Enderta Province - Modernization Under Yohannes

Modernization Under Yohannes

Yohannes' successive struggles against foreign invaders, Egyptian, Dervis and Italian, left him moreover with little time for technological or other innovation. He nevertheless succeeded, in sending envoys on important diplomatic missions abroad. Yohannes was like wise the first Ethiopian ruler to appoint a foreign consul, a certain Samuel King, who served as his representative in London. Advancement in the medical field introduced mercury preparations for the treatment of syphilis came into extensive use at this time, at least in the principal Ethiopian towns. Yohannes also had in his court a Greek doctor, Nicholas Parisis. He was similarly the first Ethiopian monarch to be inoculated with modern-style smallpox vaccine, which was then beginning to replace the country's traditional inoculation.