Source: Atlas Obscura
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This replica of a giant mortar stands in the middle of an Ethiopian traffic circle. The weapon it commemorates was built by the Christian hostages of an Ethiopian emperor and was abandoned atop a hill, where it still lies today.
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When the Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II accepted Christian missionaries into his capital, it was not for their religious guidance. The Christian monarch was after their science, and more specifically, their help in building ever larger cannons and mortars.
In the mid-1850s, Emperor Tewodros II had a vision for a modern, industrialized Ethiopia. The Christian ruler dreamed of restoring a strong monarchy, ending the slave trade, and creating a modern military that would keep Ethiopia strong and safe. But to do this he would need the support of foreign powers, in particular, the British, and their knowledge of weaponry.
The British, however, were not as accommodating as Tewodros would have liked. The Emperor wrote a letter to Queen Victoria asking her to send skilled workers to teach his subjects how to produce firearms, but the letter was ignored.
Tewodros, therefore, turned to the European missionaries who had come to Ethiopia, seeking not their religious guidance but their scientific knowledge. At the time,…
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