Background

Ethiopia, originally Abyssinia, is the oldest independent country in

Africa and one of the oldest in the world. What are believed to be the
oldest remains of a human ancestor ever found, which have been dated
as being some five million years old, were discovered in the Awash
Valley in Ethiopia. This beats the discovery of "Lucy", a 3.2 million
year old skeleton, who was unearthed in the same area in 1974.

The Greek historian Herodotus, of the fifth century BC, describes

ancient Ethiopia in his writings, while the Bible's Old Testament
records the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem where she met with
King Solomon. Remains of the Queen of Sheba's palace can still be
seen today in Axum, in the province of Tigray, northern Ethiopia.
Axum is also home to many other extensive historical sites, including
the home of the Ark of the Covenant, brought there from Jerusalem
by Menelik I.

Missionaries from Egypt and Syria reached Ethiopia in the fourth

century and introduced Christianity. In the seventh century, the rise of
Islam across North Africa meant Ethiopia was then isolated from
European Christianity. The Portuguese re-established contact with
Ethiopia in the 1500s primarily to strengthen their control over the
Indian Ocean and to convert Ethiopia to Roman Catholicism. They
utilized torture, mass killings, and large scale slavery against
Ethiopians during these “religious” wars to complete their mass
conversions. This following century of religious conflict resulted in the
expulsion of all foreign missionaries in the 1630s. All of this shapes
the unique form of Christianity in Ethiopia today: Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Church. Today, almost two-thirds(⅔) of the country are
followers of Ethiopian Christian Orthodoxy, a third of the country
practice Islam, and a majority of others follow traditional tribal faiths.

Ethiopia's ancient Ge-ez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the

oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar,
which is approximately seven years and three months behind the
Gregorian calendar. Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80
 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa,
Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayan. Most people in the country speak
Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches.

Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from
the place called Kefa (which was one of the 14 provinces in the old
Ethiopian administration). It is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast
fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the world's hottest
settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian highlands are Africa's
largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain
Africa's largest cave. Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage
Sites in Africa.

Ethiopian Empire
As legend has it, the Ethiopian Empire was founded by King Menelik I,
who also founded the Solomonic Dynasty. Menelik the first was
allegedly the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and was
supposed to be born in Jerusalem. However, the first historically
recognized Emperor of Ethiopia was Emperor Mararah, whom
historians credit with founding the Empire in 1137. Mararah was the
beginning of the Zagwe Dynasty which will rule Ethiopia until 10
August 1270 when Yekuno Amlak overthrew the last Zagwe ruler and
restored the Solomonic Dynasty to power. The House of Solomon will
rule Ethiopia largely uninterrupted until 1974 when the last Solomonic
Emperor steps down.

The religious conflict shaped the Ethiopian Empire’s relationships with

the outside world. The Ethiopian hostility towards foreign Christians,
and in turn towards Europeans, kept Ethiopia mostly isolated from the
happenings of the outside world up to and throughout much of the 19th
century. But this conflict didn’t just shape their foreign relations, it
affected their internal relations as well. From the 1700s, for roughly
100 years, there was no central power in Ethiopia. This "era of
princes" was Tewodros II came to power with the goal of restoring a
cohesive Ethiopian state.
To do so he began to reform the government and the church. He
introduced an administrative system that utilized local districts
serving under a central government. He supported education by
establishing a library. He introduced a tax code and he created a
standing army. His attempts to reform the church, however, failed. He
tried to purge out church leaders who he thought were corrupt or
immoral, but it was his implementation of a tax on church lands that
lost him support. Nonetheless, he brought many of the princes together
peacefully and crushed the rebellions of those who resisted him. He
was a brilliant military commander! But his reign did not see the
successful restoration of all of Ethiopia’s lands under one central
government.

Later Emperor Yohannes IV continued his mission when he seized

power in 1871. Yohannes IV, however, had two major international
issues to deal with. The first was an invasion by Ottoman controlled
Egypt, then ruled by Isma’il Pasha. In the Ethiopian-Egyptian War,
Pasha was hoping to expand southward increasing the size of the
Ottoman Empire. The first major battle took place on 16 September
1875 at Gundet in modern day Eritrea. Ethiopian forces annihilated
the Egyptians. Again outnumbered, the Egyptians attacked in March
of 1876, this time at the Battle of Gura and were again soundly
defeated. The war ended in a clear Ethiopian victory.

The war with Sudan, also known as the Mahdist War was much more
complicated. An Islamic revolution in Sudan led by Muhammad
Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who declared himself the “Mahdi” (the guided
one), overthrew the Ottoman backed Egyptian government. The
British intervened and were initially defeated and forced to retreat
across Ethiopian territory. Yohannes IV took this opportunity to enter
the war, hoping to gain British support for Ethiopian claims to the port
of Massawa(present day Eritrea). After Ethiopia’s victory at the Battle
of Kufit on 23 Sept 1885 over an invading Mahdist Army, Italy
occupied Massawa which dashed their hopes of acquiring this vital
port. However, internal trouble erupted when the Neguses (rulers) of
Shewa and Gojjam revolted and really messed up his plans. In 1889,
Yohannes crushed the Gojjame Rebellion, but before he could deal
 with Shewa, the Mahdists invaded again sacking Gondar. Yohannes
marched north and although he was winning the Battle of Gallabat
soundly, he charged behind enemy lines and was mortally wounded.
His death destroyed the morale of Ethiopia’s armies and the Mahdist
counter attack won them the day. Ethiopia would leave the war, but the
Mahdists would later be defeated by the British Empire.

The Ethiopian Empire in the 20th Century

Emperor Menelik II (reigned 1889-1913) immediately declared himself

emperor when he heard of the death of Yohannes IV, claiming he was
a descendent of Solomon. Menelik II was responsible for turning
Ethiopia into a modern empire-state and it begins with his
centralization of power. Additionally, under his reign the new
permanent capital of Addis-Ababa will be established. Prior to his
centralization efforts, Ethiopia had been internally fractured by people
in different tribes, linguistic groups, and religious groups.
This led to competitions for resources and numerous wars. Warfare in
the region essentially involved acquiring cows and slaves, winning
additional territories, gaining control over trade routes and carrying
out ritual requirements or securing trophies to prove masculinity. By
centralizing power to his central government, he eliminated the
regional power of local rulers and their respective tribes. Most of the
northern areas were brought in under political agreements. The
remainder of the country was “reunified” by military force. He
installed loyal rulers in these conquered territories, but they did not
interfere with local ways of life and respected all religious and cultural
practices. Menelik's army did carry out large scale atrocities against
civilians and combatants including torture, mass killings, and large
scale slavery. But it was not much different than the atrocities
committed on civilians in the many wars prior to centralization. By
1904, Menelik II had expanded the Ethiopian Empire’s borders into
the state we recognize today.

This expansion didn’t limit Ethiopia to fighting local tribes, Menelik II

was forced to fend off the encroachment of European powers. Italy
posed the greatest threat, having begun to colonize part of what would
 become its future colony of Eritrea in the mid 1880s. Italy looked
southward to Ethiopia as their next target. In the Treaty of Wuchale
(1889), Italy and Ethiopia agree to a border between Italian Eritrea
and Ethiopia. Ethiopia gave up all claims to Eritrea in exchange for
free passage for Ethiopian merchants. In turn, Italy gave up all claims
to Ethiopia. Unbeknownst to Menelik II, there were two versions of
the treaty: one in an Ethiopian language and one in Italian. The Italian
version had Article 17 which submitted Ethiopia’s allegiance to Italy.
Upon hearing this, Melenik II refused to recognize the treaty and Italy
prepares to invade.

In the course of the fighting, a famine breaks out in Ethiopia killing

90% of their cattle. This was due to Rinderpest, a viral infection
believed to have been introduced by the Italians to starve Ethiopia
into submission (they did the same in Eritrea). During the famine
Menelik II personally went out with a hand-held hoe to dig the fields
to show that there was no shame in plowing fields by hand without
oxen, something Ethiopian highlanders had been too proud to consider
previously. He also forgave taxes to ease the financial burden of the
poor.
In 1896 Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, which remains
famous today as the first victory of an African nation over a
European power. This major victory for Ethiopia ended the First
Italo-Ethiopian War which resulted in the Treaty of Addis Ababa. Italy
was forced to recognize the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea and
recognize Ethiopia as in independent nation. Shortly thereafter,
representatives from Britain and France came to negotiate their own
treaties recognizing Ethiopia.

In 1916, the Christian nobility deposed the sitting king, Lij Iyassu
because of his Muslim sympathies and made King Menelik II’s
daughter Zewditu Empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen was
appointed regent and successor to the throne. Zewditu died in 1930,
after which the regent became Emperor. He was crowned on 2
November 1930 and took the name Haile Selassie. Under his reign,
Ethiopia continued to rapidly modernize. He abolished slavery,
 expanded telephone and wireless service across the country, and
established Ethiopia’s first modern constitution in 1931.

Haile Selassie’s reign was interrupted in 1935 when Italian forces

invaded beginning the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Ethiopian forces
fought gallantly and after a successful “Christmas Offensive” they
were able to push Italian forces back. Italian military superiority won
out and in 1936 Italy occupied Ethiopia and annexed it. Haile Selassie
then appealed to the League of Nations, but that appeal fell on deaf
ears and only China, New Zealand, the USA, the Republic of Spain,
Mexico and the Soviet Union refused to recognize Italy’s claims.
Selassie fled to the United Kingdom where he spent the next five
years in exile. In 1941, the Ethiopian patriotic resistance forces, with
the help of the British, defeated the Italians and he returned Selassie to
power.

Haile Selassie then reigned until 1974 when he was deposed. But his
reign was characterized by an interesting paradox. On the one hand, his
Ethiopia was known for authoritarianism and illiberal policies. He
pushed through many reforms to modernize the country both
economically and politically, but those who opposed him were met with
brutal repression. Many of those who opposed him were frustrated with
the slow progress of modernization. Many others were land owning
aristocrats who led rebellions against policies they felt threatened their
economic/political standing. This earned charges on human rights
abuses against him.

But he was also known to be an internationalist who believed in the

collective security of nations. Under him, Ethiopia condemned the
manufacture and use of chemical weapons and was an active member in
both the League of Nations and the United Nations(UN). He was also a
humanitarian who advocated for human rights/African rights and who
adopted 40 Armenian orphans whose parents were killed during the
Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. This led to a religion being
founded in Jamaica called Rastafarianism. Rastafaris recognize Haile
Selassie as the returned messiah of the Bible. They perceive Haile
Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of
eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity.

After he was deposed in 1974 in a coup, a provisional council of

soldiers called the Derg seized power and installed a government which
was socialist in name and militaristic in style. Fifty nine members of
the Royal Family and ministers and generals from the Imperial
Government were summarily executed. Haile Selassie himself died on
28 August 1975, but the circumstances of his death are unclear. Due to
the communist leaning government, he was not given a proper burial
imperial funeral until 2000.