The field of Ethiopian studies has long been in need of an encyclopaedia which would guarantee scholars and students as well as those simply interested in the subject easy access to reliable and state-of-the-art information on all its important themes and aspects. For this reason the ENCYCLOPAEDIA AETHIOPICA [EAE] was launched, intended to serve as the standard work of reference and thus to satisfy this need. In addition to being highly inclusive in its contents and providing the most up-to-date factual and theoretical data, the EAE is designed to facilitate research by attaching a list of the most important primary sources and relevant academic publications to each entry.

The EAE follows the objectivity principle which has been dominant in the research tradition in recent decades. That is, it tries to remain unbiased when describing the actual facts and to keep a certain distance from political or economical allegiances, at the same time considering all complex events and intellectual history of the region – whilst for the EAE the region signifies not the Ethiopia of today, but the whole “Orbis Aethiopicus”, that is the large territory of the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as largely Djibouti and Somalia. The EAE will be the only existing lexicon to contain such a wide range of information on the whole Horn of Africa including historical, religious, linguistic, literary, cultural aspects, basic data (geography, flora, fauna) and anthropological research.

The ENCYCLOPAEDIA AETHIOPICA will include over 5,000 entries, ranging from short notes of approx. 150 words (for example on individuals of secondary historical importance) to extensive articles covering several pages (e.g. Oromo). A board of supervising field specialists ensures both an adequate selection of entries and the scholarly excellence of contributions. High academic standards should not, however, lead to the use of excessively specialist language that would interfere with the accessibility and readability of the EAE for a non-specialist.

The EAE is being created by hundreds of co-operating scholars working in various scientific fields.

The financial support, and thus the necessary material base for the project, has been coming from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the framework of a long-term project, from the German-Israeli Foundation, the Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, the Johanna und Fritz Buch Gedächtnisstiftung, and the Stiftung zur Förderung der Äthiopistik as well as Hamburg University.

The editors plan to compile four subject volumes and one index volume. The first volume, containing ca. 970 articles, the second volume, with ca. 1100 articles, the third volume, with ca. 1000 articles, and the fourth volume, with ca. 1100 articles, have been completed and can be ordered from the Harrassowitz Verlag. The fifth volume with ca. 400 articles, maps and indices is scheduled to be completed in 2012/2013.

The editorial headquarters are located in Hamburg at the Research Unit Ethiopian Studies of the Institute of African and Ethiopian Studies.

As mentioned above, the ENCYCLOPAEDIA AETHIOPICA focuses on the humanities, social sciences, linguistics and basic data. The major fields of enquiry are anthropology, archaeology, the arts, geography, history (including cultural, economic, legal, and social history), literature and religion. Entries from the natural sciences will be included only if they relate unambiguously to a core field.

The geographical focus is in no way determined by the present political borders of Ethiopia. As mentioned above, the classical title “ENCYCLOPAEDIA AETHIOPICA” refers to the region surrounding the core countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia and including also Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan and is to be understood as a lexicon of the entire Horn of Africa. This applies, for example, to the Horn’s historical partners and adversaries in Africa, in the Muslim and Arab worlds, as well as in Europe and among the Oriental Christian nations.

The period covered in the EAE spans from prehistoric times up to 1974. Yet, although both more remote and recent prehistorical eras (pre-Aksumite times) will receive their fair share of attention, the main focus of the EAE will be on recorded times, which left a legacy of written documents. Contemporary history will only be covered up to the end of the Haylä Sellase era in 1974.

The amount of research hitherto conducted in many fields of Ethiopian studies varies considerably, and with it the level of knowledge attained in these different fields. For instance, many aspects of Christian highland history, culture, and linguistics have been extensively studied, while our knowledge of, for example Islamic, Cushitic and Nilo-Saharan spheres of Ethiopia/Eritrea remains to this day comparatively sparse. The EAE will try hard to level out – even if only partially – the historical imbalances, giving the non-Christian, non-Semitic spheres their due weight; nevertheless the previous history of Ethiopian and Eritrean research will inevitably influence the contents and structure of the EAE to some extent.

A project of such scope as the ENCYCLOPAEDIA AETHIOPICA can only be implemented on the basis of intensive international cooperation. Hence the EAE invites all scholars working in all spheres within the field of Ethiopian studies to contribute. Hundreds of scientists from all over the world contribute to the project already, or have expressed their willingness to contribute.

The editorial team – with planning, coordinating, editing, and publishing responsibilities – keeps in close contact with the international board of co-editors and “field specialists”. This ensures the high scientific quality and professional standard of the publication. Field specialists play an active role in proposing and selecting qualified authors, review the submitted articles and help structure the encyclopaedia amongst other activities.