Gondär’s evolution to becoming the empire’s capital went hand in hand with the con- struction of pompous castles by members of the Gondärine royal family, supported by foreign builders. However, foreign presence left its marks not only in the capital’s archi- tecture, but also in the Jesuit missionary reports of the time. As the history was written mostly from the Portuguese point of view—and was thus affected by their inability to make clear distinctions between nationalities—it is difficult to ascertain the dimension of foreign involvement in the empire’s development. Furthermore, Ethiopian written sources also rather rarely mention the presence of färänǧ, and still less often distinguish them according to their provenance. As ‘history’ is usually written by the majority or victorious group this contribution challenges the written reports, confronting them with oral traditions.

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Ethiopia,Oral tradition,History

• History and Archeology - Humanities
• Languages and Literature - Humanities
• Anthropology - Social Sciences