Entire Volume 17 issue 1 - Journal of World-Systems Research ...

173 JOURNAL OF WORLD-SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Figure 2: “Chart of the Indian Ocean”. Homem, Diogo (1558). “Chart of the Indian
Ocean” [Map] in Queen Mary’s Atlas, The British Library, shelfmark MS 5415A,
reproduced in Leo Bagrow (1966) History of Cartography, revised and enlarged by R. A.
Skelton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 144-145 (inset).
The discussion of Prester John seems a convenient place to leave the discussion of
Abyssinia in antiquity, at least for the time being. Plainly, Abyssinia long-existed on the edge of
Europe’s information network (IN), shrouded in myth and rumor which was then embodied in
Prester John, beginning in the twelfth century. Seventeenth century representations of the region
remove the ephemeral figure of Prester John, but continue to refer Abyssinia as the “Empire” or
“Kingdom” of the Prester; he is the framework within which the area is conceptualized. At what
point does Prester John become supplanted by economic or other political-military concerns? Or,
more accurately – as Axum had an established trade relationship with the Mediterranean system –
when did Europe expand into the existing trading systems that involved Abyssinia?
Wallerstein, the World-System and Abyssinia
Wallerstein is concerned with later aspects of Abyssinian/Ethiopian development. Because his
vision of the world-system is that of European expansion outward, earlier interactions with
Ethiopia are neglected or downplayed. This is further complicated by the relative positioning of
Abyssinia in context of larger systems of interaction: the region is adjacent to successive trading
systems and its political success derived from an ability to exploit inter-regional -- or crosssystemic
-- trade. To illustrate: