UNIT FOUR

POLITICS, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY FROM THE LATE THIRTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURIES

Introduction:- The period from the late thirteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth centuries
experienced dynamic political, economic, and socio-cultural developments that lay the foundation for
the formation of modern Ethiopia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The "restoration" of the
"Solomonic" Dynasty, succession problems, territorial expansion, evangelization, flourishing and
development of trade as well as expansion of extensive socio−cultural interactions among different
peoples who lived in different agro−ecological zones were some of the events that shaped the course of
history in the region. This unit treats those events and shows the relationships that exist between them.

4.1. The “Restoration” of the “Solomonic’’ Dynasty