TECHNOLOGY AND AGRARIAN CHANGE People of the Plow: An Agricultural History of Ethiopia, 1800–1990. By JAMES C. MCCANN. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. Pp. xviii + 298. £48.50 (ISBN 0-299-14610-3); £22.50, paperback (ISBN 0-299-14614-6).

Abstract

This book is a history of Ethiopian plough agriculture set within the larger context of environmental history. The subject is further examined through such key themes as demography, urbanization, crop varieties and farm resources. The book is in two parts: Part I is a broad narrative of what the author calls the ‘ox-plow revolution’ and its social and economic consequences. Part II consists of three well-chosen case studies, namely Ankober in northern Ethiopia, a district which in the nineteenth century served as the royal granary of the Shoan kingdom; Gera, an area located in the forest zone in south-western Ethiopia; and Ada, the agricultural backyard of the capital city, Addis Ababa.