Gebrehiwot Baykedagn dating history

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Gebrehiwot Baykedagn (1886-1919) was an Ethiopian doctor, economist, and intellectual. He was born in 1886 in Adwa, Tigray. In a trip to the port of Massawa, Gebrehiwot and his friends got permission from the captain of a German ship to visit the ship. On departure, he stowed away (this may not have been deliberate, according to Alemayehu Geda, 2004). On arrival, the captain entrusted the young boy to a rich Austrian family, who adopted him. This good fortune opened to him the opportunity to study the German language and to go to school. His exposure to Western education was thorough, and he pursued medical studies at Berlin University. He returned to his country and became private secretary and interpreter to the Emperor Menelik II, who defeated the Italian colonial army in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Later on, while the Haile Selassie was still the successor to the throne, he fulfilled important administrative functions. He served as inspector of the important Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway until his premature death in 1919.