Introduction : the crisis of the Nile -- Christianity and Islam : the formative concepts -- Medieval prime : the legacies of the Solomonians and the Mamluks -- Modern rediscovery and fatal collision -- Nationalism and mutual perceptions -- Stormy redefinitions, 1935-1942 -- From compromise to disconnection, 1945-1959 -- Ethiopian concepts of Egypt, 1959-1991 -- Egyptian concepts of Ethiopia, 1959-1991 -- Conclusion : the 1990s and the legacies of history
Summary
The ongoing Egyptian-Ethiopian dispute over the Nile waters is potentially one of the most difficult issues on the current international agenda, central to the very life of the two countries. Analyzing the context of the dispute across a span of more than a thousand years, The Cross and the River delves into the heart of both countries' identities and cultures. Erlich deftly weaves together three themes: the political relationship between successive Ethiopian and Egyptian regimes; the complex connection between the Christian churches in the two countries; and the influence of the Nile river system on Ethiopian and Egyptian definitions of national identity and mutual perceptions of "the Other." Drawing on a vast range of sources, his study is key to an understanding of a bond built on both interdependence and conflict
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-236) and index