Taytu Betul was Empress of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and the third wife of Emperor Menelik II. An influential figure in anti-colonial resistance during the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa, she, along with her husband, founded the modern Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in 1886.
Gondar, also spelled Gonder, is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on the Lesser Angereb River and southwest of the Simien Mountains. As of 2023, Gondar has an estimated population of 487,224.
The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire from the thirteenth to twentieth centuries. The dynasty was founded by Yekuno Amlak, who overthrew the Zagwe dynasty in 1270. His successors claimed he was descended from the legendary king Menelik I, the supposed son of the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, in order to legitimize the dynasty's assumption of power. Although this claimed ancestry gave the dynasty its name, there is no credible evidence that the dynasty was descended from Solomon or the Davidic line. The Solomonic dynasty remained in power until 1974, when its last emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown by a coup d'état.
Fasilides, also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was Alam Sagad.
Iyasu II , throne name Alem Sagad, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1730 to 1755, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Emperor Bakaffa and Empress Mentewab.
Iyoas I, throne name Adyam Sagad was Emperor of Ethiopia from 27 June 1755 to 7 May 1769, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the infant son of Iyasu II and Wubit, the daughter of an Oromo chieftain of the Karrayyu.
Yohannes II was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Iyasu I, and brother of Emperors Tekle Haymanot I, Dawit III, and Bakaffa. During his brief reign of a little longer than five months, little of note happened. There are conflicting accounts of his death.
Tekle Haymanot II, throne name: Admas Sagad III was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 October 1769 to 13 April 1777, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Yohannes II by Woizero Sancheviyar, at the Imperial prison of Mount Wehni.
Susenyos II was Emperor of Ethiopia from August 1770 to December 1770. His name at birth was Wolde Giyorgis; he was the son of a noble woman who had lost her fortune and made her living by carrying jars of water, while it was rumored that he was the illegitimate son of the deceased ruler Iyasu II. The Scottish traveller James Bruce, who was living in the capital city of Gondar at the time, described him as "a drunkard, a ruffian, and a profligate".
Gugsa of Yejju was a Ras of Begemder, and Inderase (regent) of the Emperor of Ethiopia. According to Nathaniel Pearce, he took the Christian name of Wolde Mikael. He was the son of Mersu Barentu and Kefey, the sister of Ras Aligaz. Both Bahru Zewde and Paul B. Henze consider his reign as Ras and Enderase as the peak of the Yejju Dynasty during the Zemene Mesafint.
Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint, the hereditary nobility, formed the upper echelon of the ruling class. The Mekwanint were the appointed nobles, often of humble birth, who formed the bulk of the aristocracy. Until the 20th century, the most powerful people at court were generally members of the Mekwanint appointed by the monarch, while regionally, the Mesafint enjoyed greater influence and power. Emperor Haile Selassie greatly curtailed the power of the Mesafint to the benefit of the Mekwanint, who by then were essentially coterminous with the Ethiopian government.
Mikael Sehul was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of emperors. He was also a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748–71 and again from 1772 until his death. He was a major political figure during the reign of Emperor Iyasu II and his successors until almost the time of his death.
Mentewab was Empress of Ethiopia, consort of Emperor Bakaffa, mother of Iyasu II and grandmother of Iyoas I. She was also known officially by her baptismal name of Walatta Giyorgis. Mentewab was a major political figure during the reigns of her son the Emperor Iyasu and grandson Iyoas. Empress Mentewab was also known by the honorific of Berhan Mogassa. This was to complement the honorific of her son Iyasu II, who was Berhan Seged.
The Fasil Ghebbi is a fortress located in Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. It was founded in the 17th century by Emperor Fasilides and was the home of Ethiopian emperors. Its unique architecture shows diverse influences including Hindu, Arab, and Jesuit Baroque characteristics. Because of its historical importance and architecture, the fortress was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Ghebbi is an Amharic word for a compound or enclosure.
The Zemene Mesafint was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the country was ruled by a class of Oromo elite noblemen who replaced Habesha nobility in their courts, making the emperor merely a figurehead. For the most part, the regional lords were tightly related by marriage and constituted a stable ruling elite that prevailed until the mid-20th century. In short, during the Zemene Mesafint, the Emperors from the Solomonic dynasty were reduced to little more than figureheads confined to the capital city of Gondar.
The three battles of Sarbakusa were three military engagements in Ethiopia during the Zemene Mesafint that took place in May 1771. They pitted Wand Bewossen and Fasil of Damot against the forces of Emperor Tekle Haymanot II and Ras Mikael Sehul, with the former prevailing. This led to the end of Mikael Sehul's hegemony in imperial politics and the marginalization of Tekle Haymanot. According to James Bruce, the Meridazmach Amha Iyasus led 1,000 horsemen in support of Emperor Tekle Haymanot at Sarbakusa.
Haile Maryam Gebre of Semien, Horse name: Abba Dammana was an early 19th century governor of Semien, Welkait and Wogera. Haile Maryam tried to hold his hereditary possessions in the face of continuous pressure from rival lords during Ethiopia's Zemene Mesafint era. He is remembered as the guardian of Waldeba monastery.
Gebre Tasfa better known as Gebre of Semien was the governor of Semien, Tsegede, Welkait and Wogera during the late 18th and early 19th century in Ethiopia. He held the title of Ras, and had an unusually long reign spanning 44 years during the tumultuous Zemene Mesafint when lords of each province and district continuously fought each other for supremacy. Ras Gebre was the primary backer of his son-in-law Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I claims to the throne.
This is chronological list about the Ethiopian Empire, an empire dominated the present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea from the beginning of establishment of Solomonic dynasty by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270 to fall of monarchy on 21 March 1975 under Haile Selassie.
This article is about the history of Gondar, a city in Amhara Region of Ethiopia, and previously served as the capital of the Ethiopian Empire from 1632 (at the beginning of Gondarine period to 1855 era.
