The Ethiopian Empire

Founded in 1270 by the Solomonic dynasty nobleman Yekuno Amlak, who claimed to descend from the last Aksumite king and ultimately the Biblical Menelik I and the Queen of Sheba, it replaced the Agaw kingdom of the Zagwe. While initially a rather small and politically unstable entity, the Empire managed to expand significantly under the crusades of Amda Seyon I (1314–1344) and Yeshaq I (1414–1429), temporarily becoming the dominant force of the African Horn.

Earlier the Aksumite Empire had flourished in the region, stretching from about the fourth century B.C.E. through until the tenth century C.E. The Zagwe Dynasty then ruled until 1270, when it was overthrown by the Solomonic dynasty. The Solomonics continued to rule Ethiopia with few interruptions until 1974, when the last emperor, Haile Selassie, was deposed.

Although Haile Selassie moved the empire towards a constitutional monarchy (in 1955), with an elected lower house of Parliament, the emperor and the nobility retained many powers. He was often autocratic when dealing with critics or opponents to his policies, and many peasants felt that they had little say in governance. When widespread famine led to thousands of deaths between 1972 and 1974, the emperor seemed indifferent to his people’s suffering, even claiming that his officials had kept him uninformed. This apparent failure, by an all most absolute ruler, to respond adequately to a crisis that impacted most heavily on the poor, helped to fuel Marxist-Leninist aspirations among certain segments of the population. Marxist sympathizers found a ready audience to hear their vision of a workers’ paradise in which emperors and aristocrats have no place. The famine in addition to the expensive war in Eritrea diverted resources from education and development into the military.

In 1974 a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg," led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, deposed Haile Selassie and established a one-party communist state. Haile Selassie was imprisoned and died under unclear circumstances, possibly because of being denied medical treatment. This formally ended the Empire of Ethiopia and the end of an ancient regime.