Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. It is widely known as one of Africa's major capitals.
Taytu Betul was Empress of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and the third wife of Emperor Menelik II. An influential figure in the 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.
Zewditu was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 until her death in 1930. She was officially renamed Zewditu at the beginning of her reign as Empress of Ethiopia. Once she succeeded the throne after Lij Yasu in 1916, she was described as the first modern-era female head in the nation of Africa. Her official coronation was on February 11th, 1917,held in the Cathedral of St. George in Addis Ababa—a capital founded by her father. She was forty years old, and childless when she was crowned empress. The first female head of an internationally recognized country in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first and only empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire, her reign was noted for the reforms of her Regent and designated heir Ras Tafari Makonnen, about which she was at best ambivalent and often stridently opposed, due to her staunch conservatism and strong religious devotion. She is the most recent empress regnant, as well as the last female Ethiopian head of state until the 2018 election of Sahle-Work Zewde as president. It is heard that she patterned her reign close to the British Queen Victoria’s legacy.
Dunster House is one of 12 undergraduate residential houses at Harvard University. Built in 1930, it is one of the first two Harvard dormitories constructed under President Abbott Lawrence Lowell's House Plan and one of the seven Houses given to Harvard by Edward Harkness. In the early days, room rents varied based on the floor and the size of the room. Dunster was unique among Harvard dormitories for its sixth-story walk-up ; these rooms were originally rented by poorer students, such as Norman Mailer.
Prince Makonnen Haile Selassie, Duke of Harar was the second son, and second-youngest child, of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Empress Menen Asfaw. He was made Mesfin of Harar upon the coronation of his parents in 1930.
Asnaketch Worku was an Ethiopian singer who sang in the Amharic language and a krar instrumentalist, the instrument which symbolized her fame during the 1960s and 1970's. Asnaketch also had a long distinguished career as an actress.
Melanie Thernstrom is an American author and contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who frequently writes about murders and crime.
Elinor Catherine Hamlin, AC, FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG was an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband, New Zealander Reginald Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair surgery to poor women with childbirth injuries. They also co-founded an associated non-profit organisation, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.
Gugsa Welle, was an Ethiopian army commander and a member of the imperial family of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite which was often at odds with the Ethiopian central government.
Belay Zeleke was an Ethiopian military commander who led the Arbegnoch resistance movement in Gojjam against the Fascist Italians during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941. He emerged as a brigand leader after his five-year struggle against Italian rule in Ethiopia.
Workneh Eshete or Azaj Warqnah Ishete, also known as Charles Martin was an Ethiopian physician and politician. He was the first Ethiopian educated as a medical doctor and led the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to the United States in 1927, which negotiated a contract to build a dam on the upper Abay River; and, beginning in 1934, he served as Ethiopia's Minister to the United Kingdom.
Bealu Girma was an Ethiopian journalist and author known for his criticism of prominent members of the Derg, in his book Oromay. Girma disappeared in 1984, and it is widely believed he was abducted and killed by the Derg for his critical writings. He was a notable Journalist during the time of Emperor Haile Selassie and served in various media positions in the country He has also written notable works, including Beyond the Horizon, The Bell of Conscience, The Call of the Red Star, and Haddis.
Zeritu Kebede is an Ethiopian singer, songwriter, and actress. A prominent figure in modern Ethiopian music, her songs often incorporate rock and gospel music.
Sabla Wangel Hailu was an Ethiopian aristocrat and the second wife of the uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia, Lij Iyasu.
Adanech Abebe is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as the thirty-second mayor of Addis Ababa since 2021. She has been serving as a deputy mayor from 2020 until 2021. She previously was the Minister of Revenue and Customs Authority from 2018 to 2020, when she became the first female to assume the role of the Federal Attorney General of Ethiopia. She is the first woman to hold the mayorship since it was created in 1910.
Sehin Teferra is an Ethiopian feminist activist who promotes the idea of Ethiopian identity and sees herself as pan-Ethiopianist.
Agitu Ideo Gudeta was an Ethiopian Oromo farmer, entrepreneur, and environmentalist who immigrated to Italy after experiencing conflict due to her political activism against land grabbing by the military for international corporations. She established a goat farming operation using the indigenous breed Pezzata Mòchena to produce dairy and beauty products. Gudeta became a national symbol of environmentalism and successful refugee integration into Italian society by the press and politicians. She was assassinated in December 2020; Adams Suleiman, a Ghanaian seasonal worker she had hired, was charged with raping and murdering her.
Tsedale Lemma is an Ethiopian journalist who founded Addis Standard, a highly influential Ethiopian newspaper, in 2011.
Marie-Louise Bertschinger was a Swiss humanitarian who worked in Ethiopia. She was stabbed to death in November 1970 and posthumously awarded the Nansen Refugee Award in 1976.
Zemi Yenus was an Ethiopian businesswoman and activist for children with autism. After her son was diagnosed with autism, she established Joy Center, a school for autistic children in Addis Ababa. Through her foundation, she advocated for autism awareness. She was also a beautician and founded the Niana School of Beauty.
