Ethiopia – A Brief History

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and indeed one of the oldest in the world. Remains discovered in the Awash Valley have been dated as being about five million years old and are thought to be the oldest remains of a human ancestor ever found.

Christianity arrived in Ethiopia in the fourth century in the form of missionaries from Egypt and Syria. The seventh century saw the rise of Islam. In the 1500s the Portuguese led a campaign to convert Ethiopians to Roman Catholicism with the aim of strengthening their hold over the Indian Ocean. There thus followed a century of bitter religious conflict, which led to Ethiopian hostility towards foreign Christians and Europeans. This was a decisive factor in Ethiopia's isolation from outside influences.

Ethiopia was ruled by Emperor Menelik II from 1889 to 1913. He stood strong in the face of the expansionist policies of European powers. The greatest threat was posed by Italy who had started to expand into the area which later became its colony of Eritrea. In 1896 Ethiopia defeated Italy at the famous Battle of Adwa - the first time an African nation had tasted victory over a colonial power.

In 1916, King Lij Iyassu was deposed by the Christian nobility, due to his Muslim sympathies. Zewditu, the daughter of his predecessor (King Menelik II) was made Empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen was appointed regent and successor to the throne.

Following Zewditu’s death in 1930 the regent - adopting the name Haileselassie - became Emperor. However his reign was interrupted in 1936 when Italian forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia. Haileselassie asked the League of Nations for help, but that appeal was ignored. As a result he fled to the UK, where he lived in exile for five years until the Ethiopian patriotic resistance forces with the support of the British defeated the Italians and he was able to return home.

In 1974 Haileselassie’s reign came to an abrupt end when a provisional council of soldiers (the ‘Derg’, meaning committee) seized power and installed a socialist government. Members of the Royal Family, government ministers and generals were executed. Haileselassie was killed in August 1975.

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Major Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed the role of head of state and chairman of the Derg after having his two predecessors murdered. His was a totalitarian and heavy-handed regime. The country's military underwent a huge expansion, financed and supplied largely by the Soviet Union. After 17 years of brutal rule, during which the people also suffered drought and famine, the Derg finally collapsed. Insurrections occurred throughout Ethiopia, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In May 1991 the EPRDF forces (the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front - an alliance of numerous liberation groups) advanced on Addis Ababa forcing Mengistu out of power. (He fled to Zimbabwe).

In 1991 the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was established. This assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December of that year. Elections for the first parliament were held in 1995 and the resultant government was installed in August.

Meanwhile, in May 1991, The Eritrean People's Liberation front (EPLF), took control of Eritrea after 30 years of struggle and established a provisional government. This governed Eritrea until April 1993 when the people voted for independence in a referendum monitored and accredited by the UN.