page_title: Ethiopian Empire
section_title: Princes' Era
hierarchical_section_title: Ethiopian Empire / History / Princes' Era
caption_attribution_description: English: Tewodros II, around 1860
context_page_description: The Ethiopian Empire, also known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply Ethiopia, 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 and Yeshaq I, 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.
context_section_description: From 1769 to 1855, the Ethiopian empire passed through a period known as the Princes Era (in Amharic Zemene Mesafint). This was a period of Ethiopian history with numerous conflicts between the various ras (equivalent to the English dukes) and the emperor, who had only limited power and only dominated the area around the contemporary capital of Gondar. Both the development of society and culture stagnated in this period. Religious conflict, both within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and between them and the Muslims were often used as a pretext for mutual strife. The Princes Era ended with the reign of the Emperor Tewodros II.
caption: Emperor Tewodros II's rise to the throne marked the end of the Zemene Mesafint.
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