KARIN HIYEMAA, PhD (History), University of Tartu (Estonia) Estonia Keywords:, African studies, Ethiopian studies. University of Tartu The history of Estonian African studies dates back to the 19th century. It was founded by Estonian missionaries who worked in Africa in the 19th century. Among them, Gustav Reinhold Nielander (c.1776 - 1825), Hans Tiismann (1829 - 1886), Ewald Ovijr (1873 - 1896), and Leonhard Bloomer (1878 - 1938)made particularly important contributions. 1 Interest in Ethiopian studies at the University of Tartu began in the early 19th century, when Professor of Semitic Languages Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Goetzel (1754-1824) began lecturing on the Ethiopian language (geez)2 (this is how the classical Old Ethiopian language geez is mentioned in Estonian sources-comment by K. Kh.). More seriously, the Ethiopian languages were studied in Tartu in the second half of the XIX century. AFRICAN STUDIES AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TARTU Special mention should be made of Alexander Michael Karl von Bulmerink (1868-1938), who was a professor in the Department of Semitic Languages in 1898-1916 and in 1919-1938. During the first Estonian Republic (1918-1940), he taught such famous scholars of Ethiopian studies as the poet, polyglot orientalist and translator Uku Mazing (1909-1985), as well as the linguist and polyglot Pent Nurmekund (1906-1997). U. Mazing continued his studies in the field of Ethiopian studies in 1932. in Tübingen with Professor Enno Littmann 3. Along with listening to lectures, W. Mazing was engaged in research work in libraries and archives, copied many medieval Geez manuscripts. After returning to Estonia, he published reflections on the life and death of the Abyssinian philosopher Zara-Jakob. Unfortunately, his work "Translation of the Book of the Prophet Obadiah (Obadiah) into the Ethiopian language" remained unpublished. In the 1920s and 1930s, two doctors of Russian origin worked in Africa-Ivan and Dimitri Solomentsev, who were educated at the M ... Read more