History of Ethiopia

The article covers the history of Ethiopia from its emergence as an empire under the Aksumites to its
current form as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia as well as the history of other areas in what is
now Ethiopia such as the Afar Triangle. The Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) was first founded by Ethiopian
people in the Ethiopian Highlands. Due to migration and imperial expansion, it grew to include many other
primarily Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities, including Amhara, Oromos, Somalis, Tigray, Afars, Sidama,
Gurage, Agaw and Harari, among others.

One of the early kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of D'mt in the 10th century
BC, which established its capital at Yeha. In the first century AD the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in
the Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating
Yemen and Meroe. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state
religion. Ezana's reign is also when the Aksumites first identified themselves as "Ethiopians", and not long
after, Philostorgius became the first foreign author to call the Aksumites Ethiopians.[1] The Aksumite
empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, which slowly shifted trade away
from the Christian Aksum. It eventually became isolated, its economy slumped and Aksum's commercial
domination of the region ended.[2] The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe Dynasty, who established a new
capital at Lalibela before giving way to the Solomonic Dynasty in the 13th century. During the early
Solomonic period, Ethiopia went through military reforms and imperial expansion that allowed it to
dominate the Horn of Africa. Portuguese missionaries arrived at this time.

In 1529, the Adal Sultanate attempted to conquer Abyssinia and met initial success; the Adal were supplied
by the Ottomans while Abyssinia received Portuguese reinforcements. By 1543, Abyssinia had recaptured
lost territory but the war had weakened both sides. The Oromo people were able to expand into the
highlands, conquering both the Adal Sultanate and Abyssinia. The Portuguese presence also increased,
while the Ottomans began to push into what is now Eritrea, creating the Habesh Eyalet. The Portuguese
brought modern weapons and baroque architecture to Ethiopia, and in 1622 converted the emperor
Susenyos I to Catholicism, sparking a civil war which ended in his abdication and expulsion of all
Catholics from Ethiopia. A new capital was established at Gondar in 1632, and a period of peace and
prosperity ensued until the country was split apart by warlords in the 18th century during the Zemene
Mesafint.

Ethiopia was reunified in 1855 under Tewodros II, beginning Ethiopia's modern history and his reign was
followed by Yohannes IV who was killed in action in 1889. Under Menelik II Ethiopia started its
transformation to well organized technological advancement and the structure that the country has now.
Ethiopia also expanded to the south and east, through the conquest of the western Oromo, Sidama, Gurage,
Wolayta and other groups, resulting in the borders of modern Ethiopia. Ethiopia defeated an Egyptian
invasion in 1876 and an Italian invasion in 1896 which killed 17,000 Ethiopians,[3] and came to be
recognized as a legitimate state by European powers. A more rapid modernisation took place under
Menelik II and Haile Selassie. Italy launched a second invasion in 1935. From 1935 to 1941, Ethiopia was
under Italian occupation as part of Italian East Africa. The Allies managed to drive the Italians out of the
country in 1941, and Haile Selassie was returned to the throne from his 5 years exiled in Britain. Ethiopia
and Eritrea united in a federation, but when Haile Selassie ended the federation in 1961 and made Eritrea a
province of Ethiopia, the 30-year Eritrean War of Independence broke out. Eritrea regained its
independence after a referendum in 1993.
Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974 and the militaristic Derg Regime came to power. In 1977 Somalia
invaded, trying to annex the Ogaden region, but were pushed back by Ethiopian, Soviet, and Cuban forces.
In 1977 and 1978 the government tortured or killed hundreds of thousands of suspected enemies in the Red
Terror. Ethiopia experienced famine in 1984 that killed one million people and civil war that resulted in the
fall of the Derg in 1991. This resulted in the establishment of the Federal Democratic Republic under Meles
Zenawi. Ethiopia remains highly impoverished, although its economy has become one of the world's
fastest-growing.[4] Civil conflict in the country, including the Metekel conflict and the Tigray War, are still
ongoing.

Contents
Timeline
Prehistory
Bronze Age contacts with Egypt
Antiquity
Etymology
Dʿmt
Axum
Christianity Introduced
Middle Ages
Zagwe Dynasty
Foreign affairs
Early Solomonic period (1270–1529)
Relations with Europe and "Prester John"
The Ethiopian-Adal War (1529–1543)
Oromo Movements
Gondarine Period
Early Gondar period (1632–1769)
Aussa Sultanate
Zemene Mesafint
Modern
1855–1936
Tewodros II and Tekle Giyorgis II (1855–1872)
Yohannes IV (1872–1889)
Menelik II (1889–1913)
Iyasu V, Zauditu and Haile Selassie (1913–1936)
Educational modernization
Italian occupation (1936–1941)
World War II
Post–World War II period (1941–1974)
Communist period (1974–1991)
Tigray People's Liberation Front dominance (1991–2018)
Recent history
See also
References
Videography
Historical documents
Articles
Further reading
Historiography
External links

Timeline

Prehistory
It was not until 1963 that evidence of the presence of ancient hominids was discovered in Ethiopia, many
years after similar discoveries had been made in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania. The discovery was
made by Gerrard Dekker, a Dutch hydrologist, who found Acheulian stone tools that were over a million
years old at the Kella site, near Awash.[5] Since then many important finds have propelled Ethiopia to the
forefront of palaeontology. The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4.2 million year old
Ardipithicus ramidus (Ardi) found by Tim D. White in 1994.[6] The most well known hominid discovery is
Lucy, found in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar region in 1974 by Donald Johanson, and is one of the
most complete and best preserved, adult Australopithecine fossils ever uncovered. Lucy's taxonomic name,
Australopithecus afarensis, means 'southern ape of Afar', and refers to the Ethiopian region where the
discovery was made. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.[7]

There have been many other notable fossil findings in the country. In Gona stone tools were uncovered in
1992 that were 2.52 million years old, these are the oldest such tools ever discovered anywhere in the
world.[8] In 2010 fossilised animal bones, that were 3.4 million years old, were found with stone-tool-
inflicted marks on them in the Lower Awash Valley by an international team, led by Shannon McPherron,
which is the oldest evidence of stone tool use ever found anywhere in the world.[9] In 2004 fossils found
near the Omo river at Kibbish by Richard Leakey in 1967 were redated to 195,000 years old, the oldest
date in East Africa for modern Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens idaltu, found in the Middle Awash in
Ethiopia in 1997, lived about 160,000 years ago.[10]

Some of the earliest known evidence of early stone-tipped projectile weapons (a characteristic tool of
Homo sapiens), the stone tips of javelins or throwing spears, were discovered in 2013 at the Ethiopian site
of Gademotta, and date to around 279,000 years ago.[11] In 2019, further evidence of Middle Stone Age
complex projectile weapons was found at Aduma, also in Ethiopia, dated 100,000-80,000 years ago, in the
form of points considered likely to belong to darts delivered by spear throwers.[12]

Bronze Age contacts with Egypt

The earliest records of Ethiopia appear in Ancient Egypt, during
the Old Kingdom period. Egyptian traders from about 3000 BC
refer to lands south of Nubia or Kush as Punt and Yam. The
Ancient Egyptians were in possession of myrrh (found in Punt),
which Richard Pankhurst interprets to indicate trade between the
two countries was extant from Ancient Egypt's beginnings.
Pharaonic records indicate this possession of myrrh as early as the
First and Second dynasties (3100–2888 BC), which was also a
prized product of the Horn of Africa Region; inscriptions and
pictorial reliefs also indicate ivory, panther and other animal skins,
myrrh-trees and ostrich feathers from the African coastal belt; and
in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty (2789–2767 BC) a Puntite is
mentioned to be in the service of the son of Cheops, the builder of
the Great Pyramid.[13] J. H. Breasted posited that this early trade Wall relief depicting an Egyptian
expedition to the Land of Punt during
relationship could have been realized through overland trade
the reign of Hatshepsut.
down the Nile and its tributaries (i.e. the Blue Nile and Atbara).
The Greek historian and geographer Agatharchides had
documented seafaring among the early Egyptians: "During the
prosperous period of the Old Kingdom, between the 30th and 25th centuries B. C., the river-routes were
kept in order, and Egyptian ships sailed the Red Sea as far as the myrrh-country."[14]

The first known voyage to Punt occurred in the 25th century BC under the reign of Pharaoh Sahure. The
most famous expedition to Punt, however, comes during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut probably around
1495 BC, as the expedition was recorded in detailed reliefs on the temple of Deir el-Bahri at Thebes. The
inscriptions depict a trading group bringing back myrrh trees, sacks of myrrh, elephant tusks, incense, gold,
various fragmented wood, and exotic animals. Detailed information about these two nations is sparse, and
there are many theories concerning their locations and the ethnic relationship of their peoples. The
Egyptians sometimes called the Land of Punt, "God's-Land", due to the "large quantities of gold, ivory, and
myrrh that could be easily obtained".[15]

Evidence of Naqadan contacts include obsidian from Ethiopia and the Aegean.[16]

Antiquity

Etymology

Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus used the word Aethiopia (Αἰθιοπία) is
used to refer to the peoples who live immediately to the south of ancient Egypt, specifically the area now
known as the ancient Kingdom of Kush, now a part of modern-day Nubia in Egypt and Sudan, as well as
all of Sub-Saharan Africa in general. The name Aethiopia comes from the ancient Greek word "Aethiops"
(burned-look).[17]

In ancient times the name Ethiopia was primarily used to refer to the modern-day nation of Sudan which is
based in the Upper Nile valley and located south of Egypt, also called Kush, and then secondarily in
reference to Sub-Saharan Africa in general.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Reference to the Kingdom of
Aksum designated as Ethiopia dates only as far back as the first half of the 4th century CE following the
4th century CE invasion of Kush in Sudan by the Aksumite empire. Earlier inscription of Ezana Habashat
(the source for "Abyssinia") in Ge'ez, South Arabian alphabet, was then translated in Greek as
"Aethiopia".
The state of Sheba which is mentioned in the Old Testament is sometimes believed to have been in
Ethiopia, but it is more often placed in Yemen. According to the Ethiopian narrative, best represented in the
Kebra Nagast, the Queen of Sheba slept with King Solomon and bore a child named Ebn Melek (later
Emperor Menelik I). When he was of age, Menelik returned to Israel to see his father, who sent with him
the son of Zadok to accompany him with a replica of the Ark of the Covenant (Ethiosemitic: tabot). On his
return with some of the Israelite priests, however, he found that Zadok's son had stolen the real Ark of the
Covenant. Some believe the Ark is still being preserved today at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in
Axum, Ethiopia. The tradition that the biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King
Solomon in Jerusalem in ancient Israel is supported by the 1st century AD Jewish historian Flavius
Josephus, who identified Solomon's visitor as a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.

Dʿmt

The first kingdom known to have existed in Ethiopia was the

kingdom of D'mt, which rose to power around the 10th
century BCE. Its capital was at Yeha, where a Sabaean style
temple was built around 700 BCE. The D'mt kingdom was
influenced by the Sabaeans in Yemen, however it is not
known to what extent. While it was once believed that D'mt
was a Sabaean colony, it is now believed that Sabaean
influence was minor, limited to a few localities, and
disappeared after a few decades or a century, perhaps
Temple at Yeha, possible capital of D'mt.
representing a trading or military colony in some sort of
symbiosis or military alliance with the civilization of Dʿmt or
some other proto-Aksumite state.[27][28] Few inscriptions by or about this kingdom survive and very little
archaeological work has taken place. As a result, it is not known whether Dʿmt ended as a civilization
before Aksum's early stages, evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the
Aksumite kingdom possibly around the beginning of the 1st century.[29]

Axum

The first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia was that of
Axum in the 1st century CE. It was one of many successor kingdoms to
Dʿmt and was able to unite the northern Ethiopian Highlands beginning
around the 1st century BCE. They established bases on the northern
highlands of the Ethiopian Plateau and from there expanded southward.
The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and
China as one of the four great powers of his time. The origins of the
Axumite Kingdom are unclear, although experts have offered their
speculations about it. Even who should be considered the earliest known
king is contested: although Carlo Conti Rossini proposed that Zoskales of
Axum, mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, should be
identified with one Za Haqle mentioned in the Ethiopian King Lists (a view
embraced by later historians of Ethiopia such as Yuri M. Kobishchanov[30] King Ezana's Stele in
Aksum.
and Sergew Hable Sellasie), G.W.B. Huntingford argued that Zoskales was
only a sub-king whose authority was limited to Adulis, and that Conti
Rossini's identification can not be substantiated.[31]

Inscriptions have been found in southern Arabia celebrating victories over one GDRT, described as
"nagashi of Habashat [i.e. Abyssinia] and of Axum." Other dated inscriptions are used to determine a
floruit for GDRT (interpreted as representing a Ge'ez name such as Gadarat, Gedur, Gadurat or Gedara)
around the beginning of the 3rd century CE. A bronze scepter or wand has been discovered at Atsbi Dera
with an inscription mentioning "GDR of Axum". Coins showing the royal portrait began to be minted
under King Endubis toward the end of the 3rd century CE.

Christianity Introduced

Christianity was introduced into the country by

Frumentius,[32] who was consecrated first bishop of Ethiopia
by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria about 330 CE. Frumentius
converted Ezana, who left several inscriptions detailing his
Gold coin of the Aksumite King Ousas reign both before and after his conversion.

One inscription found at Axum states that he conquered the

nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory. Later inscriptions show
Ezana's growing attachment to Christianity, and Ezana's coins bear this out, shifting from a design with disc
and crescent to a design with a cross. Expeditions by Ezana into the Kingdom of Kush at Meroe in Sudan
may have brought about its demise, though there is evidence that the kingdom was experiencing a period of
decline beforehand. As a result of Ezana's expansions, Aksum bordered the Roman province of Egypt. The
degree of Ezana's control over Yemen is uncertain. Though there is little evidence supporting Aksumite
control of the region at that time, his title, which includes King of Saba and Salhen, Himyar and Dhu-
Raydan (all in modern-day Yemen), along with gold Aksumite coins with the inscriptions, "King of the
Habshat" or "Habashite", indicate that Aksum might have retained some legal or actual footing in the
area.[33]

Toward the close of the 5th century CE, a group of monks known as the Nine Saints are believed to have
established themselves in the country. Since that time, monasticism has been a power among the people,
and not without its influence on the course of events.

The Axumite Kingdom is recorded once again as controlling

part – if not all – of Yemen in the 6th century CE. Around 523
CE, the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas came to power in Yemen
and, announcing that he would kill all the Christians, attacked
an Aksumite garrison at Zafar, burning the city's churches. He
then attacked the Christian stronghold of Najran, slaughtering
the Christians who would not convert.

Emperor Justin I of the Eastern Roman Empire requested that

his fellow Christian, Kaleb, help fight the Yemenite king.
An Aksumite palace at Dungur
Around 525 CE, Kaleb invaded and defeated Dhu Nuwas,
appointing his Christian follower Sumuafa' Ashawa' as his
viceroy. This dating is tentative, however, as the basis of the
year 525 CE for the invasion is based on the death of the ruler of Yemen at the time, who very well could
have been Kaleb's viceroy. Procopius records that after about five years, Abraha deposed the viceroy and
made himself king (Histories 1.20). Despite several attempted invasions across the Red Sea, Kaleb was
unable to dislodge Abreha, and acquiesced in the change; this was the last time Ethiopian armies left Africa
until the 20th century CE when several units participated in the Korean War. Eventually Kaleb abdicated in
favor of his son Wa'zeb and retired to a monastery, where he ended his days. Abraha later made peace with
Kaleb's successor and recognized his suzerainty. Despite this reverse, under Ezana and Kaleb the kingdom
was at its height, benefiting from a large trade, which extended as far as India and Ceylon, and were in
constant communication with the Byzantine Empire.
Details of the Axumite Kingdom, never abundant, become even more scarce after this point. The last king
known to mint coins is Armah, whose coinage refers to the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 CE. An
early Muslim tradition is that the Negus Sahama offered asylum to a group of Muslims fleeing persecution
during Muhammad's life (615 CE), but Stuart Munro-Hay believes that Axum had been abandoned as the
capital by then[34] – although Kobishchanov states that Ethiopian raiders plagued the Red Sea, preying on
Arabian ports at least as late as 702 CE.[35]

Some people believed the end of the Axumite Kingdom is as much of a mystery as its beginning. Lacking a
detailed history, the kingdom's fall has been attributed to a persistent drought, overgrazing, deforestation,
plague, a shift in trade routes that reduced the importance of the Red Sea—or a combination of these
factors. Munro-Hay cites the Muslim historian Abu Ja'far al-Khwarazmi/Kharazmi (who wrote before 833
CE) as stating that the capital of "the kingdom of Habash" was Jarma. Unless Jarma is a nickname for
Axum (hypothetically from Ge'ez girma, "remarkable, revered"), the capital had moved from Axum to a
new site, yet undiscovered.[36]

Middle Ages

Zagwe Dynasty

About 1000 (presumably c. 960, though the date is uncertain), a non-

Christian princess, Gudit, conspired to murder all the members of the royal
family and establish herself as monarch. According to legends, during the
execution of the royals, an infant heir of the Axumite monarch was carted
off by some faithful adherents and conveyed to Shewa, where his authority
was acknowledged. Concurrently, Yodit reigned for forty years over the
rest of the kingdom and transmitted the crown to her descendants. Though
parts of this story were most likely made up by the Solomonic Dynasty to
legitimize its rule, it is known that a female ruler did conquer the country
about this time.

At one point during the next century, the last of Yodit's successors were
overthrown by an Agaw lord named Mara Takla Haymanot, who founded
the Zagwe dynasty (named after the Agaw people who ruled during this
time) and married a female descendant of the Aksumite monarchs ("son-in-
law") or previous ruler. Exactly when the new dynasty came to power is Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, the
unknown, as is the number of kings in the dynasty. The new Zagwe Zagwe dynasty King
dynasty established its capital at Roha (also called Adeffa), where they credited with having
build a series of monolithic churches. These structures are traditionally constructed the rock-hewn
ascribed to the King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, with the city being renamed churches of Lalibela.
Lalibela in his honour; though in truth some of them were built before and
after him. The architecture of the Zagwe shows a continuation of earlier
Aksumite traditions, as can be seen at Lalibela and at Yemrehana Krestos Church. The building of rock-
hewn churches, which first appeared in the late Aksumite era and continued into the Solomonic dynasty,
reached its peak under the Zagwe.

The Zagwe dynasty controlled a smaller area than the Aksumites or the Solomonic dynasty, with its core in
the Lasta region. The Zagwe seem to have ruled over a mostly peaceful state with a flourishing urban
culture, in contrast to the more warlike Solomonids with their mobile capitals. David Buxton remarked that
the Zagwe achieved 'a degree of stability and technical advancement seldom equalled in Abyssinian
history'. The church and state were very closely linked, and they may have had a more theocratic society
than the Aksumites or Solomonids, with three Zagwe kings being canonized as saints and one possibly
being an ordained priest.[37]

The Church of Saint George, Lalibela and a panel painting inside depicting Saint George slaying a dragon; it is
one of eleven monumental rock-hewn churches built in Lalibela, Ethiopia that were allegedly sculpted after a
vision by the Zagwe-dynasty ruler Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (r. 1185–1225 AD), in which St George instructed him
to do so.[38] The city of Lalibela was reestablished as a symbolic new holy site, following the fall of Jerusalem
to the Muslim forces of Saladin in 1187 AD, yet archaeology reveals the religious structures to have been built
between the 10th and early 12th centuries AD, with perhaps only the last phase carried out during the 13th
century AD and reign of Gebre Mesqel Lalibela.[39]

Foreign affairs

Unlike the Aksumites, the Zagwe were very isolated from the other Christian nations, although they did
maintain a degree of contact through Jerusalem and Cairo. Like many other nations and denominations, the
Ethiopian Church maintained a series of small chapels and even an annex at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre.[40] Saladin, after retaking the Holy City in 1187, expressly invited the Ethiopian monks to return
and even exempted Ethiopian pilgrims from the pilgrim tax. His two edicts provide evidence of Ethiopia's
contact with these Crusader States during this period.[41] It was during this period that the Ethiopian king
Gebre Mesqel Lalibela ordered the construction of the legendary rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

Later, as the Crusades were dying out in the early fourteenth century, the Ethiopian Emperor Wedem Arad
dispatched a thirty-man mission to Europe, where they travelled to Rome to meet the Pope and then, since
the Medieval Papacy was in schism, they travelled to Avignon to meet the Antipope. During this trip, the
Ethiopian mission also travelled to France, Spain and Portugal in the hopes of building an alliance against
the Muslim states then threatening Ethiopia's existence. Plans were even drawn up of a two-pronged
invasion of Egypt with the French King, but nothing ever came of the talks, although this brought Ethiopia
back to Europe's attention, leading to expansion of European influence when the Portuguese explorers
reached the Indian Ocean.[42]

Early Solomonic period (1270–1529)

Around 1270, a new dynasty was established in the Abyssinian highlands under Yekuno Amlak, with aid
from neighboring Makhzumi Dynasty deposed the last of the Zagwe kings and married one of his
daughters.[43] According to legends, the new dynasty were male-line descendants of Aksumite monarchs,
now recognized as the continuing Solomonic dynasty (the kingdom being
thus restored to the biblical royal house). This legend was created to
legitimize the Solomonic dynasty and was written down in the 14th century
in the Kebra Negast, an account of the origins of the Solomonic dynasty.

Under the Solomonic dynasty, the chief provinces became Tigray

(northern), what is now Amhara (central) and Shewa (southern). The seat
of government, or rather of overlordship, had usually been in Amhara or
Shewa, the ruler of which, calling himself nəgusä nägäst, exacted tribute,
when he could, from the other provinces. The title of nəgusä nägäst was to
a considerable extent based on their alleged direct descent from Solomon
and the queen of Sheba; but it is needless to say that in many, if not in most,
cases their success was due more to the force of their arms than to the Lebna Dengel, nəgusä
purity of their lineage. Under the early Solomonic dynasty Ethiopia nägäst (Emperor) of Ethiopia
engaged in military reforms and imperial expansion which left it and a member of the
dominating the Horn of Africa, especially under the rule of Amda Seyon I. Solomonic dynasty.
There was also great artistic and literary advancement at this time, but also
a decline in urbanisation as the Solomonic emperors didn't have any fixed
capital, but rather moved around the empire in mobile camps.

Under the early Solomonic dynasty monasticism grew strongly. The abbot Abba Ewostatewos created a
new order called the Ewostathians who called for reforms in the church, including observance of the
Sabbath, but was persecuted for his views and eventually forced into exile, eventually dying in Armenia.
His zealous followers, also persecuted, formed isolated communities in Tigray. The movement grew strong
enough that the emperor Dawit I, after first trying to crush the movement, legalized their observance of the
Sabbath and proselytization of their faith. Finally under Zara Yaqob a compromise was made between the
new Egyptian bishops and the Ewostathians at the Council of Mitmaq in 1450, restoring unity to the
Ethiopian church.[44]

Relations with Europe and "Prester John"

An interesting side-effect of Ethiopian Christianity was the way it intersected with a belief that had long
prevailed in Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far east, whose monarch was known as
Prester John. Originally thought to have been in the Orient, eventually the search for Prester John's
mythical kingdom focused on Africa and particularly, the Christian empire in Ethiopia. This was first
noticed when Zara Yaqob sent delegates to the Council of Florence in order to establish ties with the
papacy and Western Christianity.[45] They were confused when they arrived and council prelates insisted
on calling their monarch Prester John, trying to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal names
did that title occur. However, the delegates' admonitions did little to stop Europeans from referring to the
monarch as their mythical Christian king, Prester John.[46]

Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Ethiopia began. Among others engaged
in this search was Pêro da Covilhã, who arrived in Ethiopia in 1490, and, believing that he had at length
reached the far-famed kingdom, presented to the nəgusä nägäst of the country (Eskender at the time) a
letter from his master the king of Portugal, addressed to Prester John. Covilhã would establish positive
relations between the two states and go on to remain there for many years. In 1509, Empress Dowager
Eleni, the underage Emperor's regent, sent an Armenian named Matthew to the king of Portugal to request
his aid against the Muslims.[47] In 1520, the Portuguese fleet, with Matthew on board, entered the Red Sea
in compliance with this request, and an embassy from the fleet visited the Emperor, Lebna Dengel, and
remained in Ethiopia for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Francisco Álvares, who wrote
one of the earliest accounts of the country.[48]
The Ethiopian-Adal War (1529–1543)

Between 1528 and 1540, the Adal Sultanate attempted, under

Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, to conquer the Ethiopian Empire.
Entering, from the low country to the south-east, and overran much
of the Ethiopian plateau, forcing the Emperor to take refuge in the
mountain fastnesses. In this remote location, the ruler again turned
to the Portuguese. João Bermudes, a subordinate member of the
mission of 1520, who had remained in the country after the
departure of the embassy, was sent to Lisbon. Bermudes claimed to The Sultan of Adal (right) and his
be the ordained successor to the Abuna (archbishop), but his troops battling King Yagbea-Sion and
credentials are disputed. his men during the Ethiopian-Adal
War
In response to Bermudes message, a Portuguese fleet under the
command of Estêvão da Gama, was sent from India and arrived at
Massawa in February 1541. Here he received an ambassador from the Emperor beseeching him to send
help against the Muslims, and in the July following a force of 400 musketeers, under the command of
Cristóvão da Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior, and being joined by native
troops were at first successful against the enemy; but they were subsequently defeated at the Battle of Wofla
(28 August 1542), and their commander captured and executed. The 120 surviving Portuguese soldiers fled
with Queen Mother Seble Wongel and regrouped with Ethiopian forces led by the Emperor to enact several
defeats on the Adal over late 1542 and early 1543.[49] On February 21, 1543, Al-Ghazi was shot and killed
in the Battle of Wayna Daga and his forces were totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the
Emperor and Bermudes, who had returned to Ethiopia with Gama and now urged the emperor to publicly
profess his obedience to Rome. This the Emperor refused to do, and at length Bermudes was obliged to
make his way out of the country.[48]

Oromo Movements

The Oromo migrations were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo people
from southern areas of Ethiopia to more northern regions. The migrations had a severe impact on the
Solomonic dynasty of Abyssinia, as well as being the death blow to the recently defeated Adal Sultanate.
The migrations concluded in around 1710, when the Oromo conquered the kingdom of Ennarea in the
Gibe region.

In the 17th century, Ethiopian emperor Susenyos I relied on Oromo support to gain power, and married an
Oromo woman. While initial relations between the Oromo and Amhara were cordial, conflict erupted after
the emperor tried to convert the Oromo to Christianity.[50] Many Oromo entered in emperor Susenyos'
domain in response.[50]

In the 17th and 18th centuries, much of the Oromo people gradually underwent conversion to Islam,
especially around Harar, Arsi and Bale. The Oromo Muslims regarded the Imam of Harar as their spiritual
guide, while retaining some of their original culture and socio-political organisation. Scholars believe the
Oromo converted to Islam as a means of preserving their identity and a bulwark against assimilation into
Ethiopia.[50]

By late 17th century, the Oromo had friendly relations with the Amharas. So when emperor Iyasu I tried to
attack the Oromo, he was convinced by local Amharic rulers to back down. The Oromo also formed
political coalitions with previously subdued people of Ethiopia, including the Sidama people and the locals
of Ennarea, Gibe and Kingdom of Damot.[50]
Gondarine Period
Gondar as a third permanent capital (after Aksum and Lalibela) of the Christian Kingdom was founded by
Fasiladas in 1636. It was the most important center of commerce for the Kingdom.[51]

Early Gondar period (1632–1769)

The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed the Gama

expedition into Ethiopia, and fixed their headquarters at Fremona
(near Adwa), were oppressed and neglected, but not actually
expelled. In the beginning of the 17th century Father Pedro Páez
arrived at Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon
rose into high favour at court, and won over the emperor to his
faith. He directed the erection of churches, palaces and bridges in
different parts of the country, and carried out many useful works.
His successor Afonso Mendes was less tactful, and excited the
feelings of the people against him and his fellow Europeans. Upon The Royal Enclosure (Fasil Ghebbi)
the death of Emperor Susenyos and accession of his son Fasilides of Gondar.
in 1633, the Jesuits were expelled and the native religion restored to
official status. Fasilides made Gondar his capital and built a castle
there which would grow into the castle complex known as the Fasil
Ghebbi, or Royal Enclosure. Fasilides also constructed several
churches in Gondar, many bridges across the country, and
expanded the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum.

During this time of religious strife Ethiopian philosophy flourished,

and it was during this period that the philosophers Zera Yacob and
Walda Heywat lived. Zera Yaqob is known for his treatise on
religion, morality, and reason, known as Hatata.[52]
Willem Blaeu's 1640 map, Aethiopia
Aussa Sultanate Superior vel Interior

The Sultanate of Aussa (Afar

Sultanate) succeeded the earlier Imamate of Aussa. The latter polity had
come into existence in 1577, when Muhammed Jasa moved his capital
from Harar to Aussa with the split of the Adal Sultanate into Aussa and
the Harari city-state. At some point after 1672, Aussa declined and
temporarily came to an end in conjunction with Imam Umar Din bin
State flag of the Aussa Adam's recorded ascension to the throne.[53]
Sultanate.
The Sultanate was subsequently re-established by Kedafu around the year
1734, and was thereafter ruled by his Mudaito Dynasty.[54] The primary
symbol of the Sultan was a silver baton, which was considered to have magical properties.[55]

Zemene Mesafint

This era was, on one hand, a religious conflict between settling Muslims and traditional Christians, between
nationalities they represented, and, on the other hand, between feudal lords on power over the central
government.
Some historians date the murder of Iyasu I, and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, as the
beginning of the Ethiopian Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Princes"), a time of disorder when the power of
the monarchy was eclipsed by the power of local warlords.

Nobles came to abuse their positions by making emperors, and

encroached upon the succession of the dynasty, by candidates
among the nobility itself: e.g. on the death of Emperor Tewoflos,
the chief nobles of Ethiopia feared that the cycle of vengeance that
had characterized the reigns of Tewoflos and Tekle Haymanot I
would continue if a member of the Solomonic dynasty were picked
for the throne, so they selected one of their own, Yostos to be
negusa nagast (king of kings) – however his tenure was brief.
Warriors in Abyssinia
Iyasu II ascended the throne as a child. His mother, Empress
Mentewab played a major role in Iyasu's reign, as well as her
grandson Iyoas too. Mentewab had herself crowned as co-ruler, becoming the first woman to be crowned
in this manner in Ethiopian history.

Empress Mentewab was crowned co-ruler upon the succession of her son (a first for a woman in Ethiopia)
in 1730, and held unprecedented power over government during his reign. Her attempt to continue in this
role following the death of her son 1755 led her into conflict with Wubit (Welete Bersabe), his widow, who
believed that it was her turn to preside at the court of her own son Iyoas. The conflict between these two
queens led to Mentewab summoning her Kwaran relatives and their forces to Gondar to support her. Wubit
responded by summoning her own Oromo relatives and their considerable forces from Yejju.

The treasury of the Empire being allegedly penniless on the death of Iyasu, it suffered further from ethnic
conflict between nationalities that had been part of the Empire for hundreds of years—the Agaw,
Amharans, Showans, and Tigreans—and the Oromo newcomers. Mentewab's attempt to strengthen ties
between the monarchy and the Oromo by arranging the marriage of her son to the daughter of an Oromo
chieftain backfired in the long run. Iyasu II gave precedence to his mother and allowed her every
prerogative as a crowned co-ruler, while his wife Wubit suffered in obscurity. Wubit waited for the
accession of her own son to make a bid for the power wielded for so long by Mentewab and her relatives
from Qwara. When Iyoas assumed the throne upon his father's sudden death, the aristocrats of Gondar
were stunned to find that he more readily spoke in the Oromo language rather than in Amharic, and tended
to favor his mother's Yejju relatives over the Qwarans of his grandmothers family. Iyoas further increased
the favor given to the Oromo when adult. On the death of the Ras of Amhara, he attempted to promote his
uncle Lubo governor of that province, but the outcry led his advisor Wolde Leul to convince him to change
his mind.

It is believed that the power struggle between the Qwarans led by the Empress Mentewab, and the Yejju
Oromos led by the Emperor's mother Wubit was about to erupt into an armed conflict. Ras Mikael Sehul
was summoned to mediate between the two camps. He arrived and shrewdly maneuvered to sideline the
two queens and their supporters making a bid for power for himself. Mikael settled soon as the leader of
Amharic-Tigrean (Christian) camp of the struggle.

The reign of Iyaos' reign becomes a narrative of the struggle between the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul and
the Oromo relatives of Iyoas. As Iyoas increasingly favored Oromo leaders like Fasil, his relations with
Mikael Sehul deteriorated. Eventually Mikael Sehul deposed the Emperor Iyoas (7 May 1769). One week
later, Mikael Sehul had him killed; although the details of his death are contradictory, the result was clear:
for the first time an Emperor had lost his throne in a means other than his own natural death, death in battle,
or voluntary abdication.
Mikael Sehul had compromised the power of the Emperor, and from this point forward it lay ever more
openly in the hands of the great nobles and military commanders. This point of time has been regarded as
one start of the Era of the Princes.

An aged and infirm imperial uncle prince was enthroned as Emperor Yohannes II. Ras Mikael soon had
him murdered, and underage Tekle Haymanot II was elevated to the throne.

This bitter religious conflict contributed to hostility toward foreign Christians and Europeans, which
persisted into the 20th century and was a factor in Ethiopia's isolation until the mid-19th century, when the
first British mission, sent in 1805 to conclude an alliance with Ethiopia and obtain a port on the Red Sea in
case France conquered Egypt. The success of this mission opened Ethiopia to many more travellers,
missionaries and merchants of all countries, and the stream of Europeans continued until well into
Tewodros's reign.

This isolation was pierced by very few European travellers. One was the French physician C.J. Poncet,
who went there in 1698, via Sennar and the Blue Nile. After him James Bruce entered the country in 1769,
with the object of discovering the sources of the Nile, which he was convinced lay in Ethiopia.
Accordingly, leaving Massawa in September 1769, he travelled via Axum to Gondar, where he was well
received by Emperor Tekle Haymanot II. He accompanied the king on a warlike expedition round Lake
Tana, moving South round the eastern shore, crossing the Blue Nile (Abay) close to its point of issue from
the lake and returning via the western shore. Bruce subsequently returned to Egypt at the end of 1772 by
way of the upper Atbara, through the kingdom of Sennar, the Nile, and the Korosko desert. During the
18th century the most prominent rulers were the emperor Dawit III of Gondar (died May 18, 1721), Amha
Iyasus of Shewa, who consolidated his kingdom and founded Ankober, and Tekle Giyorgis of Amhara –
the last-mentioned is famous as having been elevated to the throne altogether six times and also deposed six
times. The first years of the 19th century were disturbed by fierce campaigns between Ras Gugsa of
Begemder, and Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray, who fought over control of the figurehead Emperor Egwale
Seyon. Wolde Selassie was eventually the victor, and practically ruled the whole country till his death in
1816 at the age of eighty.[56] Dejazmach Sabagadis of Agame succeeded Wolde Selassie in 1817, through
force of arms, to become warlord of Tigre.

Modern

1855–1936

Under the Emperors Tewodros II (1855–1868), Yohannes IV (1872–1889), and Menelik II (1889–1913),
the empire began to emerge from its isolation. Under Emperor Tewodros II, the "Age of the Princes"
(Zemene Mesafint) was brought to an end.

Tewodros II and Tekle Giyorgis II (1855–1872)

Emperor Tewodros (or Theodore) II was born Lij Kassa in Qwara, in 1818. His father was a small local
chief, and his relative (possibly uncle) Dejazmach Kinfu was governor of the provinces of Dembiya,
Qwara and Chelga between Lake Tana and the northwestern frontier. Kassa lost his inheritance upon the
death of Kinfu while he was still a young boy. After receiving a traditional education in a local monastery,
he went off to lead a band of bandits that roved the country in a Robin Hood-like existence. His exploits
became widely known, and his band of followers grew steadily until he led a formidable army. He came to
the notice of the ruling Regent, Ras Ali, and his mother Empress Menen Liben Amede (wife of the
Emperor Yohannes III). In order to bind him to them, the Empress arranged for Kassa to marry Ali's
daughter. He turned his attention to conquering the remaining chief divisions of the country, Gojjam, Tigray
and Shewa, which still remained unsubdued. His relations with his father-in-law and grandmother-in-law
deteriorated however, and he soon took up arms against them and their
vassals, and was successful.

Emperor Tewodros II's rule

is often placed as the
beginning of modern
Ethiopia, ending the
decentralized Zemene
Mesafint (Era of the
Princes).
Map of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the 19th century.
On February 11, 1855, Kassa deposed the last of the
Gondarine puppet Emperors, and was crowned negusa
nagast of Ethiopia under the name of Tewodros II. He soon after advanced against Shewa with a large
army. Chief of the notables opposing him was its king Haile Melekot, a descendant of Meridazmach Asfa
Wossen. Dissensions broke out among the Shewans, and after a desperate and futile attack on Tewodros at
Dabra Berhan, Haile Melekot died of illness, nominating with his last breath his eleven-year-old son as
successor (November 1855) under the name Negus Sahle Maryam (the future emperor Menelek II). Darge,
Haile Melekot's brother, and Ato Bezabih, a Shewan noble, took charge of the young prince, but after a
hard fight with Angeda, the Shewans were obliged to capitulate. Sahle Maryam was handed over to the
Emperor Tewodoros and taken to Gondar. He was trained there in Tewodros's service, and then placed in
comfortable detention at the fortress of Magdala. Tewodoros afterwards devoted himself to modernizing
and centralizing the legal and administrative structure of his kingdom, against the resistance of his
governors. Sahle Maryam of Shewa was married to Tewodros II's daughter Alitash.

In 1865, Sahle Maryam escaped from Magdala, abandoning his wife, and arrived in Shewa, and was there
acclaimed as Negus. Tewodros forged an alliance between Britain and Ethiopia, but as explained in the
next section, he committed suicide after a military defeat by the British. On the death of Tewodros, many
Shewans, including Ras Darge, were released, and the young Negus of Shewa began to feel himself strong
enough, after a few preliminary minor campaigns, to undertake offensive operations against the northern
princes. However, these projects were of little avail, for Ras Kassai of Tigray had by this time (1872) risen
to supreme power in the north. Proclaiming himself negusa nagast under the name of Yohannes IV (or
John IV), he forced Sahle Maryam to acknowledge his overlordship.

In early 1868, the British force seeking Tewodros’ surrender, after he refused to release imprisoned British
subjects, arrived on the coast of Massawa. The British and Dajazmach Kassa came to an agreement in
which Kassa would let the British pass through Tigray (the British were going to Magdala which Tewodros
had made his capital) in exchange for money and weapons. Surely enough, when the British completed
their mission and were leaving the country, they rewarded Kassa for his cooperation with artillery, muskets,
rifles, and munitions, all in all worth approximately £500,000.[57] This formidable gift came in handy when
in July 1871 the current emperor, Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II, attacked Kassa at his capital in Adwa, for
Kassa had refused to be named a ras or pay tribute.[58] Although Kassa's army was outnumbered 12,000 to
the emperor's 60,000, Kassa's army was equipped with more modern weapons and better trained. At
battle's end, forty percent of the emperor's men had been captured. The emperor was imprisoned and would
die a year later. Six months later on 21 January 1872, Kassa became the new emperor under the name
Yohannes IV.[59]

Yohannes IV (1872–1889)

Ethiopia was never colonized by a European power, but was

occupied by Italians in 1936 (see below); however, several colonial
powers had interests and designs on Ethiopia in the context of the
19th-century "Scramble for Africa."[60]

When Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, in 1867 failed to

answer a letter Tewodros II of Ethiopia had sent her, he took it as
an insult and imprisoned several British residents, including the Abyssinia depicted on map before
consul. An army of 12,000 was sent from Bombay to Ethiopia to 1884 Berlin Conference to divide
rescue the captured nationals, under the command of Sir Robert Africa.
Napier. The Ethiopians were defeated, and the British stormed the
fortress of Magdala (now known as Amba Mariam) on April 13,
1868. When the Emperor heard that the gate had fallen, he fired a pistol
into his mouth and killed himself. Sir Robert Napier was raised to the
peerage, and given the title of Lord Napier of Magdala.[61]

The Italians now came on the scene. Asseb, a port near the southern
entrance of the Red Sea, had been bought from the local sultan in March
1870 by an Italian company, which, after acquiring more land in 1879 and
1880, was bought out by the Italian government in 1882. In this year Count
Pietro Antonelli was dispatched to Shewa in order to improve the prospects
of the colony by treaties with Sahle Maryam of Shewa and the sultan of
Aussa.

In 1887 Menelik king of Shewa invaded the Emirate of Harar after his Menelik II
victory at the Battle of chelenqo.[62]

In April 1888 the Italian forces, numbering over 20,000 men, came in contact with the Ethiopian army, but
negotiations took the place of fighting, with the result that both forces retired, the Italians only leaving some
5,000 troops in Eritrea, later to become an Italian colony.

Meanwhile, Emperor Yohannes IV had been engaged with the dervishes, who had in the meantime become
masters of the Egyptian Sudan, and in 1887 a great battle ensued at Gallabat, in which the dervishes, under
Zeki Tumal, were beaten. But a stray bullet struck the king, and the Ethiopians decided to retire. The king
died during the night, and his body fell into the hands of the enemy (March 9, 1889). When the news of
Yohannes's death reached Sahle Maryam of Shewa, he proclaimed himself emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia,
and received the submission of Begemder, Gojjam, the Yejju Oromo, and later Tigray.[60]

Menelik II (1889–1913)

On May 2 of that same year, Emperor Menelik signed the Treaty of Wuchale with the Italians, granting
them a portion of Northern Ethiopia, the area that would later be Eritrea and part of the province of Tigray
in return for the promise of 30,000 rifles, ammunition, and cannons.[63] The Italians notified the European
powers that this treaty gave them a protectorate over all of Ethiopia. Menelik protested, showing that the
Amharic version of the treaty said no such thing, but his protests were ignored.
 On March 1, 1896, Ethiopia's conflict with the Italians, the First
Italo–Ethiopian War, was resolved by the complete defeat of the
Italian armed forces at the Battle of Adowa. A provisional treaty of
peace was concluded at Addis Ababa on October 26, 1896, which
acknowledged the independence of Ethiopia.

Menelik granted the first railway concession, from the coast at

Djibouti (French Somaliland) to the interior, to a French company
in 1894. The railway was completed to Dire Dawa, 45 kilometres
(28 miles) from Harrar, by the last day of 1902.

Under the reign of Menelik, beginning in the 1880s, Ethiopia set

off from the central province of Shoa, to incorporate 'the lands and
people of the South, East and West into an empire'.[64] The people
incorporated were the western Oromo (non Shoan Oromo),
Sidama, Gurage, Wolayta and other groups.[65] He began
expanding his kingdom to the south and east, expanding into areas
Ethiopia in 1908, according to a
that had never been under his rule, resulting in the borders of
Rand McNally map
Ethiopia of today. He did this with the help of Ras Gobena's
Shewan Oromo militia.[66] During the conquest of the Oromo, the
Ethiopian Army carried genocidal mass atrocities against the Oromo population including mass mutilation,
mass killings and large-scale slavery.[67][68] Some estimates for the number of people killed as a result of
the conquest go into the millions.[69][67][70] Large-scale atrocities were also committed against the Dizi
people and the people of the Kaficho kingdom.[70][71] Slavery was of ancient origins in Ethiopia and
continued into the early 20th century. It was widely practiced in the new territories, and tolerated by the
authorities who often owned slaves themselves. Slaves could be bought and sold (but not to non-
Christians), and had limited legal rights. They did have the right to worship, and the right not to have their
families broken up by sales.[72]

Iyasu V, Zauditu and Haile Selassie (1913–1936)

When Menelik II died, his grandson, Lij Iyassu, succeeded to the throne
but soon lost support because of his Muslim ties. He was deposed in 1916
by the Christian nobility, and Menelik's daughter, Zauditu, was made
empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen, was made regent and
successor to the throne.

Upon the death of Empress Zauditu in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen,

adopting the throne name Haile Selassie, was crowned Emperor Haile
Selassie I of Ethiopia. His full title was "His Imperial Majesty Haile
Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of
Ethiopia and Elect of God."

Following the death of Abba Jifar II of Jimma, Emperor Haile Selassie

seized the opportunity to annex Jimma. In 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma
was formally absorbed into Ethiopia. During the reorganization of the Iyasu V (Lij Iyasu), Emperor
provinces in 1942, Jimma vanished into Kaffa Province. of Ethiopia from 1913 to
1916.
The abolition of slavery became a high priority for the Haile Selassie
regime. International pressures forced action, and it was required for
membership in the League of Nations. Final success was achieved by 1942.[73][74]
Educational modernization

Modernization became a priority for the Haile Selassie regime; it began with expanded education
opportunities beyond the small old-fashioned schools run by the Ethiopian church. Menelik had founded
the first modern school at Addis Ababa in 1908, and sent several students to Europe. Haile Selassie sent
hundreds of young men and women to study abroad, set up the capital's second modern school in 1925. He
established schools and a number of cities, as well as training institutions and technical schools.[75][76]
Missionaries were also active in education. By 1925 French Franciscan sisters were well-established,
running an orphanage, a dispensary, a leper colony and 10 schools with 350 girl students. They settled in
the cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, along the Franco-Ethiopian railway which opened in 1917. The
schools were highly attractive to upper-class Ethiopians. In 1935, 119 Catholic and Protestant missions
were educating 6717 pupils across the nation.[77]

Italian occupation (1936–1941)

Emperor Haile Selassie's reign was interrupted in 1935 when Italian forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia.

The Italian army, under the direction of dictator Benito Mussolini, invaded Ethiopian territory on October 2,
1935. They occupied the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. Emperor Haile Selassie pleaded to the League of
Nations for aid in resisting the Italians. Nevertheless, the country was formally annexed on May 9, 1936,
and the Emperor went into exile.

Many Ethiopians died in the invasion. The Negus claimed that more than 275,000 Ethiopian fighters were
killed compared to only 1,537 Italians, while the Italian authorities estimated that 16,000 Ethiopians and
2,700 Italians (including Italian colonial troops) died in battle.[78] Some 78,500 patriots (guerrilla fighters)
died during the occupation, 17,800 civilians were killed by aerial bombardment and 35,000 people died in
concentration camps.[79]

War crimes were committed by both sides in this conflict. Italian troops
used mustard gas in aerial bombardments (in violation of the Geneva
Conventions) against combatants and civilians in an attempt to
discourage the Ethiopian people from supporting the resistance.[80][81]
Deliberate Italian attacks against ambulances and hospitals of the Red
Cross were reported.[82] By all estimates, hundreds of thousands of
Ethiopian civilians died as a result of the Italian invasion, including
during the reprisal Yekatit 12 massacre in Addis Ababa, in which as
many as 30,000 civilians were killed.[83][84][85] Crimes by Ethiopian
troops included the use of Dum-Dum bullets (in violation of the Hague
Conventions), the killing of civilian workmen (including during the
Gondrand massacre) and the mutilation of captured Eritrean Ascari
and Italians (often with castration), beginning in the first weeks of
Coat of Arms of the "Emperor of
war.[86][87] Ethiopia" Victor Emmanuel II

Italy in 1936 requested the League of Nations to recognize the

annexation of Ethiopia. All member nations (including Britain and France), with the exception of the Soviet
Union, voted to support it.[88] The King of Italy (Victor Emmanuel III) was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia
and the Italians created an Italian empire in Africa (Italian East Africa) with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian
Somalia, with its capital Addis Abeba.[89] In 1937 Mussolini boasted that, with his conquest of Ethiopia,
"finally Adua was avenged" and that he had abolished slavery in Ethiopia, a practice that existed in the
country for centuries.[90]
The Italians made investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their occupation. They
created the so-called "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua.[91] More than 900 km of
railways were reconstructed, dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private
companies were established.

Much of these improvements were part of a plan to bring half a million Italians to colonize the Ethiopian
plateaus.[92] In October 1939 the Italian colonists in Ethiopia numbered 35,441, of whom 30,232 male
(85.3%) and 5,209 female (14.7%), most of them living in urban areas.[93] Only 3,200 Italian farmers
moved to colonize farm areas (mostly in the Shewa Governorate), where they were under sporadic attack
by pro-Haile Selassie guerrillas until the end of 1938.

The occupation government closed all schools operated by the Ethiopian church, or by missionaries. They
were replaced with two new systems. There was a prestige operation for Italians, and rudimentary one for
native Ethiopians. Textbooks featured the glory and power of Mussolini and promoted military careers. The
natives were given a rudimentary primary education focused on producing submissive and obedient
servants of the empire. New school buildings were constructed for the Italian colonists.[94] The "Plan for
development of Italian Addis Abeba" in 1939 proposed the creation of the first university in Ethiopia,[95]
but WW2 blocked it.

World War II

In spring 1941 the Italians were defeated by British and Allied

forces (including Ethiopian forces). On May 5, 1941, Emperor
Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa and returned to the throne.
The Italians, after their final stand at Gondar in November 1941,
conducted a guerrilla war in Ethiopia, that lasted until summer
1943. After the defeat of Italy, Ethiopia underwent a short period of
British military administration, and full sovereignty was restored in
1944, although some regions remained under British control for
more years. Eritrea became an autonomous part of Ethiopia in Haile Selassie's reign as emperor of
1952, until its war of independence. Ethiopia is the best known and
perhaps most influential in the
nation's history.
Post–World War II period (1941–1974)

After World War II, Emperor Haile Selassie made numerous efforts
to promote the modernization of his nation. The country's first
important school of higher education, University College of Addis
Ababa, was founded in 1950. The Constitution of 1931 was
replaced with the 1955 constitution which expanded the powers of
the Parliament. While improving diplomatic ties with the United
States, Haile Selassie also sought to improve the nation's
relationship with other African nations. To do this, in 1963, he
helped to found the Organisation of African Unity.

Population in 1976 Ethiopia, when In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence began,
Eritrea was the fourteenth province. following the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I's dissolution of
the federation and shutting down the Eritrean parliament. The
Emperor declared Eritrea the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in
1962.[96] The Negus suffered criticism due to the expenses involved in fighting the Nationalist forces.
By the early 1970s Emperor Haile Selassie's advanced age was becoming apparent. As Paul B. Henze
explains: "Most Ethiopians thought in terms of personalities, not ideology, and out of long habit still looked
to Haile Selassie as the initiator of change, the source of status and privilege, and the arbiter of demands for
resources and attention among competing groups."[97] The nature of the succession, and of the desirability
of the Imperial monarchy in general, were in dispute amongst the Ethiopian people.

Perceptions of this war as imperialist were among the primary causes of the growing Ethiopian Communist
movement. In the early 1970s, the Ethiopian Communists received the support of the Soviet Union under
the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev. This help led to the 1974 coup of Mengistu.

The government's failure to effect significant economic and political reforms over the previous fourteen
years created a climate of unrest. Combined with rising inflation, corruption, a famine that affected several
provinces (especially Welo and Tigray) but was concealed from the outside world, and the growing
discontent of urban interest groups, the country was ripe for revolution. The unrest that began in January
1974 became an outburst of general discontent. The Ethiopian military began to both organize and incite a
full-fledged revolution.[98]

Communist period (1974–1991)

After a period of civil unrest that began in February 1974, a

provisional administrative council of soldiers, known as the Derg
("committee"), seized power from the aging Emperor Haile
Selassie I on September 12, 1974, and installed a government that
was socialist in name and military in style. The Derg summarily
executed 59 members of the former government, including two
former Prime Ministers and Crown Councilors, Court officials,
ministers, and generals. Emperor Haile Selassie died on August 22,
1975. He was allegedly strangled in the basement of his palace or High-ranking Derg members:
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Teferi Benti
smothered with a wet pillow.[99]
and Atnafu Abate
Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed power as head of state
and Derg chairman, after having his two predecessors killed, as
well as tens of thousands of other suspected opponents. The new
government undertook socialist reforms, including nationalisation of
landlords' property[100] and the church's property. Before the coup,
Ethiopian peasants' way of life was thoroughly influenced by the church
teachings; 280 days a year are religious feasts or days of rest. Mengistu's
years in office were marked by a totalitarian-style government and the
country's massive militarization, financed by the Soviet Union and the
Eastern Bloc, and assisted by Cuba. In December 1976, an Ethiopian
delegation in Moscow signed a military assistance agreement with the
Soviet Union. The following April 1977, Ethiopia abrogated its military
assistance agreement with the United States and expelled the American
military missions.

The new regime in Ethiopia met with armed resistance from the large A tank in Addis Ababa after
landowners, the royalists and the nobility.[100] The resistance was largely rebels seized the capital
centered in the province of Eritrea.[101] The Derg decided in November during the Ethiopian Civil
War
1974 to pursue war in Eritrea rather than seek a negotiated settlement. By
mid-1976, the resistance had gained control of most of the towns and the
countryside of Eritrea.[102]
In July 1977, sensing the disarray in Ethiopia, Somalia attacked across the Ogaden in pursuit of its
irredentist claims to the ethnic Somali areas of Ethiopia (see Ogaden War).[103] They were assisted in this
invasion by the armed Western Somali Liberation Front. Ethiopian forces were driven back far inside their
own frontiers but, with the assistance of a massive Soviet airlift of arms and 17,000 Cuban combat forces,
they stemmed the attack.[104] The last major Somali regular units left the Ogaden March 15, 1978. Twenty
years later, the Somali region of Ethiopia remained under-developed and insecure.

From 1977 through early 1978, thousands of suspected enemies of the Derg were tortured and/or killed in a
purge called the Qey Shibir ("Red Terror"). Communism was officially adopted during the late 1970s and
early 1980s; in 1984, the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was established, and on February 1, 1987, a
new Soviet-style civilian constitution was submitted to a popular referendum. It was officially endorsed by
81% of voters, and in accordance with this new constitution, the country was renamed the People's
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on September 10, 1987, and Mengistu became president.

The regime's collapse was hastened by droughts and a famine, which affected around 8 million people and
left 1 million dead, as well as by insurrections, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea.
The regime also conducted a brutal campaign of resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia in the 1980s. In
1989, the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically based opposition
movements to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991,
EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled the country to asylum in Zimbabwe, where he
still resides.

Hundreds of thousands were killed due to the Red Terror, forced deportations, or from using hunger as a
weapon.[105] In 2006, after a long trial, Mengistu was found guilty of genocide.[106] The Derg government
relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration,
courts, and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic.[107][108][109]
The government perceived the various southern minority languages as hindrances to Ethiopian national
identity expansion.[110]

Tigray People's Liberation Front dominance (1991–2018)

In July 1991, the EPRDF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and others established the Transitional
Government of Ethiopia (TGE), which was composed of an 87-member Council of Representatives and
guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992, the OLF withdrew
from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition
also left the government.

Eritrea separated from Ethiopia following the fall of the Derg in

1991, after a long independentist war.

In 1994, a new constitution was written that formed a bicameral

legislature and a judicial system. A general election in 1995 to elect
the Parliament also elected Meles Zenawi as prime minister and
Negasso Gidada as president. Ethiopia's second multiparty election
Flag of Ethiopia
was held in 2000 and Meles was re-elected as prime minister. In
October 2001, Lieutenant Girma Wolde-Giorgis was elected
president. In the 2005 general election, allegations of irregularities
that brought victory to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front resulted in widespread
protests in which the government is accused of massacring civilians (see Ethiopian police massacres).
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with the rise of radical Islamism, Ethiopia again turned to the
Western powers for alliance and assistance. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Ethiopian army
began to train with US forces based out of the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA)
established in Djibouti, in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Ethiopia allowed the US to station
military advisors at Camp Hurso.[111]

In 2006, an Islamic organisation seen by many as having ties with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Courts Union
(ICU), spread rapidly in Somalia. Ethiopia sent logistical support to the Transitional Federal Government
opposing the Islamists. Finally, on December 20, 2006, active fighting broke out between the ICU and
Ethiopian Army. As the Islamist forces were of no match against the Ethiopian regular army, they decided
to retreat and merge among the civilians, and most of the ICU-held Somalia was quickly taken. Human
Rights Watch accused Ethiopia of various abuses including indiscriminate killing of civilians during the
Battle of Mogadishu (March – April 2007). Ethiopian forces pulled out of Somalia in January 2009,
leaving a small African Union force and smaller Somali Transitional Government force to maintain the
peace. Reports immediately emerged of religious fundamentalist forces occupying one of two former
Ethiopian bases in Mogadishu shortly after withdrawal.[112]

Meles Zenawi died on 20 August 2012 and was succeeded as prime minister by Hailemariam Desalegn.
On 7 October 2013, Mulatu Teshome was elected president of the country.[113]

Recent history

Protests broke out across the country, many from the largest ethnic
group, the Oromo, in 2016 demanding an end to human rights
abuses and the release of political prisoners. Following these
protests, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency in October 2016
which was lifted in August 2017. On 16 February 2018, the
government declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency
One of the numerous mass graves of
following the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
civilian victims during the Tigray War
who said he wanted to clear the way for reforms. On 2 April 2018,
Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo, was declared Prime Minister.[114] Sahle-
Work Zewde is the 4th and current President of Ethiopia, the first woman to hold the office.[115]

Ethnic violence rose with the political unrest. There were Oromo–Somali clashes between the Oromo, who
make up the largest ethnic group in the country, and the ethnic Somalis, leading to up to 400,000 to be
displaced in 2017.[116] Gedeo–Oromo clashes between the Oromo and the Gedeo people in the south of
the country led to Ethiopia having the largest number of people to flee their homes in the world in 2018,
with 1.4 million newly displaced people.[117] In September 2018 in the minorities protest that took place in
Oromo near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, 23 people were killed.[118] Some have blamed Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed for giving space to groups formerly banned by previous Tigrayan led governments,
such as the Oromo Liberation Front, Ginbot 7, ONLF and Sidama Liberation Front .[119]

In September 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a historic
peace agreement, ending 16 years of hostility between the two countries (“no war, no peace” stalemate). As
the result of the agreement, Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize 2019.[120]

Fano is an Amharan youth group in Ethiopia, perceived as either a protest group or an armed militia.[121]
Fano units are accused of participating in ethnic massacres, including that of 58 Qemant people in
Metemma during 10–11 January 2019 .[122] and of armed actions in Humera in November 2020 during the
Tigray conflict.[123]
Relations between the federal government and the Tigray regional government deteriorated after the
election,[124] and on 4 November 2020, Abiy began a military offensive in the Tigray Region in response
to attacks on army units stationed there, causing thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring
Sudan.[125][126] According to local media, up to 500 civilians may have been killed in a massacre in the
town of Mai Kadra on 9 November 2020.[127][128] Due to conflicts between TPLF's Militia and Ethiopian
security forces in alliance with Amhara regional special forces, 25,000 refugees fled from Tigray to
Sudan.[129]

See also
Rulers of Ethiopia Italians of Ethiopia
Kingdom of Jimma
Emperor of Ethiopia
Subdivisions of Ethiopia
List of Emperors of Ethiopia List of human evolution fossils
Emperors family tree People of Ethiopia
List of heads of government of Ethiopia Political history of Eastern Africa
List of Presidents of Ethiopia District XVII (satrapy)
Slavery in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa history and timeline
Politics of Ethiopia
Ethiopian historiography
Economic history of Ethiopia

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102. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 245–246.
103. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 246.
104. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 247.
105. Stéphane Courtois, ed. (1997). The Black Book of Communism. Harvard University Press.
pp. 687–695. ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2.
106. "Mengistu found guilty of genocide" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6171429.stm). BBC
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tural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence), September 1981
108. Country Information Report ethiopia (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=ca
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opia.docx+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au), August 12, 2020
109. Ethiopia. Status of Amharas (https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6077.html), March 1, 1993
110. Bulcha, Mekuria (July 1970), "The Politics of Linguistic Homogenization in Ethiopia and the
Conflict over the Status of "Afaan Oromoo" " (https://www.jstor.org/stable/723182), African
Affairs, 96 (384): 325–352, doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007852 (https://doi.org/10.109
3%2Foxfordjournals.afraf.a007852), JSTOR 723182 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/723182)
111. "U.S. trainers prepare Ethiopians to fight" (http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article
=41429&archive=true). Stars and Stripes. 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
112. "Somali joy as Ethiopians withdraw" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7825626.stm). BBC
News. January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
113. Kussa, Mulugeta (2013-10-07). "Dr. Mulatu Teshome elected new President of Ethiopia" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20131010002102/http://www.ertagov.com/news/index.php/compon
ent/k2/item/1684-dr-mulatu-teshome-elected-new-president-of-ethiopia). Ertagov.com.
Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency. Archived from the original (http://www.ertagov.com/
news/index.php/component/k2/item/1684-dr-mulatu-teshome-elected-new-president-of-ethio
pia) on 2013-10-10. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
114. "Abiy Ahmed sworn in as Ethiopia's prime minister" (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/0
4/abiye-ahmed-sworn-ethiopia-prime-minister-180402082621161.html). April 2, 2018.
Retrieved 26 November 2018.
115. "Sahle-Work Zewde becomes Ethiopia's first woman President" (https://www.standardmedi
a.co.ke/article/2001300316/sahle-work-zewde-becomes-ethiopia-s-first-woman-president).
October 25, 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
116. "Ethnic violence displaces hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians" (http://www.irinnews.org/an
alysis/2017/11/08/ethnic-violence-displaces-hundreds-thousands-ethiopians). irinnews.com.
8 November 2017.
117. "Ethiopia tops global list of highest internal displacement in 2018" (https://reliefweb.int/repor
t/ethiopia/ethiopia-tops-global-list-highest-internal-displacement-2018). Relief Web.
Retrieved 7 April 2019.
118. "At least 23 die in weekend of Ethiopia ethnic violence" (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/W
orld/2018/Sep-17/463632-at-least-23-die-in-weekend-of-ethiopia-ethnic-violence.ashx). The
Daily Star. 17 September 2018.
119. Ahmed, Hadra; Goldstein, Joseph (24 September 2018). "Thousands Are Arrested in
Ethiopia After Ethnic Violence" (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/africa/ethiopia-et
hnic-violence-arrests.html). The New York Times. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
120. "The Nobel Peace Prize 2019" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2019/abiy/facts/).
121. Lefort, René (2020-02-25). "Preaching unity but flying solo, Abiy's ambition may stall
Ethiopia's transition" (https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2020/02/25/preaching-unity-but-flying
-solo-abiys-ambition-may-stall-ethiopias-transition/). Ethiopian Insight. Archived (https://archi
ve.today/yhM4o) from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
122. "Beyond law enforcement – Human rights violations by Ethiopian security forces in Amhara
and Oromia" (https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR2523582020ENGLISH.P
DF) (PDF). Amnesty International. 2020-07-24. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201
030063235/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR2523582020ENGLISH.PD
F) (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
123. Akinwotu, Emmanuel (2020-12-02). " 'I saw people dying on the road': Tigray's traumatised
war refugees" (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/02/tigray-war-ref
ugees-ethiopia-sudan). The Guardian. Archived (https://archive.today/6LuVk) from the
original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
124. "Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Rockets hit outskirts of Eritrea capital" (https://www.bbc.com/news/wo
rld-africa-54942546). BBC News. 15 November 2020.
125. "Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Rights commission to investigate 'mass killings' " (https://www.bbc.co
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126. "Ethiopia: Tigray leader confirms bombing Eritrean capital" (https://www.aljazeera.com/new
s/2020/11/15/rockets-fired-from-ethiopias-tigray-region-hit-eritrean-capital). Al-Jazeera. 15
November 2020.
127. "War in Ethiopia leaves a nation in trauma as atrocities, bomb attacks are reported" (https://w
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s-bomb-attacks/). The Globe and Mail. 13 November 2020.
128. "Both sides in Ethiopian conflict are killing civilians, refugees say" (https://www.theguardian.
com/world/2020/nov/13/civilians-knife-massacre-ethiopia-say-reports). The Guardian. 13
November 2020.
129. "Nearly 25,000 Ethiopians flee to Sudan: state media" (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/wo
rld/nearly-25000-ethiopians-flee-to-sudan-state-media/ar-BB1b1LVp). msn.com. AFP.
November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

Videography
Adwa: an African victory, Haïlé Gerima, US, 1999, Mypheduh Films, 97 min
Fascist Legacy, Ken Kirby, Royaume-Uni, 1989, documentary 2x50min Fascist Legacy (http
s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBZT-9f-bIk) on YouTube (in Italian)

Historical documents
 d'Abaddie, Arnauld Michel (1815–1894?), Douze ans de séjour dans la Haute-Éthiopie (http
s://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18812), Tome Ier, Paris, 1868
Alvares, Francisco in: Giovanni Battista Ramusio Historiale description de l'Ethiopie,
contenant vraye relation des terres, & pais du grand Roy & Empereur Prete-Ian, l'assiette de
ses royaumes & provinces, leurs coutumes, loix & religion, avec les pourtraits de leur
temples & autres singularitez, cy devant non cogneues (http://gallica2.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k
54543m.modeAffichageimage.langEN.f1.pagination), Anvers, Omnisys, 1558, BNF
Blanc, Henri (1831–1911), Ma captivité en Abyssinie sous l'empereur Théodoros – avec des
détails sur l'Empereur Theodros, sa vie, ses mœurs, son peuple, son pays (https://www.gute
nberg.org/ebooks/8876), traduit de l'anglais par Madame Arbousse-Bastide.
Bruce, James, Jean-Henri Castéra, Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, Pierre Plassan, Voyage
en Nubie et en Abyssinie entrepris pour découvrir les sources du Nil (https://archive.org/deta
ils/voyageennubieet02thougoog), Paris, 1791
Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menelik (http://www.sacred-texts.
com/chr/kn/), London 1932.
Castanhoso, The Portuguese expedition to Abyssinia in 1541–1543 as narrated by
Castanhoso; translated and introduced by Whitrich (https://archive.org/details/portugueseex
pedi00whitrich) (Archive.org)
Ferret, Pierre Victor Ad., Joseph Germain Galinier Voyage en Abyssinie dans les provinces
du Tigré, du Samen et de l'Amhara (https://books.google.com/books?id=0FYUAAAAYAAJ&
printsec=titlepage), Paris, 1847
Giffre de Rechac, Jean de Les estranges evenemens du voyage de Son Altesse, le
serenissime prince Zaga-Christ d'Ethiopie (http://gallica2.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k84378b.mod
eAffichageimage.langFR.f1.pagination), Hachette, Paris, 1635, BNF
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/periplus.html)
Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century
Reybaud, Louis Voyage dans l’Abyssinie méridionale (https://books.google.com/books?id=
YWwtAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA258&lpg=RA1-PA258&dq=%22Voyage+dans+l%E2%80%9
9Abyssinie+m%C3%A9ridionale%22&source=web&ots=RXWzEQGYlZ&sig=NwUAjwM41
cME6nyq9hRsHIWrTC8&hl=fr#PRA1-PA258,M1), Revue des Deux Mondes, tome 27,
Paris, 1841
(Amharic) (http://www.nale.gov.et/national_archive.html) Original letters from Ethiopian
emperors, website of the national archives of Addis Abeba

Articles
A Brief History of Trade and Business in Ethiopia from Ancient to Modern Times (https://web.
archive.org/web/20011007212401/http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/ethiopia/pankhurs
t/trade_in_Ethiopia_in_ancient_times.htm), Richard Pankhurst, 1999: set of 2 articles
published in the Addis Tribune summarizing a speech by Dr. Pankhurst at the 74’th District
Conference and Assembly of Rotary International, in Addis Ababa 7–9 May 1999
Ethiopia Across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean (https://web.archive.org/web/200805130328
16/http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/ethiopia/pankhurst/ethiopia_across_red_sea_%2
6_indian_ocean.htm), Richard Pankhurst, 1999: set of 3 articles published in the Addis
Tribune newspaper in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the relations between Ethiopia and
countries on the Indian Ocean in ancient and early medieval times
A History of Early Twentieth Century Ethiopia (https://web.archive.org/web/2001100721074
1/http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/ethiopia/pankhurst/early_20th_cent_ethiopia_1.ht
m), Richard Pankhurst, 1997: set of 20 articles published in the Addis Tribune summarizing
the history of Ethiopia from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1960s
 Pankhurst, Richard (1999). "History of Northern Ethiopia – and the Establishment of the
Italian Colony or Eritrea" (https://web.archive.org/web/20050323230207/http://civicwebs.co
m/cwvlib/africa/ethiopia/pankhurst/history_of_northern_ethiopia.htm#3). Civic Webs Virtual
Library. Archived from the original (http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/ethiopia/pankhurs
t/history_of_northern_ethiopia.htm) on March 23, 2005. Retrieved March 25, 2005. Article
published in the Addis Tribune showing how Eritrea has historically been a part of Ethiopia
Mauri, Arnaldo (2003), "The early development of banking in Ethiopia", International Review
of Economics, ISSN 1865-1704 (https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:1865-170
4), Vol. 50, n. 4, pp. 521–543. Abstract (https://ideas.repec.org/p/mil/wpdepa/2003-04.html)
Mauri, Arnaldo (2009), "The re-establishment of the national monetary and banking system
in Ethiopia, 1941–1963", South African Journal of Economic History, ISSN 1011-3436 (http
s://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:1011-3436), Vol. 24, n. 2, pp. 82–130.
Mauri, Arnaldo (2010), "Monetary developments and decolonization in Ethiopia", Acta
Universitatis Danubius Œconomica, ISSN 2065-0175 (https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x
0:jrnl&q=n2:2065-0175), Vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 5–16. [3] (http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/
oeconomica/article/view/337-319) and [4] (https://ideas.repec.org/p/mil/wpdepa/2010-15.htm
l)

Further reading
African Zion, the Sacred Art of Ethiopia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
Antonicelli, Franco (1961). Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915–1945. Torino: Mondadori.
Bahru Zewde (2001). A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1974 (https://archive.org/details/hi
storyofmoderne00bahr) (2nd ed.). Oxford: James Currey. ISBN 978-0-852-55786-0.
Bernand, Étienne; Drewes, Abraham Johannes; Schneider, Roger; Anfray, Francis (1991).
Recueil des inscriptions de l'Ethiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite (http://www.aib
l.fr/fr/public/catalogue/ethopie.html). Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, De Boccard.
ASIN B0000EAFWP (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000EAFWP).
Del Boca, Angelo (1985). Italiani in Africa Orientale: La conquista dell'Impero. Roma:
Laterza. ISBN 88-420-2715-4.
Dunn, John. "'For God, Emperor, and Country!' The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Nineteenth-
Century Army" War in History 1#3 (1994): 278–99.
https://doi.org/10.1177/096834459400100303
Gibbons, Ann (2007). The First Human : The Race to Discover our Earliest Ancestor. Anchor
Books. ISBN 978-1-4000-7696-3
Henze, Paul B. (2000). A History of Ethiopia. Layers of Time (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=gzwoedwOkQMC). C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1-85065-393-3.
Johanson, Donald & Wong, Kate (2009). Lucy's Legacy : The Quest for Human Origins.
Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-307-39640-2
Marcus, Harold (1994). A History of Ethiopia. Berkeley.
Markakis, John; Nega Ayele (1978). Class and Revolution in Ethiopia. Addis Abeba: Shama
Books. ISBN 99944-0-008-8.
Munro-Hay, Stuart (1992). Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20080517100818/http://www.dskmariam.org/artsandlitreature/litreature/index.asp)
. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0209-7. Archived from the original (http://www.ds
kmariam.org/artsandlitreature/litreature/index.asp) on 2008-05-17.
Pankhurst, Richard (2001). The Ethiopians: A History (Peoples of Africa). Wiley-Blackwell;
New Ed edition. ISBN 0-631-22493-9.
Pankhurst, Richard (2005). Historic images of Ethiopia. Addis Abeba: Shama books.
ISBN 99944-0-015-0.
 Pankhurst, R. (1989). "Ethiopia and Somalia" (http://www.unesco.org/new/index.php?id=508
56). In J. F. Ade Ajayi (ed.). Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s (https://archive.o
rg/details/generalhistoryof00unes). General History of Africa. 6. UNESCO. pp. 376+.
ISBN 0435948121.
Phillipson, David W. (2003). Aksum: an archaeological introduction and guide. Nairobi: The
British Institute in Eastern Africa. ISBN 1-872566-19-7.
Sergew Hable Selassie (1972). Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. Addis
Ababa: United Printers.
Shinn, David H. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia (2013)
Taddesse Tamrat (2009). Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270–1527. Hollywood, CA: Tsehai
Publishers & Distributors, second printing with new preface and new foreword.
Vestal, Theodor M. (2007). "Consequences of the British occupation of Ethiopia during
World War II", B. J. Ward (ed), Rediscovering the British Empire. Melbourne.
Young, John (1993). Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia: The Tigray People's Liberation Front,
1975–1991 (https://books.google.com/books?id=5JmuUH1lHsIC&q=ethiopian+revolution+ti
gray). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59198-8.

Historiography
Crummey, Donald. "Society, State and Nationality in the Recent Historiography of Ethiopia"
Journal of African History 31#1 (1990), pp. 103–119 online (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1828
03)

External links
Ethiopian warrior, Ancient Greek Alabastron, 480-470 BC
ETHIOPIA – A Country Study (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ettoc.html) (at the Library of
Congress)
"The history of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia" (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/a
rchives/33/index-d.html) (Hartford Web Publishing website)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cana, Frank Richardson (1911).
"Abyssinia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press. pp. 82–95.

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