Who Was When

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Ethiopian Empire

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A Christian kingdom and empire in the Ethiopian highlands, ruled from 1270 by emperors who claimed descent from Solomon. It survived a sixteenth-century invasion, a century of rule by regional lords and the Italian attack at Adwa in 1896. A military coup deposed Haile Selassie in 1974.

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Key events

  1. – Rock-cut churches are carved out of the living rock at Lalibela under the Zagwe king LalibelaDisputed

    These churches predate the Solomonic dynasty and were kept in use by it. Wikipedia gives the 7th to 13th centuries and traditionally dates them to the reign of the Zagwe king Lalibela (about 1181-1221), noting the carving probably took longer; World History Encyclopedia gives the 11th and 12th centuries. The range shown covers the main readings.

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  2. Yekuno Amlak drives out the last Zagwe king and founds the Solomonic dynasty, claiming descent from Solomon and the Queen of ShebaDisputed

    Sources say about 1270. The Solomonic descent is a legitimising claim; the Kebra Nagast, which sets it out, was written decades later (World History Encyclopedia).

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  3. – Imam Ahmad of Adal overruns much of the highlands until a Portuguese-backed Ethiopian army defeats him at Wayna Daga in 1543

    A Portuguese force of about 400 musketeers under Cristóvão da Gama landed at Massawa in February 1541. Ahmad was killed on 21 February 1543.

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  4. Emperor Fasilides settles at Gondar and makes it a permanent capital

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  5. – The central government is abolished and the country splits into small kingdoms under regional lords
  6. Tewodros II defeats the last rival lord, is crowned emperor and sets out to reunify the country
  7. Menelik II's army defeats an invading Italian army at Adwa, and Ethiopia stays independent

    The battle was fought on 1 March 1896. It followed a dispute over Article 17 of the 1889 Treaty of Wuchale: the Italian text made Ethiopia a protectorate, the Amharic text did not.

  8. The Derg deposes Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September and later proclaims the end of the Solomonic dynasty