In 1880, King Menelik of Shewa made a tract of land in Bali [Qubee: _ _ _] in today’s East Shewa Zone available for the St. Chrischona missionary Johannes Mayer and his colleagues. They moved there in January 1881.
The explorer Dr Adolf Stecker visited Bali in 1882. A cartographer later produced the following map based on the information provided by Stecker.
(Detail of a map of Dr Adolf Stecker’s journey in 1882
[publ. by Fritzsche in 1891])
According to this map, the geographical coordinates of Bali are approximately 08° 43′ N, 39° 07′ E.
In Cecchi’s, Da Zeila alle frontiere del Caffa, vol. 3, p. 530, the geographical coordinates of “Bali (missione)” are given as
8° 42′ 45” N, 39° 10′ 02” E.
According to Google Maps, the indicated location belongs to Kiltu Beja kebele — a ward in the Lome [Qubee: Loomii] district of the East Shewa Zone. Please note that the names of the administrative units and their boundaries have changed since the 1880s. At that time, Bali was assigned to the Ada’a area. However, today’s Ada’a district is located west of the Lome district.
European Missionaries and Ethiopian Evangelicals probably connected to Bali
» Greiner, Johann Jacob
» Mayer, Johannes
» Shoolaan
Circumstances in 1882
Johannes Mayer, letter from February 1882 (English translation):
The baptizing of the [Oromo] by royal order continues without resistance. I was once present at our Balli church [p. 19] when approximately one hundred people were baptized at once, including a sick person who was carried in on a stretcher. After baptism, they are given Holy Communion.
God’s providence certainly did not bring this about in vain, but for the later salvation of the [Oromo]. The pagan spell is broken, and paganism has at least lost its external power.
As far as the Shewan rule extends, killing certain children and old parents, which is otherwise customary, has been abolished. The Christian element appears to defeat the cruel paganism in this manner as well. Even the [Oromo] language seems to have given way to the Christian Amharic. The court language is Amharic, even if the judge is a born [Oromo]. All civil servants and many other [Oromo] speak Amharic. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly fashionable and in use.
German source: Jahresbericht der Pilger-Mission
auf St. Chrischona 34 (1882): 18‒19.
Further reading
Arén, Gustav. Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Stockholm (Sweden): EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978. [View online]
Cecchi, Antonio. Da Zeila alle Frontiere de Caffa, vol. 3. Rome: Ermanno Loescher, 1887. [Google Books]
Fritzsche, G. E. “Dr. Anton Steckers Reisen in den Galla-Ländern, 1882. Nach seinen Tagebuchaufzeichnungen zusammengestellt von G. E. Fritzsche”, Dr. A. Petermann’s Mitteilungen aus Justus Perthes’ Geographischer Anstalt 37 (1891): 233‒41. [View map 17 online]
Cross-reference
» Greiner, Autobiographical notes