Crewett et al. summarize that “Ethiopia has a long legacy of intervention in land tenure relations. The Ethiopian state has exerted considerable influence on local land tenure regimes throughout different political regimes.” But what does this long legacy look like? In this post I discuss the period of the Solomonic Dynasty, until 1975.
Ethiopia’s land registration policies date back to 1909, when Emperor Menelik II issued the registration of title deeds in the capital city Addis Ababa. (This is the same remarkable Emperor Menelik II as I discussed in my last post titled “On the electric chair”.) Over a decade later, Emperor Haile Selassie, ruling from 1930 to 1974, ordered to measure and register the rural land. This has been conducted by the Ministry of Land Reform, assisted by the Mapping Agency (Abebe, 2006).
Having such a specialized ministry is generally caused by urgent needs and severe public pressure. This supports the notion that Ethiopia’s land tenure problems are rooted deeply.
In Ethiopia’s history of land registration part 2: 1975 – 1991: The Derg regime I discuss the next phase of Ethiopia’s land registration developments.
[...] my previous post I discussed Ethiopia’s land registration during the Solomonic Dynasty (until [...]