Secondary Lands of Tigrinyaland and Semien: Carbonic Terrain

This is the eighth part of the geological description of Tigrinyaland¹ and Semien,² which has been adapted from Messrs. Ferret and Galinier’s work published in 1847.³ In this installment, the secondary lands of Tigrinyaland and Semien composed of combustible terrains will be discussed.

We classify in secondary lands, following the example of some geologists⁴, the entire series of terrains included from anthracite-bearing terrain and coal-bearing terrain up to (but not including) tertiary terrains. However, among the terrains of this series, in Abyssinia⁵ we were able to directly observe the existence of the Oolitic group only. Nevertheless, we will say a word about those which we have not seen, but which to all appearances, constitute the soil of certain parts of this country.

Carbonic Land

Combustible Land

It is extremely probable that the coal or anthracite-bearing terrain exists in Abyssinia. According to the relative arrangement and succession of the lands, we are almost certain that part of the carboniferous terrains, if not all of those terrains, are located towards the coasts of the Red Sea, at the east-southeast extremity of Abyssinia proper, in the direction of Shoa, following the Oolitic terrains, on one side, and after the Triassic terrains, on the other. Such was our opinion, when we read a report that fully confirmed our predictions. We reproduce the following passage from the report:

“In Abyssinia, coal has been seen on the border of Wollo-Oromo and Shoa, near the Wat River, and at a short distance from the Robi-Wenz, which flows into the Awash River. These coals of Abyssinia were found by two travellers at the edge of the plateaus. The little I know about geology and the inspection of the terrain give me the certainty that they may be found towards Tarenta,⁶ near Halay and Ziban Bur, situated at the eastern tip of a vast plateau, which from a geological point of view is merely the continuation and termination of the Showan plateau. The coalfields would then be only a short distance from the sea, especially via Bur Tahtay.”⁷

The author of the report is going a little too far in his conclusions, when he says that fuel-bearing terrains exist near Halay, -in the Tarenta mountains, because the terrains that make up these mountains are older than the anthracite-bearing and coal-bearing terrains. However, Carbonic-group lands may well exist in the Afar⁸ country, at the limit of rock-salt terrains, which probably belong to the Triassic group.

In support of our opinion and the previous quotation, we will cite a passage from the work of Mr. Rochet-d’Héricourt:

“On the first of October,” he says, “fifteen kilometers north-northwest of Tiannu, I discovered a dry coal mine, still untouched by any exploitation. It forms layers 1.5, 2, and even 13 meters thick, enclosed in bituminous clay. It is alloyed with pyrite iron. Its apparent length is 87 meters. Its exploitation would be very easy, and everything suggests that it would produce very rich products. I took with me some samples which I intended to show to the king [of France]. I was charmed by this good fortune, which gave me the means of presenting myself to the prince under favorable auspices.”⁹

The presence of fuel land in Abyssinia is valuable. What’s more, the existence of iron, sulfur and copper mines in the vicinity would make it possible to set up numerous industrial establishments in the future, with immense benefits for trade and commerce.

Reference Notes

1. Tigrinyaland was a collective name of the Midri-Bahri (modern-day state of Eritrea) and Tigray (the northernmost region of modern-day Ethiopia). The term employed for Tigrinyaland by Messrs. Ferret and Galinier in their book is “Tigré”, which had been the designation used by the Amhara rulers of Abyssinia to refer both to the Tigrinya people and the Tigrinyaland. ↩︎
2. Semien was historically the frontier province of the Tigrinya with the Amhara. However, since the reign of Emperor Susenyos, the province of Semien had been governed by members of the Amhara royalty and nobility. Following the death of Dejazmatch Sabagadis in 1831, Semien under its Amhara ruler Dejazmatch Wubbe turned from the frontier province of the Tigrinyaland to the power-center of the Tigrinyaland. This continued until the rise of Emperor Tewodros in 1855. ↩︎
3. Ferret, Pierre Victor Adolphe et Galinier, Joseph Germain (1847) Description Géologique du Tigré et du Samen. Voyage en Abyssinie dans les provinces du tigre, du samen et de L’amhara. Tome troisième. Paulin: Paris. ↩︎
4. Rivière, Alphonse (1839) Eléments de Géologie pure et appliquée ou Résumé d’un cours de géologie descriptive, spéculative, industrielle et comparative. Méquignon-Rivière: Paris. ↩︎
5. Abyssinia is a reference to the region which encompasses the modern-day states of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, parts of Sudan and parts of Somalia. ↩︎
6. The Tarenta mountain chain forms the eastern escarpement of modern-day eritrea, and looks down on the Eritrean eastern lowlands which are close to the Red Sea. ↩︎
7. Aubert-Roche, L. L. (décembre 1843) Mer Rouge, mer des Indes. Revue de l’Orient, vi cahier, pag. 350. ↩︎
8. In their book, Messrs. Ferret and Galinier use the term “Taltal” to refer to the people of Afar. The word “Taltal” was previously used by other Abyssinians to refer to the Afar people while the term “Afar” was used to designate the region they inhabit. “Afar” is the adjective form of the word “afer” and translates into “dusty”, “soily”, and accurately describes the dusty nature of the desert and semidesert landscape of the region. However, since the Afar people themselves prefer to be called “Afar”, I have replaced everywhere the term “Taltal” by the word “Afar”. ↩︎
9. Rochet d’Héricourt, C. E. X. (1841) Voyage sur la côte orientale de la mer Rouge, dans le pays d’Adel et le royaume de Choa. 1 vol. in-8°. Pag. 130. Paris. ↩︎