Teresa of Ávila and Somalia

Last Tuesday the AEC had two interesting lectures. The first was about Teresa of Ávila and the second was a continuation of the Somalia topic.

Teresa had quite an interesting life with all her visions of Jesus. Some argue that she encouraged people to enjoy sensual pleasures. This obviously caused some friction with the church. However she was a faithful follower of the church. She was allowed to reform the Carmelite Order and she was given permission to establish the Discalced Carmelites. She was also a prolific writer and published many books.

Then there was the second lecture about Somalia. This time the lecture covered the period from early years until Somali independence. Recently some cave paintings have been discovered in Somalia that date back to 9000-8000BCE. The caves are called Laas Geel. The Egyptians brought back from the area of present day Somalia various raw materials. Around the year 1000 the first mosques were built along the coast. The Chinese explorer Zheng He visited Somalia in the 1400s. Then in the year 1900 Mohammed Abdullah Hassan started a war against the British rule. Independence was gained in 1960 and then nine years later came the military coup.

The lecturer also mentioned the Xeer legal system that was used in Somalia before the Europeans came in the 19th century.

So all in all both lectures were very informative.