Abyssinia

The Ethiopian Empire (Tigrinya: ንጉሠ ነገሥት መንግሥቲ ዘ ኢትዮጵያ, Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ንጉሠ ነገሥት መንግሥተ, Mängəstä Ityop'p'ya), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia (derived from the Arabic al-Habash), or just simply known as Ethiopia (/ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā, About this soundlisten (help·info), Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: Itiyoophiyaa), was a monarchy that spanned a geographical area in the current states of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It began with the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak from approximately 1270 and lasted until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a coup d'état by the communist Derg. It was throughout much of its existence surrounded by hostile forces in the African Horn however it managed to preserve and develop its ancient form of Christianity-based kingdom.

Founded in 1270 by the Amhara 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. Yeshaq's reign was however challenged by Sultan Jamal ad-Din II which led to Yeshaq's death. Under the rule of Zara Yaqob (1434–1468), the Hadiya Sultanate was invaded by Ethiopia and the captured Hadiya princess Eleni converted to Christianity leading to her marriage to Zara Yacob. Muslims in the region as well as Adal Sultanate rejected the marriage alliance and began launching several invasion attempts into Ethiopia finally succeeding under Imam Mahfuz. Mahfuz's ambush and defeat by Emperor Lebna Dengel brought about the early 16th century Jihad of the Adalite Imam Ahmed Gran, who was only defeated in 1543 with the help of the Portuguese. Greatly weakened, much of the Empire's southern territory and vassals were lost due to the Oromo migrations. In the north, in what is now Eritrea, Ethiopia managed to repulse Ottoman invasion attempts, although losing its access to the Red Sea to them.

Reacting to these challenges, Ethiopia started to expand westwards, conquering the Lake Tana area and much of Beta Israel territory in Begemder. In the 1630s Emperor Fasilides founded the new capital of Gondar, marking the start for a new golden age known as "Gondarine period". It saw a relative peace, the successful integration of the Oromo and a flourishing of culture. With the deaths of Emperor Iyasu II (1755) and especially Iyoas I (1769) the realm eventually entered a period of decentralization, known as "Era of the Princes". The Shewa region de facto seceded and constituted a kingdom of its own, while within the Empire, regional warlords contested for power, with the emperor being barely more than a mere puppet.

Emperor Tewodros II (r. 1855–1868) put an end to that state, reunified the Empire and led it into the modern period before dying during the British Expedition to Abyssinia. His successor Yohannes IV engaged primarily in war and successfully fought the Egyptians and the Mahdists before dying against the latter in the Battle of Gallabat in 1889. Emperor Menelik II, now residing in the recently founded town of Addis Abeba, continued and concluded the policy of expansion of his predecessor, subjugating many people and kingdoms in what is now western, southern and eastern Ethiopia, like Kaffa, Wolaytta or Aussa. Thus, he gave Ethiopia the geographical extent it has today. In the north he was confronted with an expanding Italy. Decisively defeating it at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 with the aid of Russia and France, Menelik ensured Ethiopia's independence and confined Italy to Eritrea.

Later, after the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Mussolini's Italian Empire occupied Ethiopia and established the Italian East Africa, merging it with neighboring Eritrea and Italian Somaliland colony to the south-east. After World War II, the Italians were driven out of Ethiopia with the help of the British army. The emperor returned from exile and the country was one of the founding members of the United Nations, and in 1962 annexed Eritrea. However, the Ethiopian Civil War and domestic discontent, the independence war of Eritrea and fall of the Empire in 1974.

By 1974, Ethiopia was one of only three countries in the world to have the title of Emperor for its head of state, together with Japan and Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty. It was the second-to-last country in Africa to use the title of Emperor, as after it came the short lived Central African Empire, which lasted between 1976 and 1979 under Emperor Bokassa I.