History of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa;[1] the emergence

of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Abyssinia
or rather "Ze Etiyopia" was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians
(Habesha) composed mainly of the Amhara, Tigrayans and the
Cushitic Agaw. In the Eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian
highlands and more so the lowlands were the home of the
Harari/Harla that founded Sultanates such as Ifat and Adal and the
Afars. In the central and south were found the ancient Sidama and
Semitic Gurage, among others.

One of the first kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the
kingdom of D'mt in the 10th century BC, which established its
Medieval map of Ethiopia, including
capital at Yeha. In the first century AD, the Aksumite Kingdom
the ancient lost city of Barara, which
rose to power in the modern Tigray Region with its capital at is located in modern-day Addis
Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating Ababa
South Arabia and Meroe and its surrounding areas. In the early
fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was
declared the state religion and not long after, 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 underwent
military reforms and imperial expansion, allowing it to dominate the Horn of Africa.

Etymology
The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, "an
Ethiopian") is a compound word, later explained as derived from
the Greek words αἴθω and ὤψ (aithō "I burn" + ōps "face").
According to the Liddell-Scott Jones Greek-English Lexicon, the
designation properly translates as burnt-face in noun form and
red-brown in adjectival form.[3] The historian Herodotus used the
appellation to denote those parts of Africa south of the Sahara that
were then known within the Ecumene (habitable world).[4] The Leaping Ibex, found in northern
earliest mention of the term is found in the works of Homer, where Ethiopia, probably created around
it is used to refer to two people groups, one in Africa and one in the first century BC in D'mt.
[5]
the east from eastern Turkey to India. In ancient times, the name
Ethiopia was primarily used about the modern-day nation of
Sudan which is based in the Upper Nile valley and is located south of Egypt, also called Kush, and then
secondarily about Sub-Saharan Africa in general.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Reference to the Kingdom of Aksum (designated as Ethiopia) only dates as far back as the first half of the
4th century AD. Following the Hellenic and biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a 3rd-
century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's ruler governed an area that
was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu. The Aksumite King Ezana eventually
conquered Nubia. In the following century, a Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated
with the unvocalized Ḥbšt and Ḥbśt (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of
Aksum. This new demonym was subsequently rendered as ḥbs ('Aḥbāsh) in Sabaic and as Ḥabasha in
Arabic.[15]

In the 15th-century Ge'ez Book of Axum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp'is.
He was an extra-biblical son of Cush, son of Ham, said to have founded the city of Axum.[16]

In English, and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was historically known as Abyssinia. This
toponym was derived from the Latinized form of the ancient Habash.[17]

Antiquity

Land of Punt
It has been hypothesized that Punt was a kingdom in the Horn of
Africa, based on archaeological findings of Egyptian mummified
baboons in modern-day Ethiopia,[18] and caves in Somaliland dating
back to around the time of Punt. Egyptian traders from about 3000 BC
refer to lands south of Nubia or Kush as Punt and Yam. The Ancient
Egyptians had 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 Location of the Land of Punt, in
the influence of the Egyptians
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.[19] J. H. Breasted posited that this early trade relationship could have been realized
through overland trade 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."[20]

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 relationships 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".[21]

Evidence of Naqadan contacts include obsidian from Ethiopia and the Aegean. Though not much is
known, Punt likely fell due to ethnic tensions between Somali and Ethiopians, splitting to form 2 different
kingdoms, Macrobia and D'mt at around the 1st millennium BC.[22]

Dʿmt
Aside from the Land of Punt, the first kingdom that is known to
have existed in Ethiopia was the kingdom of Dʿmt, which rose to
power around the year 980 BC. Its capital was at Yeha, where a
so-called sabean style temple was built around 700 BC although
no evidence of such architecture being found in Yemen. 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 A stela with an ibex and three
was minor, limited to a few localities, and disappeared after a few Arabian oryx, associated with Astar
decades or a century, perhaps representing a trading or military (ዐስተር), Semitic god of the Morning
colony in some sort of symbiosis or military alliance with the and Evening Star, found at Axum
civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto-Aksumite state. [23][24]

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.[25]

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 Kingdom of Axum at its peak, King Ezana's
Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great 600 C.E Stele in Aksum
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[26] 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.[27]
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 were 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 sceptre 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, Judaism and Islam

Christianity was introduced into the country by Frumentius,[28] who was consecrated as the first bishop of
Ethiopia by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria in about 330 CE.[29] Frumentius converted Ezana, who left
several inscriptions detailing his reign both before and after his conversion.

One inscription which was found at Axum states that he conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned
thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory.[29] Later inscriptions show Ezana's growing attachment
to Christianity, and Ezana's coins bear this out, shifting from a design with a 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.[30]

Toward the end of the 5th century CE, a group of monks

known as the Nine Saints are believed to have established
themselves in the country. They fueled the spread of
Christianity in Ethiopia by establishing many churches such
as Abuna Yemata Guh (also known as the Chapel in the Sky).
Since then, monasticism has been a power among the people,
and not without its influence on events.[29]

Once again, the Axumite Kingdom is recorded as controlling

An Aksumite palace at Dungur
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
after he announced that he would kill all of the Christians, he 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 to Judaism.

Emperor Justin I of the Eastern Roman Empire requested that his fellow Christian, Kaleb, help him in his
fight against the Yemenite king. 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 date of the death of the man who was the ruler of Yemen at
that 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 favour 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 about the history of the Axumite Kingdom, never

abundant, became scarcer after this point. The last king of
Axum who is known to have minted coins was Armah,
whose coinage refers to the Persian conquest of Jerusalem
in 614 CE. According to an early Muslim tradition, the
Negus Sahama offered asylum to a group of Muslims who
were fleeing from persecution during Muhammad's 14th century Islamic depiction of the First
lifetime (615 CE), but Stuart Munro-Hay believes that Hijrah:The King of Aksum declines the
Qurayshi request to send the Muslims back
Axum had been abandoned as the capital by that time[31]
to Mecca
– although Kobishchanov states that Ethiopian raiders
plagued the Red Sea, preying on Arabian ports at least as
late as 702 CE.[32]

Some people believe that the end of the Axumite Kingdom is as mysterious as the beginning of it is.
Lacking a detailed history, the kingdom's fall has been attributed to a persistent drought, overgrazing,
deforestation, a plague, a shift in trade routes that reduced the importance of the Red Sea—or a
combination of all 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.[33]

Middle Ages

Zagwe dynasty
About 1000 (presumably c. 960, though the date is uncertain), a Jewish
princess, Yodit (Judith) nicknamed "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, Gudit
reigned for forty years over the rest of the kingdom and transmitted the
crown to her descendants.[29] Though parts of this story were most likely Baptism of Iyasu Christos,
made up by the Solomonic dynasty to legitimize its rule, it is known that a Yemrehana Kresos made
in the Zagwe period
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 unknown, as
is the number of kings in the dynasty. The new Zagwe dynasty established its capital at Roha (also called
Adefa), where they built a series of monolithic churches. These structures are traditionally ascribed to the
King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, with the city being renamed 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.[34]

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.[35] 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.[36] 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 for 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 the expansion of European influence when the
Portuguese explorers reached the Indian Ocean.[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]

Early Solomonic period (1270–16th century)

Around 1270, a new dynasty was established in the Abyssinian highlands
under Yekuno Amlak, with aid from neighbouring Makhzumi dynasty
deposed the last of the Zagwe kings and married one of his daughters.[40]
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.

Lebna Dengel, nəgusä Under the Solomonic dynasty, the chief provinces became Tigray (northern),
nägäst (Emperor) of what is now Amhara (central) and Shewa (southern). The seat of
Ethiopia and a member
government, or rather of overlordship, had usually been in Amhara or
of the Solomonic
Shewa, the ruler of which, calling himself nəgusä nägäst, exacted tribute,
dynasty.
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 purity of their lineage.[41] Under the early Solomonic dynasty
Ethiopia engaged in military reforms and imperial expansion which left it dominating the Horn of Africa,
especially under the rule of Amda Seyon I. 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.[42]

In around 1380, Dawit I campaigned against Egypt, reaching as far north as

Aswan.[42] He initiated this campaign in an attempt to assist the Coptic
Christians of Upper Egypt who he thought were being oppressed under
Muslim rule and he felt he had the duty to protect them as he saw himself as
the protector of Orthodox Christianity and the Copts in Egypt In response, the
Emir forced the Patriarch of Alexandria, Matthew I, to send a deputation to The Ethiopian Empire
Dawit to persuade him to retire back to his kingdom. "There seems to be little under Emperor Amda
Seyon I
or no doubt that, on the eve of the advent of the Burji dynasty of Mamluk
Egypt, King Dawit had led his troops beyond the northern frontiers of his
kingdom, and created much havoc among the Muslim inhabitants of the area who had been within the
sphere of influence of Egypt since the thirteenth century."[40] The Emperor had a much friendlier
relationship with the Sultan's successor, for according to the medieval historian al-Maqrizi, Dawit sent 22
camels laden with gifts to Berkuk, the first Sultan of the Burji dynasty.[42]

During his first years on the throne, Zara Yaqob launched a strong campaign against survivors of pagan
worship and "un-Christian practices" within the church. Those who admitted to worshipping pagan gods
were publicly decapitated. He also took measures to greatly centralize the administration of the country,
bringing regions under much tighter imperial control. The Adal Sultanate would then conduct an invasion
of the province of Dawaro. However, the Emperor successfully repelled this invasion in the Battle of
Gomit in 1445. In 1456,[43] Zara Yaqob founded Debre Berhan after witnessing a miraculous light in the
sky, which he interpreted as divine approval for his persecution of pagans. He ordered the construction of
a church on the site and established an extensive palace nearby, along with a second church dedicated to
Saint Cyriacus.[44]

Relations with Europe and "Prester John"

Yeshaq I made the earliest known contact from post-Axumite Ethiopia to a
European ruler. He sent a letter by two dignitaries to Alfonso V of Aragon,
which reached the king in 1428, proposing an alliance against the Muslims
that would be sealed by a dual marriage, requiring Infante Peter, Viceroy of
Sicily to bring a group of artisans to Ethiopia, where he would marry
Yeshaq's daughter.[40] It is not clear how or if Alfonso responded to this
letter, although in a letter that reached Yeshaq's successor Zara Yaqob in
1450, Alfonso wrote that he would be happy to send artisans to Ethiopia if
their safe arrival could be guaranteed, for on a previous occasion a party of
thirteen of his subjects travelling to Ethiopia had all perished.[40]

Zara Yaqob sent delegates to the Council of Florence in 1441 and

established ties with the Holy See and Western Christianity. They were Zara Yacob's letter sent to
confused when council prelates insisted on calling their monarch "Prester the Pope Nicholas V at the
John". They tried to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal Council of Florence
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.[40][45][46]

He also sent a diplomatic mission to Europe (1450), asking for skilled labour. The mission was led by a
Sicilian, Pietro Rombulo, who had previously been successful in a mission to India. Rombulo first visited
Pope Nicholas V, but his ultimate goal was the court of Alfonso V of Aragon, who responded favourably.
Two letters for Ethiopians in the holy land (from Amda Seyon and Zara Yaqob) survive in the Vatican
library, referring to "the kings Ethiopia.[40]

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 these ambassadors was Father Francisco
Álvares, who wrote one of the earliest European accounts of the country.[48][49]

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 arid country to the south-east on the pretext
of a Jihad, encroached upon much of the Ethiopian plateau,
forcing the Emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In
this remote location, the Empress turned to the Portuguese for
military assistance against Ottoman guns. João Bermudes, a
subordinate member of the mission of 1520, who had remained in Anachronistic painting of the Sultan
the country after the departure of the embassy, was sent to Lisbon. of Adal (right) and his troops battling
Bermudes claimed to be the ordained successor to the Abuna Emperor Yagbe'u Seyon and his
men
(archbishop), but his credentials are disputed.[41]

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 Empress 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 at first were successful against the enemy; but subsequently
defeated at the Battle of Wofla (28 August 1542), and their commander captured and executed.[41] 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.[50] 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.[41]

Oromo Expansion
The Oromo Invasions were a series of encroachments in the 16th and 17th
centuries by the Oromo people from North Kenya to more northern
regions. The migrations had a severe impact on the Solomonic dynasty of
Abyssinia, as well as an impact on the recently weakened Adal Sultanate.
The migrations concluded in around 1710 when the Oromo conquered the
kingdom of Ennarea in the Gibe region.

In the 17th century, the 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.[51] Many
Oromo entered in emperor Susenyos' domain in response.[51] King Susenyos I receives
the patriarch of the Latins.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, much of the Oromo people gradually
underwent conversion to Islam, especially around Harar, modern Arsi and
modern 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.[51]

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.[51]

Early modern period

Gondarine period (1632–1769)

Gondar as a third long-term capital (after Aksum and Lalibela) of
the Christian Kingdom was founded by Emperor Fasilides in
1636. It was the most important centre of commerce for the
Empire.[52]

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 expelled. At
the beginning of the 17th century, Father Pedro Páez arrived at
Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon rose into Fasil Ghebbi, one of the royal
high favour at court, and won over the emperor to his faith. He enclosure's of Gondar.

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 death of Emperor Susenyos and accession of his son Fasilides in 1633, the
Jesuits were expelled[41] 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.[53]

Gondarine art drew on the Byzantine world’s religious motifs, with elements including illuminated
manuscripts, murals, and icons from diptych and triptychs. Diptych painting by the author Walda Mariam
also contributed to the Egyptian Monastery of Saint Anthony murals. The diptych painting of the Passion
of Christ in Qaha Iyasus exemplifies a desire for visual imagery in Ethiopian art. Gondarine art was also
influenced by Western Baroque and Renaissance paintings through prints brought by the Jesuits in the
16th or 17th century.

The rebellion of the Agaw population in Lasta endured the reformation. Fasilides conducted punitive
expeditions to Lasta and successfully suppressed it, which was described by the Scottish traveller James
Bruce, "almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains; great part from famine, but a greater still
from cold, a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes."[54] Fasilides tried to establish firm
relations with Yemeni Imam Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il between 1642 and 1647 to discuss a trade route
through Ottoman-held Massawa, which was unsuccessful.[55]

Aussa Sultanate
The Sultanate of Aussa (Afar Sultanate) succeeded the earlier Imamate of Aussa. The latter polity had
come into existence in 1577, when Muhammed Gasa 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 Adam's recorded ascension to the
throne.[56]

The Sultanate was subsequently re-established by Kedafu around the year 1734, and was thereafter ruled
by his Mudaito dynasty.[57] The primary symbol of the Sultan was a silver baton, which was considered
to have magical properties.[58]

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 in 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 negus nagast
(king of kings) – however his tenure was brief.

Iyasu II ascended the throne as a child. His mother, Empress Mentewab Gondarine nobility battle with
played a major role in Iyasu's reign, as well as her grandson Iyoas. regional overlords then feed
them to Hyenas and crows a
Mentewab had herself crowned as co-ruler, becoming the first woman
common punishment to
to be crowned in this manner in Ethiopian history.
rebellious wounded soldiers.

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 in 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 son Iyoas. The conflict between these two queens
led to Mentewab summoning her Kwaran relatives and their forces
Ethiopian Prince investiture during
the Zemene Mesafint
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 Amhara, Agaw,
and Tigreans. 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 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 favour his mother's Yejju relatives over the Qwarans of
his grandmothers family. Iyoas further increased the favour given to the Oromo when adults. 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 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
the 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 favoured 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 by a means other than his 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 in time has been regarded
as the start of the Era of the Princes.

An aged and infirm imperial uncle prince was enthroned as Emperor Iyoas I murdered perpetrated
by Mikael Sehul, which
Yohannes II. Ras Mikael soon had him murdered, and underage Tekle
embarked the start of the
Haymanot II was elevated to the throne.
Zemene Mesafint

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.[41]

Modern era
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 The conquests of Emperor Yohannes Emperor Tewodros II
off to lead a band of bandits that roved IV, Negus Menelik II and general Ras
the country in a Robin Hood-like Alula in 1879–1889
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). 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 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. 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 Emperor Tewodoros and taken to Gondar.[59] 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 allied with 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 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.[60] Proclaiming himself negus 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.[61] 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.[62]
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 per cent 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.[63]

Yohannes IV (1872–1889)
Ethiopia was never fully colonized by a European power, it was occupied and briefly colonized 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."[64]
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 consul. An army of
12,000 was sent from Bombay to Ethiopia to rescue the
captured nationals, under the command of Sir Robert
Napier. The dwindled army of Tewodros fought on
bravely at the Battle of Magdala against the British
force which was larger and better armed. 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, rather than face defeat. Sir Robert
Napier was raised to the peerage, and given the title of
Lord Napier of Magdala.[65]
Map of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the 19th century.
A Red Sea port called Asseb was purchased from the
local sultan in March 1870 by Rubattino Shipping
Company, an Italian company. The company continued acquiring more land in 1879 and 1880 and was
eventually bought out by the Italian government on July 5, 1882. Count Pietro Antonelli was dispatched
the same year to Shewa to improve the prospects of the colony by forging treaties with the King of
Shewa, Sahle Maryam.[60]

In 1887 Menelik king of Shewa invaded the Emirate of Harar after his victory at the Battle of
Chelenqo.[66]

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.[60]

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,[60] and received the submission of Begemder, Gojjam, the Yejju Oromo, and
Tigray.[64]

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.[67] 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 Adwa. Local chiefs had played a significant
role during the war periods by mobilizing their peoples for the battle including Gambella. At this time,
patriot Oballa Gnigwo had taken part in the war with the Italians. 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 Harar, by the last day of 1902.[68]

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'.[69] The people incorporated were
the western Oromo (non-Shoan Oromo), Sidama, Gurage, Wolayta and
other groups.[70] He began expanding his kingdom to the south and east,
expanding into areas that had never been under his rule, resulting in the
borders of Ethiopia of today. He did this with the help of Ras Gobena's
Shewan Oromo militia.[71] 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.[72][73] Some estimates for the number of people killed as a result
of the conquest go into the millions.[74][72][75] Large-scale atrocities were Menelik II
also committed against the Dizi people and the people of the Kaficho
kingdom.[75][76] Slavery was of ancient origins in Ethiopia and continued
into the early 20th century. It was widely practised 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.[77]

Lij Iyasu, Zewditu and Haile Selassie (1913–1936)

When Menelik II died, his grandson, Lij Iyasu, 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, Zewditu, was made empress. Her cousin, Ras
Tafari Makonnen, was made regent and successor to the throne.

Upon the death of Empress Zewditu 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 Lij Iyasu, the
opportunity to annex Jimma. In 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma was formally designated
Emperor of
absorbed into Ethiopia. During the reorganization of the provinces in 1942,
Ethiopia from 1913
Jimma vanished into Kaffa Province.
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.[78][79]

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 founded the
first modern school in Addis Ababa in 1908 and sent several students to Europe. Haile Selassie sent
hundreds of young men and women to study abroad and set up the capital's second modern school in
1925. He established schools and several cities, as well as training institutions and technical
schools.[80][81] 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.[82]

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
Coat of Arms of the acclaimed and 2,700 Italians (including Italian colonial troops) died in battle.[83]
"Emperor of Ethiopia" Victor Some 78,500 patriots (guerrilla fighters) died during the occupation,
Emmanuel II 17,800 civilians were killed by aerial bombardment and 35,000
people died in concentration camps.[84]

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.[85][86] Deliberate Italian attacks against
ambulances and hospitals of the Red Cross were reported.[87] By all estimates, hundreds of thousands of
Ethiopian civilians died as a result of the Italian invasion, including during the 1937 Yekatit 12 massacre
in Addis Ababa, in which as many as 30,000 civilians were killed.[88][89][90] This massacre was a reprisal
for the attempted assassination of Rodolfo Graziani, the viceroy of Italian East Africa.[91] The Italians
employed the use of asphyxiating chemical weapons in their Ethiopian invasion. On the whole, the
Italians dropped about 300 tons of mustard gas as well as thousands of other artillery.[92] 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 war.[93][94]
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.[95]
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 Ababa.[96] In 1937 Mussolini boasted that, with his conquest of Ethiopia, "finally Adwa was
avenged" and that he had abolished slavery in Ethiopia, a practice that existed in the country for
centuries.[97]

The Italians made investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their occupation. They
created the so-called "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massawa.[98] Much of these
improvements were part of a plan to bring half a million Italians to colonize the Ethiopian plateaus.[99] 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.[100]

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 a rudimentary one
for native Ethiopians. Textbooks featured the glory and power of Mussolini and promoted military
careers. The indigenous population 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.[101] The "Plan for development of Italian Addis Abeba" in 1939 proposed the creation of the
first university in Ethiopia, but World War II blocked it.[102]

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 1952, until its war of
independence.

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.[103] Haile Selassie c. 1942

Haile Selassie was nearly deposed in a 1960 coup

attempt.[104][105][106] In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean War for Independence began, 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.[107] 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."[108] The nature of the succession, and 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.[109]

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 ageing 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 councillors, court officials,
ministers, and generals. Emperor Haile Selassie died on August
27, 1975. He was allegedly strangled in the basement of his palace
Population in 1976 Ethiopia, when or smothered with a wet pillow.[110]
Eritrea was the fourteenth province.
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[111] and the church's property. Before the coup,
Ethiopian peasants' way of life was thoroughly influenced by the
church teachings; 280 days a year were 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
High-ranking Derg members:
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Teferi Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and assisted by Cuba. In
Benti and Atnafu Abate 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 landowners, the royalists and the
nobility.[111] The resistance was largely centred in the province of Eritrea.[112] The Derg decided in
November 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.[113]

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).[114] They were assisted in this
invasion by the armed Western Somali Liberation Front. Ethiopian forces were driven back far inside
their frontiers but, with the assistance of a massive Soviet airlift of arms and 17,000 Cuban combat
forces, they stemmed the attack.[115] The last major Somali regular units left the Ogaden March 15, 1978.
Twenty years later, the Somali region of Ethiopia remained underdeveloped 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. A tank in Addis Ababa after rebels
seized the capital during the
The regime's collapse was hastened by droughts and a famine, Ethiopian Civil War

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 using hunger as a
weapon.[116] In 2006, after a long trial, Mengistu was found guilty of genocide.[117] 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.[118][119][120] The government perceived the various southern minority languages as hindrances
to Ethiopian national identity expansion.[121]

Federal Democratic Republic

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

In July 1991, the EPRDF convened a National Conference to establish the Transitional Government of
Ethiopia composed of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that
functioned as a transitional constitution.[122] In June 1992, the Oromo Liberation Front withdrew from
the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition also
left the government.[123][124] In 1994, a new constitution was
written that established a parliamentary republic with a bicameral
legislature and a judicial system.[125] The first multiparty election
took place in May 1995, which was won by the EPRDF.[126] The
president of the transitional government, EPRDF leader Meles
Zenawi, became the first Prime Minister of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and Negasso Gidada was Flag of Ethiopia since 2009

elected its president.[127]

Ethiopia's 3rd multiparty election on 15 May 2005 was highly

disputed, with many opposition groups claiming fraud. Though the
Carter Center approved the pre-election conditions, it expressed its
dissatisfaction with post-election events. European Union election
observers cited state support for the EPRDF campaign, as well as
irregularities in ballot counting and results publishing.[128] The
opposition parties gained more than 200 parliamentary seats,
compared with just 12 in the 2000 elections. While most of the
opposition representatives joined the parliament, some leaders of the
CUD party who refused to take up their parliamentary seats were
accused of inciting the post-election violence and were imprisoned.
Amnesty International considered them "prisoners of conscience" and
Former Ethiopian Prime Minister
they were subsequently released.[129]
Meles Zenawi was one of the
key founders of modern-day
Meles died on 20 August 2012 in Brussels, where he was being Ethiopia, under the FDRE
treated for an unspecified illness.[130] Deputy Prime Minister system
Hailemariam Desalegn was appointed as a new prime minister until
the 2015 elections,[131] and remained so afterwards with his party in
control of every parliamentary seat.[132]

Protests broke out across the country on 5 August 2016, and hundreds of protesters were subsequently
shot and killed by police. The protesters demanded an end to human rights abuses, the release of political
prisoners, a fairer redistribution of the wealth generated by over a decade of economic growth, and a
return of Wolqayt District to the Amhara Region.[133][134][135] Following these protests, Ethiopia declared
a state of emergency on 6 October 2016,[136] which was lifted in August 2017.[137] On 16 February 2018,
the government of Ethiopia declared another nationwide state of emergency following the resignation of
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.[138] Hailemariam was the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history
to step down; previous leaders have died in office or been overthrown.[139]

Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict

In April 1993, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia after a national referendum.[140] While
relations between the two countries were initially friendly,[141] by May 1998, a border dispute with
Eritrea led to the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, which lasted until June 2000 and cost both countries an
estimated $1 million a day, leaving a profoundly negative impact on their economies.[142][143] Major
combat operations ended after signing a peace treaty in December 2000;[144] however, skirmishes and
proxy conflicts between the two nations would continue until 2018.[145][146]

War in Somalia
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 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 a 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.[147]

Abiy Ahmed and the Prosperity Party (2018–present)

On 2 April 2018, Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo, was declared Prime
Minister.[148] In addition, Sahle-Work Zewde became the 4th president of
Ethiopia, the first woman to hold the office.[149] Early in his term, Prime
Minister Abiy made an historic visit to Eritrea in 2018, ending the state of
conflict between the two countries.[150] For his efforts in ending the 20-
year-long war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Abiy Ahmed was awarded
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed the Nobel prize for peace in 2019.[151] After taking office in April 2018,
receiving the Nobel Peace
Abiy released political prisoners, promised fair elections for 2019 and
Prize in Oslo in 2019
announced sweeping economic reforms.[152] As of 6 June 2019, all the
previously censored websites were made accessible again, over 13,000
political prisoners were released and hundreds of administrative staff were fired as part of the
reforms.[153][154][155][156]

An alliance between Fano, an Amhara youth militia[157] and

Qeerroo, its Oromo counterpart, played a crucial role in the
bringing about the political and administrative changes associated
with the premiership of Abiy Ahmed.[158][159] During the Tigray
War, Fano supported federal and regional security forces against
rebels aligned with the Tigray People's Liberation Front
(TPLF).[160] Fano units have been accused of participating in
ethnic massacres, including that of 58 Qemant people in Metemma
during 10–11 January 2019,[161] and of armed actions in Humera Map illustrating the Ethiopian civil
in November 2020.[162] conflict as of 2022; included are al-
Shabaab attacks, the Tigray War
Ethnic violence and political unrest rose throughout the 2010s and zone, and the redeployment of
federal troops from the southeast to
into the 2020s. There were Oromo–Somali clashes between the
the north.
Oromo, who make up the largest ethnic group in the country, and
the ethnic Somalis, leading to up to 400,000 being displaced in
2017.[163] 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.[164] Starting in 2019, in the Metekel conflict, fighting in the Metekel
Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz
people against Amharas and Agaws.[165] In March 2020, the leader of an Amhara militia called Fano,
Solomon Atanaw, stated that they would not disarm until Metekel Zone and the Tigray Region districts of
Welkait and Raya were returned to the control of Amhara Region.[166]

COVID-19 pandemic
The federal government, under the Prosperity Party, requested that the National Election Board of
Ethiopia cancel elections for 2020 due to health and safety concerns about COVID-19. No official date
was set for the next election at that time, but the government promised that once a vaccine was developed
for COVID-19 elections would move forward.[167] The Tigrayan ruling party, TPLF, opposed cancelling
the elections and, when their request to the federal government to hold elections was rejected, the TPLF
proceeded to hold elections anyway on 9 September 2020. They worked with regional opposition parties
and included international observers in the election process.[168] It was estimated that 2.7 million people
participated in the election.[169]

Tigray War
Relations between the federal government and the Tigray regional
government deteriorated after the election,[170] 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
neighbouring Sudan and triggering the Tigray War.[171][172] More than 600
civilians were killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra on 9
A mass grave of civilians
November 2020.[173][174] In April 2021, Eritrea confirmed its troops are killed as a result of the
fighting in Ethiopia.[175] As of March 2022, as many as 500,000 people had Tigray War
died as a result of violence and famine in the Tigray War,[176][177] with
other reported estimates reaching numbers as high as 700,000–800,000 by
the end of 2022.[178] After a number of peace and mediation proposals in the intervening years, Ethiopia
and the Tigrayan rebel forces agreed to a cessation of hostilities on 2 November 2022; as Eritrea was not
a party to the agreement, however, their status remained unclear.[179]

Historiography
See also

Beta Israel Italians of Ethiopia

Kingdom of Jimma
History of the Jews in Africa § Ethiopia
Subdivisions of Ethiopia
History of the Jews in Ethiopia List of human evolution fossils
Rulers of Ethiopia List of rebel groups in Ethiopia
Emperor of Ethiopia People of Ethiopia
Political history of Eastern Africa
List of emperors of Ethiopia
District XVII (satrapy)
Emperors family tree
List of heads of government of Ethiopia
List of presidents of Ethiopia
Human rights in Ethiopia
Slavery in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa history and timeline
Culture of Ethiopia
Politics of Ethiopia
Religion in Ethiopia
Ethiopian historiography
Economic history of Ethiopia

References
1. "Ethiopia country profile" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13349398). BBC News.
1997-01-17. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
2. "Ethiopian History" (https://www.lonelyplanet.com). Retrieved 2 July 2019.
3. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert. "Aithiops". A Greek-English Lexicon (https://www.pers
eus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%232329&
redirect=true). Perseus. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
4. For all references to Ethiopia in Herodotus, see: this list (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopp
er/nebrowser?query=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&id=tgn%2C7000489) at the
Perseus Project.
5. Homer, Odyssey 1.22–4.
6. Richard Lobban, Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia, Scarecrow Press,
2004. p.1–1i
7. David M. Goldenberg, The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam, p. 18.
8. Noah Webster, The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments, in the Common
Version, p. xiv
 9. Reilly, W. (1908). Cush. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company. Retrieved April 19, 2012, from New Advent:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04575c.htm
10. Rodney Steven Sadler, Can a Cushite Change His Skin?: An Examination of Race,
Ethnicity, And Othering in the Hebrew Bible.
11. "Strong's Hebrew: 3568. ‫( ּכּוׁש‬Kuwsh) -- Cush" (http://concordances.org/hebrew/3568.htm).
12. Green, Elliott A. "The Queen of Sheba: A Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia?" (http://www.jbq.jewi
shbible.org/assets/Uploads/293/293_Sheba2.pdf) (PDF). jbq.jewishbible.org. Retrieved
2017-06-04.
13. ETHIOPIA (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5890-ethiopia)
14. CUSH. (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4815-cush)
15. Hatke, George (2013). Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in
Ancient Northeast Africa (https://books.google.com/books?id=PA4UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52).
NYU Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-8147-6066-6.
16. Africa Geoscience Review, Volume 10 (https://books.google.com/books?id=QWBPAQAAIA
AJ). Rock View International. 2003. p. 366. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
17. Schoff, Wilfred Harvey (1912). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: travel and trade in the
Indian Ocean (https://archive.org/stream/periplusoferythr00schouoft#page/62/mode/2up).
Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 62. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
18. "Mummified baboons shine new light on the lost land of Punt" (https://phys.org/news/2020-1
2-mummified-baboons-lost-punt.html).
19. Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient
Times to The End of the 18th century (Asmara: Red Sea Press, Inc., 1997), pp.4–5,
https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC
20. Agatharchides, in Wilfred Harvey Schoff (Secretary of the Commercial Museum of
Philadelphia) with a foreword by W. P. Wilson, Sc. Director, The Philadelphia Museums.
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the
First Century, Translated from the Greek and Annotated (1912). New York, New York:
Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 50 (for attribution) and 57 (for quote).
21. Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient
Times to The End of the 18th century (Asmara: Red Sea Press, Inc., 1997), p.4,
https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC.
22. Laurent Bavay, Thierry de Putter, Barbara Adams, Jacques Novez, Luc André, 2000. The
Origin of Obsidian in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Upper Egypt, MDAIK 56 (2000), pp. 5–
20. See on-line post: [1] (http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/foreignrelations/obsidian.html).
23. Munro-Hay, Aksum, p. 57.
24. Phillipson (2009). "The First Millennium BC in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and
South–Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development". African
Archaeological Review. 26 (4): 257–274. doi:10.1007/s10437-009-9064-2 (https://doi.org/1
0.1007%2Fs10437-009-9064-2). S2CID 154117777 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Corpus
ID:154117777).
25. Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.), Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,
2005. p. 185.
26. Yuri M. Kobishchanov, Axum, Joseph W. Michels, editor; Lorraine T. Kapitanoff, translator,
(University Park, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 1979), pp.54–59.
27. Expressed, for example, in his The Historical Geography of Ethiopia (London: the British
Academy, 1989), p.39.
28. Perruchon, F. (2010-12-31), Graffin, René (ed.), "F. M. Est. Pereira. — Vida De Takla
Haymanot Pelo P. Manuel De Almeida" (https://dx.doi.org/10.31826/9781463220693-014),
Revue de l’Orient Chrétien (1896-1946), Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 165–167,
doi:10.31826/9781463220693-014 (https://doi.org/10.31826%2F9781463220693-014),
ISBN 978-1-4632-2069-3, retrieved 2021-01-10
29. Cana 1911, p. 89.
30. Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum, p. 81.
31. Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum, p.56.
32. Kobishchanov, Axum, p.116.
33. Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum, pp.95–98.
34. Negash, Tekeste. "The Zagwe period re-interpreted: post-Aksumite Ethiopian urban culture"
(http://www.samfak.uu.se/digitalAssets/9/9640_NegashAll.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 17 March
2014.
35. Erlich, Haggai. The Cross and the River; Ethiopia, Egypt and the Nile. Boulder: Lynne
Rienne Publishers, 2002. p.41–43
36. Erlich, p. 37.
37. Pankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopians, A History. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, Inc, 1998.
p.77–85.
38. Riches, Samantha (2015), St George: A Saint for All (https://books.google.com/books?id=Iz
O6CwAAQBAJ), London: Reaktion Books, pp. 43–44, ISBN 978-1-78023-4519.
39. Sobania, Neal W. (2012), "Lalibela", in Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Gates, Henry Louis Jr.
(eds.), Dictionary of African Biography (https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBA
J), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 462, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
40. Hassan, Mohammed. Oromo of Ethiopia (https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29226/1/10731321.pdf)
(PDF). University of London. p. 4.
41. Cana 1911, p. 90.
42. Marcus, Harold (1994). A History of Ethiopia (https://archive.org/details/historyofethiopi00ma
rc). University of California Press. ISBN 9780520081215.
43. Pankhurst, Richard K. P. (1982). History of Ethiopian Towns. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner
Verlag. p. 37.
44. A. Wallace Budge, E. (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia (https://archive.org/d
etails/in.ernet.dli.2015.499166/page/n392/mode/1up). Vol. 1. Methuen & co. p. 300.
45. Silverberg, Robert, The Realm of Prester John, Ohio University Press, 1996 (paperback
edition) ISBN 1-84212-409-9, p. 189
46. "Zare'a Ya'eqob, Ethiopia, Orthodox" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160806234930/http://w
ww.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/zarea_yaeqob.html). dacb.org. Archived from the original (htt
p://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/zarea_yaeqob.html) on 2016-08-06. Retrieved
2017-01-08.
47. Hespeler-Boultbee, J. J. (2006). A Story in Stones: Portugal's Influence on Culture and
Architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia 1493-1634 (https://books.google.com/books?id=7N
z5OqKWeTwC&pg=PP1). CCB Publishing. pp. 42–43. ISBN 0-9781162-1-6.
48. Cana 1911, pp. 89–90.
49. Baynes, Thomas Spencer (1838). "Abyssinia" (https://books.google.com/books?id=TKcMAA
AAYAAJ&q=fremona+abyssinia&pg=PA65). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of
Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, Volume 1 (Ninth ed.). Henry G. Allen and Company.
p. 65.
50. Nurhusien, Muhammed (2017). A survey of historical heritages in Gondar Zuria Woreda:
from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century (MA). University of Gondar. pp. 57–62.
51. Marco Demichelis. "THE OROMO AND THE HISTORICAL PROCESS OF ISLAMISATION
IN ETHIOPIA". Islamisation: Comparative Perspectives from History. Edinburgh University
Press. pp. 223–243.
52. Grade 9th History text
53. Kiros, Teodoros. "The Meditations of Zara Yaquob" (https://web.archive.org/web/201210161
92444/http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Afri/AfriKiro.htm). Archived from the original (http://ww
w.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Afri/AfriKiro.htm) on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
54. James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1805 edition), vol. 3, pp. 435–437
55. "Christian Ethiopian art (article) | Ethiopia" (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-afri
ca/east-africa2/ethiopia/a/christian-ethiopian-art). Khan Academy. Retrieved 6 January
2022.
56. Abir, p. 23 n.1.
57. Abir, pp. 23–26.
58. Trimingham, p. 262.
59. Cana 1911, p. 91.
60. Cana 1911, p. 93.
61. Marcus 2002, pp. 71–72
62. Marcus, H. 2002, 72
63. Zewde, B. 2001, 43
64. Yohannes IV: emperor of Ethiopia (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yohannes-IV)
65. Harold E. Raugh (2004). The Victorians at War, 1815–1914: An Encyclopedia of British
Military History (https://books.google.com/books?id=HvE_Pa_ZlfsC&pg=PA2). ABC-CLIO.
p. 2. ISBN 978-1-57607-925-6.
66. CAULK, RICHARD (1971). "The Occupation of Harar: January 1887". Journal of Ethiopian
Studies. 9 (2): 1–20. JSTOR 41967469 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41967469).
67. Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa, pp. 472–3
68. Cana 1911, pp. 94–95.
69. John Young (1998). "Regionalism and Democracy in Ethiopia". Third World Quarterly. 19
(2): 192. doi:10.1080/01436599814415 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F01436599814415).
JSTOR 3993156 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3993156).
70. International Crisis Group, "Ethnic Federalism and its Discontents". Issue 153 of ICG Africa
report (4 September 2009) p. 2.
71. Edward C. Keefer (1973). "Great Britain and Ethiopia 1897–1910: Competition for Empire".
International Journal of African Studies. 6 (3): 470. doi:10.2307/216612 (https://doi.org/10.23
07%2F216612). JSTOR 216612 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/216612).
72. Conquest, Tyranny, and Ethnocide against the Oromo: A Historical Assessment of Human
Rights Conditions in Ethiopia, ca. the 1880s–2002 by Mohammed Hassen, Northeast
African Studies Volume 9, Number 3, 2002 (New Series)
73. Genocidal violence in the making of nation and state in Ethiopia by Mekuria Bulcha, African
Sociological Review
74. A. K. Bulatovich Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes: Country in Transition, 1896–1898,
translated by Richard Seltzer, 2000
75. Power and Powerlessness in Contemporary Ethiopia by Alemayehu Kumsa, Charles
University in Prague
76. Haberland, "Amharic Manuscript", pp. 241f
77. Hanibal Goitom, "Ethiopian Emperors and Slavery" On Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of
Congress January 31, 2012 (https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2012/01/ethiopian-emperors-and-slav
ery/)
78. Whyte, Christine (2014). " 'Everyone Knows that Laws Bring the Greatest Benefits to
Mankind': The Global and Local Origins of Anti-Slavery in Abyssinia, 1880–1942". Slavery &
Abolition. 35 (4): 652–669. doi:10.1080/0144039x.2014.895137 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F
0144039x.2014.895137). S2CID 143891603 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:1438
91603).
79. Hanibal Goitom, "Abolition of Slavery in Ethiopia" On Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of
Congress February 14, 2012 (https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2012/02/abolition-of-slavery-in-ethiop
ia/)
80. Amare Asgedom, "Higher education in pre-revolution Ethiopia: Relevance and academic
freedom." Ethiopian Journal of Higher Education 2.2 (2005): 1-45 online (http://ejol.aau.edu.
et/index.php/EJHE/article/download/246/220) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201811
17134218/http://ejol.aau.edu.et/index.php/EJHE/article/download/246/220/) 2018-11-17 at
the Wayback Machine.
81. Richard Pankhurst, "Education in Ethiopia during the Italian fascist occupation (1936-1941)."
International Journal of African Historical Studies 5.3 (1972): 361-396. online (https://www.jst
or.org/stable/217091)
82. Pierre Guidi, "‘For good, God, and the Empire’: French Franciscan sisters in Ethiopia
1896−1937." History of Education 47.3 (2018): 384-398. online (https://www.researchgate.n
et/profile/Pierre_Guidi2/publication/322833686_%27For_good_God_and_the_Empire%27_
French_Franciscan_sisters_in_Ethiopia_1896-1937/links/5b5a2541458515c4b249fd11/For-
good-God-and-the-Empire-French-Franciscan-sisters-in-Ethiopia-1896-1937.pdf)
83. Antonicelli, Franco. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915–1945, p. 133.
84. Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of
Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed. McFarland. p. 355. ISBN 978-0786474707.
85. Belladonna, Simone (20 April 2015). Gas in Etiopia: I crimini rimossi dell'Italia coloniale (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=MOHbCgAAQBAJ&q=uccisione+dell'aviatore+Tito+Minniti&
pg=PT156) (in Italian). Neri Pozza Editore. ISBN 9788854510739.
86. Mack Smith, Denis (1983) [1981]. Mussolini. London: Granada. pp. 231, 417. ISBN 0-586-
08444-4. OCLC 12481387 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/12481387).
87. Rainer Baudendistel, Between bombs and good intentions: the Red Cross and the Italo-
Ethiopian War, 1935–1936. Berghahn Books. 2006 pp. 239, 131–2 [2] (https://books.google.
com/books?id=I2MMGoY3MpMC&dq=tito+minniti+etiopia&pg=PA131)
88. Campbell, Ian (2017). The Addis Ababa Massacre: Italy's National Shame. London.
ISBN 978-1-84904-692-3. OCLC 999629248 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/999629248).
89. Martel, Gordon (1999). The origins of the Second World War reconsidered : A.J.P. Taylor
and the Historians (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 188. ISBN 0-203-01024-8.
OCLC 252806536 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/252806536).
90. Barker, A. J. (1968). The Civilising Mission: The Italo-Ethiopian War 1935–6. London:
Cassell. pp. 292–293. ISBN 978-0-304-93201-6.
91. David, Forgacs (September 2016). "Italian Massacres in Occupied Ethiopia" (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20181020095024/https://arb.crasc.dz/index.php/fr/37-volume-12-n%C2%B0-0
2-septembre-2016/313-italian-massacres-in-occupied-ethiopia1). Revue Africaine des Livres
– Centre de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle. Archived from the original (ht
tps://arb.crasc.dz/index.php/fr/37-volume-12-n%C2%B0-02-septembre-2016/313-italian-ma
ssacres-in-occupied-ethiopia1) on 20 October 2018.
92. Sbacchi, A (2005), "Poison Gas and Atrocities in the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1936)", in
Ben-Ghiat, R.; Fuller, M. (eds.), Italian Colonialism, Italian and Italian American Studies,
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 47–56, doi:10.1007/978-1-4039-8158-5_5 (https://doi.or
g/10.1007%2F978-1-4039-8158-5_5), ISBN 978-0-230-60636-4
93. Sbacchi 1978, p. 43.
94. Antonicelli 1975, p. 79.
 95. Antonicelli; p. 85
96. Italian Addis Abeba (https://dadfeatured.blogspot.com/2018/12/italian-addis-abeba.html)
97. Del Boca, Angelo. Italiani in Africa Orientale: La conquista dell'Impero, p.131.
98. "1940 Article on the special road Addis Ababa-Assab and map (in Italian)" (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20120402195204/http://media.tecnici.it/file/novecento/autocamionale_assab_ad
dis-abeba.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://media.tecnici.it/file/novecento/autoca
mionale_assab_addis-abeba.pdf) (PDF) on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
99. Antonicelli; p.106
100. Italian emigration in Etiopia (in Italian) (http://www.ilcornodafrica.it/rds-01emigrazione.pdf)
101. Pankhurst, "Education in Ethiopia during the Italian fascist occupation (1936-1941)." (1972)
pp. 361-396.
102. Addis abeba «italiana»: il Piano regolatore e la serie delle sue Varianti (1936-1939)."Mai-
Ministero dell’Africa italiana (in Italian); pag. 63-126 (https://flore.unifi.it/retrieve/handle/2158/
1003748/43539/2015.ASUP%201.%20ADDIS%20ABEBA%20PIANO%20REG..pdf)
103. "(1963) Haile Selassie, "Towards African Unity" " (https://blackpast.org/1963-haile-selassie-t
owards-african-unity). BlackPast.org. 7 August 2009.
104. Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 254; Keller, Revolutionary
Ethiopia, p. 132
105. Clapham, "Ethiopian Coup", p. 497
106. Henze, Layers of Time, p. 255
107. Semere Haile The Origins and Demise of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Federation Issue: A Journal of
Opinion, Vol. 15, 1987 (1987), pp. 9–17
108. Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 282.
109. Thomas P. Ofcansky; LaVerle Berry, eds. (1991). A Country Study: Ethiopia (https://archive.
org/details/ethiopiacountrys00ofca) (4th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division,
Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8444-0739-9.
110. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence (Public Affairs
Publishing: New York, 2005) p. 217.
111. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 244.
112. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 245.
113. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 245–246.
114. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 246.
115. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, p. 247.
116. Stéphane Courtois, ed. (1997). The Black Book of Communism. Harvard University Press.
pp. 687–695. ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2.
117. "Mengistu found guilty of genocide" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6171429.stm). BBC
News. December 12, 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
118. OROMO CONTINUE TO FLEE VIOLENCE (https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cul
tural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence), September 1981
119. Country Information Report ethiopia (https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-infor
mation-report-ethiopia.docx), August 12, 2020, archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130
711041720/https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-information-report-ethiopia.doc
x) from the original on July 11, 2013, retrieved February 18, 2021
120. Ethiopia. Status of Amharas (https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6077.html), March 1,
1993
121. 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)
122. Lyons 1996, pp. 121–23.
123. "Ethiopia (03/08)" (https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/ethiopia/91642.htm). U.S.
Department of the State.
124. "About Ethiopia" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181023034822/http://www.ethiopia.gov.et/hi
story?p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_eglYuFCcMdKJ&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_m
ode=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1&_56_INSTANCE_eglYuFCcMdKJ_pag
e=6). Ethiopian Government Portal. Archived from the original (http://www.ethiopia.gov.et/his
tory?p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_eglYuFCcMdKJ&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mo
de=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1&_56_INSTANCE_eglYuFCcMdKJ_page
=6) on 23 October 2018.
125. "Article 5" (http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/et/et007en.pdf) (PDF). Ethiopian
Constitution. WIPO. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
126. Lyons 1996, p. 142.
127. "President expelled from ruling party" (http://www.irinnews.org/report/22561/ethiopia-preside
nt-expelled-ruling-party). IRIN. 25 June 2001. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
128. Voice of America (16 May 2010). "2005 Ethiopian election: a look back" (https://www.voane
ws.com/a/article-2005-ethiopian-election-a-look-back-93947294/159888.html). Retrieved
6 May 2018.
129. "Document" (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr25/017/2005/en/).
www.amnesty.org. 2 November 2005. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
130. "Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles has died: state television" (https://www.reuters.com/article/u
s-ethiopia-meles-idUSBRE87K04K20120821). Reuters. 21 August 2012.
131. Lough, Richard (22 August 2012). "Ethiopia acting PM to remain at helm until 2015" (https://
www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-meles-leader-idUSBRE87L0B820120822). Reuters.
132. Malone, Barry (27 May 2015). "Profile: Ethiopia's 'placeholder' PM quietly holds on" (http://w
ww.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/profile-ethiopias-placeholder-pm-quietly-holds-1505271721
36197.html). aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
133. " 'Several killed' as Ethiopia police clash with protesters" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-a
frica-37004725). BBC. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
134. "Internet shutdown ends as protests continue in Ethiopia" (https://www.bbc.com/news/live/w
orld-africa-36881410). BBC Monitoring. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
135. Maasho, Aaron (8 August 2016). "At least 33 protesters killed in Ethiopia's Oromiya region:
opposition" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170912011946/https://af.reuters.com/article/topN
ews/idAFKCN10J0ZJ?sp=true). Reuters. Archived from the original (https://af.reuters.com/ar
ticle/topNews/idAFKCN10J0ZJ?sp=true) on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
136. AfricaNews. "Ethiopia declares 6 months state of emergency over Oromia protests |
Africanews" (http://www.africanews.com/2016/10/09/ethiopia-declares-6-months-state-of-em
ergency-over-oromia-protests//). Africanews. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
137. AfricaNews (26 October 2017). "10 killed as Ethiopia forces clash with protesters in Oromia"
(http://www.africanews.com/2017/10/26/deaths-reported-as-ethiopia-elite-forces-clash-with-
protesters-in-oromia//). Africanews. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
138. "Ethiopia declares state of emergency" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43091248).
BBC News. 16 February 2018.
139. "Ethiopians protesting state of emergency shut down capital, Oromia region" (http://www.fra
nce24.com/en/20180306-ethiopia-state-emergency-protest-strike). France 24. 6 March
2018.
140. "Eritrea Marks Independence After Years Under Ethiopia" (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/0
5/25/world/eritrea-marks-independence-after-years-under-ethiopia.html). The New York
Times. Associated Press. 25 May 1993. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0
362-4331). Retrieved 2 July 2021.
141. "Eritrea, Tigray and Ethiopia's brewing civil war" (https://web.archive.org/web/202207311956
12/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/8/fears-on-eritreas-secret-role-in-ethiopias-bre
wing-civil-war). Al Jazeera. 8 November 2020. Archived from the original (https://www.aljaze
era.com/news/2020/11/8/fears-on-eritreas-secret-role-in-ethiopias-brewing-civil-war) on 31
July 2022.
142. "War 'devastated' Ethiopian economy" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1476618.stm). BBC
News. 7 August 2001. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160704131529/http://news.b
bc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1476618.stm) from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 12 January
2017.
143. "Will arms ban slow war?" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/750789.stm). BBC News. 18
May 2000. Archived (https://archive.today/20170112074549/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/afric
a/750789.stm) from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
144. "Agreement between the Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia" (https://peacemaker.un.org/eritreaethiopia-agreem
ent2000). UN Peacemaker. December 12, 2000. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202
20314074504/https://peacemaker.un.org/eritreaethiopia-agreement2000) from the original
on March 14, 2022.
145. Tekle, Tesfa-Alem (April 23, 2010). "Eritrean rebels claim killing 11 government soldiers" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20181205003445/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eritrea-rebel
s/eritrean-rebels-claim-killing-11-government-soldiers-idUSTRE63M2G520100423).
Reuters. Archived from the original (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eritrea-rebels/eritrean
-rebels-claim-killing-11-government-soldiers-idUSTRE63M2G520100423) on December 5,
2018.
146. "Ethiopia, Eritrea officially end war" (https://p.dw.com/p/314fg). Deutsche Welle. July 9,
2018. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220814210457/https://www.dw.com/en/ethio
pia-eritrea-officially-end-war/a-44585296) from the original on August 14, 2022.
147. "Somali joy as Ethiopians withdraw" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7825626.stm). BBC
News. January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
148. "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.
149. "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.
150. "Ethiopia and Eritrea declare end of war" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-4476459
7). BBC News. 9 July 2018.
151. "Ethiopian Prime Minister wins the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize" (https://edition.cnn.com/videos/
world/2019/10/11/ethiopian-prime-minister-abiy-ahmed-wins-2019-nobel-peace-prize-lon-ori
g.cnn/video/playlists/intl-stories-worth-watching/). CNN News. 16 October 2019.
152. Kaps, Alisa (28 March 2019). "From agrarian country to industrial hub" (https://www.dandc.e
u/en/article/strengthening-foreign-trade-has-helped-ethiopias-governments-achieve-remarka
ble-economic). D+C, Development and cooperation.
153. "Abiy's Ethiopia pardons 13,000 accused of treason or terrorism" (https://www.reuters.com/a
rticle/us-ethiopia-politics-idUSKCN1PG1IZ). Reuters. 22 January 2019.
154. "OONI – Ethiopia: Verifying the unblocking of websites" (https://ooni.torproject.org/post/ethio
pia-unblocking/). ooni.torproject.org. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
155. "Ethiopia prison administration fires 103 individuals – New Business Ethiopia" (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20190113175528/https://newbusinessethiopia.com/ethiopia-prison-administr
ation-fires-103-individuals/). Archived from the original (https://newbusinessethiopia.com/ethi
opia-prison-administration-fires-103-individuals/) on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January
2019.
156. "Reflections on the Rule of Law and Ethiopia's Transition to Democratic Rule (Part I)" (http://
cyberethiopia.com/2013/?p=2012). Cyber Ethiopia. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January
2019.
157. Lefort, René (25 February 2020). "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/20201202200135/https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2020/02/25/preaching-unity-but
-flying-solo-abiys-ambition-may-stall-ethiopias-transition/) from the original on 2 December
2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
158. Rodrigues Sanches, Edalina (2022). Popular Protest, Political Opportunities, and Change in
Africa. Taylor & Francis. pp. 14, 181–193. ISBN 9781000569100.
159. St, Addis; ard (2019-11-28). "Exclusive: As the formation of Prosperity Party gains
momentum here is its program" (https://addisstandard.com/exclusive-as-the-formation-of-pr
osperity-party-gains-momentum-here-is-its-program-2/). Addis Standard. Retrieved
2022-07-06.
160. "Journalists, general, militiamen arrested in Ethiopia's Amhara" (https://www.reuters.com/wo
rld/africa/wife-says-ethiopian-general-arrested-after-criticising-government-2022-05-20/?rpc
=401&). Reuters. 20 May 2022.
161. "Beyond law enforcement – Human rights violations by Ethiopian security forces in Amhara
and Oromia" (https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR2523582020ENGLISH.PD
F) (PDF). Amnesty International. 24 July 2020. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201
030063235/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR2523582020ENGLISH.PDF)
(PDF) from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
162. Akinwotu, Emmanuel (2 December 2020). " 'I saw people dying on the road': Tigray's
traumatised war refugees" (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/02/ti
gray-war-refugees-ethiopia-sudan). The Guardian. Archived (https://archive.today/20201202
185821/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/02/tigray-war-refugees-
ethiopia-sudan) from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
163. "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.
164. "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.
165. "12 killed in latest attack in western Ethiopia" (https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/
12-killed-in-latest-attack-in-western-ethiopia-20201013). News24. Retrieved 26 December
2020.
166. Fano Will Not Lay Down Arms If Demands Are Not Met: Chairman (https://www.ezega.com/
News/NewsDetails/7856/Fano-Will-Not-Lay-Down-Arms-If-Demands-Are-Not-Met-Chairma
n), retrieved 28 March 2020
167. "Ethiopian parliament allows PM Abiy to stay in office beyond term" (https://www.aljazeera.c
om/news/2020/06/ethiopian-parliament-pm-abiy-stay-office-term-200610195337702.html).
www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
168. "Ethiopia's Tigray region defies PM Abiy with 'illegal' election" (https://www.france24.com/en/
20200909-ethiopia-s-tigray-region-defies-pm-abiy-with-illegal-election-1). France 24. 9
September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
169. "Ethiopia's Tigray region holds vote, defying Abiy's federal gov't" (https://www.aljazeera.com/
news/2020/09/ethiopia-tigray-region-votes-defying-federal-government-pm-2009090552376
84.html). www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
170. "Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Rockets hit outskirts of Eritrea capital" (https://www.bbc.com/news/wo
rld-africa-54942546). BBC News. 15 November 2020.
171. "Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Rights commission to investigate 'mass killings' " (https://www.bbc.co
m/news/world-africa-54941833). BBC News. 14 November 2020.
172. "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.
173. "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.
174. "Ethiopia: 1,900 people killed in massacres in Tigray identified" (https://www.theguardian.co
m/world/2021/apr/02/ethiopia-1900-people-killed-in-massacres-in-tigray-identified). The
Guardian. 2 April 2021.
175. "Eritrea confirms its troops are fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray" (https://www.aljazeera.com/new
s/2021/4/17/eritrea-confirms-its-troops-are-fighting-ethiopias-tigray). Al-Jazeera. 17 April
2021.
176. "Tigray war has seen up to half a million dead from violence and starvation, say
researchers" (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-tigray-war-has-seen-up-to-half-
a-million-dead-from-violence-and/). The Globe and Mail. 15 March 2022.
177. "The World's Deadliest War Isn't in Ukraine, But in Ethiopia" (https://www.washingtonpost.co
m/business/the-worlds-deadliest-war-isnt-in-ukraine-but-in-ethiopia/2022/03/22/eaf4b83c-a9
b6-11ec-8a8e-9c6e9fc7a0de_story.html). The Washington Post. 23 March 2022.
178. Chothia, Farouk; Bekit, Teklemariam (19 October 2022). "Ethiopia civil war: Hyenas
scavenge on corpses as Tigray forces retreat" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-6329
1747). BBC News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20221022032616/https://www.bbc.
com/news/world-africa-63291747) from the original on 22 October 2022.
179. Winning, Alexander; Cocks, Tim (2022-11-02). "Parties in Ethiopia conflict agree to cease
hostilities" (https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-union-parties-ethiopia-conflict-have-
agreed-cease-hostilities-2022-11-02/). Reuters.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cana, Frank
Richardson (1911). "Abyssinia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 82–95.

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/bpt6
k54543m.modeAffichageimage.langEN.f1.pagination), Anvers, Omnisys, 1558, BNF
Antonicelli, Franco (1975). Trent'anni di storia italiana: dall'antifascismo alla Resistenza
(1915–1945) lezioni con testimonianze [Thirty Years of Italian History: From Antifascism to
the Resistance (1915–1945) Lessons with Testimonials]. Reprints Einaudi (in Italian). Torino:
Giulio Einaudi Editore. OCLC 878595757 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/878595757).
 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-text
s.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),
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=Y
WwtAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Voyage+dans+l%E2%80%99Abyssinie+m%C3%A9ridionale%22
&pg=RA1-PA258), 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
Lyons, Terrence (1996). "Closing the Transition: the May 1995 Elections in Ethiopia" (https://
www.academia.edu/9622394). The Journal of Modern African Studies. 34 (1): 121–42.
doi:10.1017/S0022278X00055233 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0022278X00055233).
S2CID 155079488 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:155079488).
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.ph
p/oeconomica/article/view/337-319) and [4] (https://ideas.repec.org/p/mil/wpdepa/2010-15.ht
ml)
Sbacchi, Alberto (1978). Marcus, H. G. (ed.). "The Price of Empire: Towards an Enumeration
of Italian Casualties in Ethiopia 1935–40". Ethiopianist Notes. II (2). ISSN 1063-2751 (http
s://search.worldcat.org/issn/1063-2751).

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 (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20200217100828/https://www.aibl.fr/fr/public/catalogue/ethopie.html).
Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, De Boccard. ASIN B0000EAFWP (https://www.a
mazon.com/dp/B0000EAFWP). Archived from the original (http://www.aibl.fr/fr/public/catalog
ue/ethopie.html) on 2020-02-17. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
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.as
p). Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0209-7. Archived from the original (http://www.
dskmariam.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.
org/details/generalhistoryof00unes). General History of Africa. Vol. 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/182
803)

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)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Ethiopia&oldid=1245861141"