Department of History was one of the first departments to be established in the University in 1960-61. The Department of History made an early emphasis on Ethiopianisation of its staff and outstanding Ethiopian scholars of international reputation have built the Department up, Professor Merid W/Aregay, Professor Taddesse Tamrat and Professor Bahru Zewde in particular. The Department also remembers with gratitude the expatriate scholars who contributed to the development of the Department: Professor Sven Rubenson, Dr. Richard Caulk and Prof. Donald Crummey in particular. Younger Ethiopian scholars who are now members of the Department have continued to uphold the Department’s reputation and to make possible further development.

The scholarly strength of the Department made possible the establishment of a History MA Program in 1979-80, which was one of the first Masters programs in the country. This was followed by a History Ph.D. Program in 1990, which was one of the first of its kind in the College of Social Sciences, and one of the oldest in Addis Ababa University. Increasing numbers of students have passed through these two graduate programs, and M.A. and Ph.D. theses of outstanding quality have been produced.

When serious attention was given to Archaeology, courses were given within the Department of History from 1973. Moreover, the Department, with valuable help from the Italian Cooperation Program and the British Council, was able to begin an M.A. in Archaeology in 2002-03. At a later stage the Department of History also introduced courses on Heritage Management and the Department took a new name in 2006-07. The Department of History and Heritage Management, as its nomenclature is at present (2008-09).

However, the Department now feels that the time is ripe for establishing Archaeology with Heritage as a separate department with its own major. When this happens, hopefully in the near future, the History Department will revert to its former and long time designation, Department of History, with its degree designated Bachelor of Arts in History.