii (dorevoliutsionnogo perioda), ed. by A. Davidson, G. Nersesov, Moskva 1977, p. 30-71;

A. Khrenkov, Mashkov v Efiopii (Mezhdu podvigom i avantiuroi), “Voprosy istorii”, 1999, 2, p. 123-137.

M.E.