Orazio Antinori (28 October 1811 – 26 August 1882) was an Italian explorer and zoologist.
Antinori was born in Perugia (then in the Papal States) and studied natural history in Perugia and Rome. Afterwards he collaborated with Charles Lucien Bonaparte and illustrated Iconografia della Fauna Italica. From the middle of the 1840s he became interested in politics and worked as a journalist. In 1848 he fought against the Neapolitans with the rank of captain, and was later forced into exile. He lived in Athens and Smyrna, becoming interested in the avifauna of the area.
In 1854, he accompanied Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso to Syria, afterwards visiting Asia Minor. In 1859 he left for Egypt and travelled up the Nile, in 1860–1861, with Carlo Piaggia (1830-1882). He sold his ornithological collection to the natural history museum of Turin. After a long stay in Tunisia, he represented Italy at the inauguration of the Suez Canal.
Antinori took part in the expedition of Odoardo Beccari to Ethiopia and made important collections of natural history specimens. On his return to Italy he became the secretary of the Italian Geographical Society. In 1874, Antinori studied Chott near Tunis. In 1876 he took part in an expedition with Gustavo Chiarini and Antonio Cecchi to the province of Shewa in Ethiopia where they met with Negus Menelik at Liche, and obtained his permission to found a geographical station at Let Marefia. Antinori died in Shewa.
Erich Dagobert von Drygalski was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia.
Menelik II, baptised as Sahle Maryam was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of territorial expansion and creation of the modern empire-state was largely completed by 1898.
Count Adelardo Tommaso Salvadori Paleotti was an Italian zoologist and ornithologist.
Shewa, formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa, is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is located at its center.
Werner Munzinger was a Swiss adventurer and administrator under the service of the Khedivate of Egypt.
Abune Tekle Haymanot was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit. He was the Abuna of Ethiopia who founded a major monastery in his native province of Shewa. He is significant for being the only Ethiopian saint popular both amongst Ethiopians and outside that country. Tekle Haymanot "is the only Ethiopian saint celebrated officially in foreign churches such as Rome and Egypt." His feast day is 30 August, and the 24th day of every month in the Ethiopian calendar is dedicated to Tekle Haymanot.
Yohannes IV was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1871 to his death in 1889 at the Battle of Gallabat, and king of Tigray from 1869 to 1871. During his reign he successfully defended Ethiopia against a large-scale Egyptian invasion.
James Theodore Bent was an English explorer, archaeologist, and author.
Menas or Minas, throne name Admas Sagad I, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1559 until his death in 1563, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was a brother of Gelawdewos and the son of Emperor Dawit II.
Dessie is a town in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it sits at a latitude and longitude of 11°8′N39°38′E, with an elevation between 2,470 and 2,550 metres above sea level. Dessie is 400 km to the north of the capital Addis Ababa. It has a population of more than 200,000 people in over 30 wards.
Mount Zuqualla is an extinct volcano in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Situated in Ada'a Chukala woreda of the (East) Shewa Zone, it rises from the plain 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Bishoftu. With a height of 2,989 metres (9,806 ft), it is known for its crater lake, lake Dembel, an elliptical crater lake with a maximum diameter of about one kilometre, but the trail around the crater is about 6 km long.
Charles Tilstone Beke was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic.
Odoardo Beccari was an Italian botanist famous for his discoveries in Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia. He has been called the greatest botanist to ever study Malesia. His author abbreviation is Becc. when citing a botanical name.
Giuseppe Maria Giulietti was an Italian soldier, geographer and explorer. He was born in a wealthy family in Casteggio, province of Pavia.
Grigory Yefimovich Grum-Grshimailo was a Russian zoologist best known for his expeditions to Central Asia, western Mongolia and Tuva, and the Russian Far East. In literature his name is sometimes spelled as Grigor Efimowitsch Grumm-Grzhimailo or Grigory Yefimovich Grumm-Grzhimaylo.
Arnold Andreas Friedrich Pagenstecher was a German doctor and entomologist. He was especially interested in Lepidoptera, especially Papilionidae. He wrote Die geographische Verbreitung der Schmetterlinge. Jena: Gustav Fischer 451 p. Maps (1909).
Tekle Haymanot Tesema, also known as Adal Tesema, Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and Tekle Haimanot of Gojjam, was King of Gojjam. He later was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire.
Carlo Piaggia was an Italian explorer of the region of Uganda and the Southern Nile river.
Paul Soleillet was a French explorer in West Africa and Ethiopia. He was a strong believer in opening up Africa to trade through peaceful means, and thus bringing the benefits of French civilization to the natives while gaining commercial profits for France.
Gustavo Bianchi was a nineteenth-century Italian explorer. He travelled in Ethiopia and Eritrea, on the eve of the Italian colonial expansion.