ABSTRACT
Iberian interventionism in Abyssinia had begun some 80 years earlier. In the mid-sixteenth century, the predominantly Christian Abyssinian empire nearly collapsed after a string of military defeats at the hands of imam Ah·mad b. Ibrahim al-Gazi, leader of the Adal sultanate. This chapter focuses on Jesuit texts. The beating heart of the document, however, is the indoctrination of the Abyssinian youth. The Jesuits dispatched to Ethiopia during Galawdewos's rule failed to make any headway after decades of efforts. A clear picture begins to emerge from this investigation. The Jesuits in Abyssinia were not innocent bystanders solely concerned with the spiritual health of their fellow Iberians. Jesuit failure in Ethiopia partially pivoted on self-delusion brought on by a colonial ideology of their own invention. That is, in time the Iberians tacitly answered Galawdewos's hanging question in the Confession of Faith and they were found wanting. .
