Menelik II of Ethiopia

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Emperor Menelik II (Ge'ez ምኒልክ) baptized as Sahle Maryam (August 17, 1844 – December 12, 1913), was nəgusä nägäst of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death.

Contents 1 Menelik's life as ruler of ethiopia 2 His reign as emperor 3 Other Significant Developments During his Reign as Emperor 4 Miscellaneous 5 Notes 6 Bibliography 7 External links

[edit] Menelik's life as ruler of ethiopia

The son of Negus Haile Melekot of Shewa, prince Sahle Maryam was born in Ankober, Shewa. Upon the death of his father in 1855 he, just named as his successor as king of Shewa by his father, was taken prisoner by Emperor Tewodros II, a former minor noble originally named Kassa of Qwara, who had usurped the Imperial throne from the last Emperor of the elder Gondar branch of the Solomonic dynasty, Emperor Yohannes III or from emperor Sahle Dengel. Young Sahle Maryam of Shewa was imprisoned on Tewodros' mountain stronghold of Magdala, but was treated well by the Emperor, even marrying Tewodros's daughter Alitash. Upon his imprisonment, his uncle, Haile Mikael had been made ruler of Shewa by Emperor Tewodros II with the title of Merid Azmatch. However, Merid Asmatch Haile Mikael rebelled against Tewodros, resulting in his being replaced by the non-royal Ato Bezabih as governor of Shewa. Ato Bezabih also promptly rebelled against the Emperor and proclaimed himself King of Shewa. Although the Shewan royals imprisoned at Magdalla by Emperor Tewodros had been largely complacent as long as a member of their family ruled over Shewa, this usurpation by a commoner was not palatable to them. They ploted the escape of Sahle Maryam from Magdala, and he eventually succeeded at escaping from Magdala and abandoned his wife, returning to Shewa. Upon his return Bezabih's attempt to raise an army against the Prince failed miserably when thousands of Shewans rallied to the flag of the son of Haile Melekot and even Bezabih's own soldiers deserted him for the returning Prince. Sahle Maryam entered Ankober and proclaimed himself Nigus (King) with the name of Menelik. Not only did he reclaim his ancestral crown, but at once claimed the Imperial throne for himself as well as a direct male line descendant of Emperor Libne Dengil. He launched several attacks against Emperor Tewodros II, particularly against the citadel of Magdala. These campaigns were unsuccessful, and he turned his arms to the west, east and south, and annexed much territory to his kingdom, still, however, maintaining his claims to the Imperial Crown of Ethiopia in addition to the royal one of Shewa.

In 1883, Negus Menelik married Taytu Betul, a noblewoman of Imperial blood, and a member of one of the leading families of the regions of Semien, Yejju in modern Wollo, and Begemder. Her paternal uncle Dejazmatch Wube Haile Maryam of Semien had been the ruler of Tigray and much of northern Ethiopia. She had been married four times previously and exercised considerable influence. Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Menelik had, previous to this marriage, sired not only Zauditu (eventually Empress of Ethiopia), but also another daughter, Shoaregga (who married Ras Mikael of Wollo), and a son, Prince Wossen Seged who died in childhood.

After the suicide of Tewodros II in 1868 following his defeat at the hands of the British at Magdalla, Menelek continued to struggle against the various other claimants to the Imperial throne. The eventual successor, the Emperor Yohannes IV was able to better exert his claims with the large number of weapons left to him by the British, whom he had aided against Tewodros. Being again unsuccessful, Menelek resolved to await a more propitious occasion; so, acknowledging the supremacy of Yohannes. In 1886 Menelik married his daughter Zauditu to the Emperor’s son, the Ras Araya Selassie. Ras Araya Selassie died in May 1888 without any issue by Zauditu of Shewa, and the Emperor Yohannis IV was killed in a war against the dervishes at the battle of Gallabat (Matemma) on May 10, 1889. The succession now lay between the late emperor’s natural son, Ras Mengesha, and Menelik of Shewa, but the latter was able to obtain the allegiance of a large majority of the nobility on November 4, and consecrated and crowned as Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia shortly afterwards. Menelek argued that while the family of Yohannes IV claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba through females of the dynasty, his own claim was based on uninterrupted direct male lineage which made the claims of the House of Shewa equal to those of the elder Gondar line of the dynasty. He and later his daughter Zewditu would be the last Ethiopian monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male decent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (both Lij Eyasu and Emperor Haile Selassie were in the female line, Eyasu through his mother Shewarega Menelik, and Haile Selassie through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle Selassie).

[edit] His reign as emperor

In 1889, at the time when he was claiming the throne against Mengesha, Menelek signed at Wuchale in Wollo province (Uccialli in Italian), a treaty with Italy acknowledging the establishment of the new Italian Colony of Eritrea with its seat at Asmara. This colony had previously been part of the northern Tigrayan territories from which Ras Mangasha and his allies such as Ras Alula generated support, and the establishment of the Italian colony weakened the northern Rases. However, it was soon found that the Italian version of one of the articles of the treaty placed the Ethiopian Empire under an Italian protectorate, while the Amharic version did not. Emperor Menelik denounced it and demanded that the Italian version be changed, and after negotiations failed, abrogated it, leading Italy to declare war and invade from Eritrea. After defeating the Italians at Amba Alagi and Mekele, Menelik inflicted an even greater defeat on them, at the Battle of Adowa on March 1, 1896, forcing them to capitulate. A treaty was signed at Addis Ababa recognizing the absolute sovereign independence of Ethiopia.

Menelek II's French sympathies were shown in a reported official offer of treasure towards payment of the indemnity at the close of the Franco-Prussian War, and in February 1897 he concluded a commercial treaty with France on very favorable terms. He also gave assistance to French officers who sought to reach the upper Nile from Ethiopia, there to join forces with the Marchand Mission; and Ethiopian armies were sent towards the Nile, but withdrew when the Fashoda Crisis between France and the United Kingdom cooled off. A British mission under Sir Rennell Rodd in May 1897, however, was cordially received, and Menelek agreed to a settlement of the Somali boundaries, to keep open to British commerce the caravan route between Zaila and Harrar, and to prevent the transit of munitions of war to the Mahdists, whom he proclaimed enemies of Ethiopia.

In the following year the Sudan was reconquered by an Anglo-Egyptian army and thereafter cordial relations between Menelik and the British authorities were established. In 1889 and subsequent years, Menelek sent forces to co-operate with the British troops engaged against a Somali leader, Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan.

Menelik had in 1898 crushed a rebellion by Ras Mangasha (who died in 1906) and he directed his efforts henceforth to the consolidation of his authority, and in a certain degree, to the opening up of his country to western civilization. Menelik’s clemency to Ras Mangasha, whom he compelled to submit and then made hereditary Prince of his native Tigray, was ill repaid by a long series of revolts by that prince. Menelek focused much of his energy on development and modernization of his country after this threat to his throne was firmly ended. He had granted in 1894 a concession for the building of a railway to his capital from the French port of Djibouti, but, alarmed by a claim made by France in 1902 to the control of the line in Ethiopian territory, he stopped for four years the extension of the railway beyond Dire Dawa. When in 1906 France, the United Kingdom and Italy came to an agreement on the subject, granting control to a joint venture corporation, Menelek officially reiterated his full sovereign rights over the whole of his empire.

In May 1909 the emperor’s grandson Lij Iyasu (later Iyasu V) by his late daughter Shoaregga, then a lad of thirteen, was married to Romanework Mangasha (b. 1902), granddaughter of the Emperor Yohannes IV by his natural son Ras Mangasha, and was also the niece of Empress Taytu. Two days later Iyasu was publicly proclaimed at Addis Ababa as Menelek’s successor. At that time the emperor was seriously ill and as his ill-health continued, a council of regency — from which the empress was excluded — was formed in March 1910. Lij Iyasu's marriage to Romanework Mangasha was dissolved, and he married Seble Wongel Hailu, daughter of Ras Hailu, and granddaughter of Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam. On December 12, 1913 Emperor Menelek II died of a stroke and was buried secretly at the Se'el Bet Kidane Meheret Church on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Official news of his death was kept from the public for several years by order of Lij Iyasu, although it was soon widely known. Following the deposing of Lij Iyasu in 1917, and the crowning of Menelik's daughter Zewditu as Empress of Ethiopia, Menelik II was reburied in the specially built Baeta Le Mariam Monastery Church of Addis Ababa. He also played Italians,French,and British against each other.

[edit] Other Significant Developments During his Reign as Emperor

Menelik II was facinated by modernity, and like Tewodros II before him, had a keen ambition to introduce the technological and administrative advances of the west into Ethiopia. Following the rush by the major powers to establish diplomatic relations following the Ethiopian victory at Adowa, more and more westerners began to travel to Ethiopia looking for trade, farming, hunting and mineral exploration concessions. Menelik II founded the first modern bank in Ethiopia, the Bank of Abyssinia, introduced the first modern postal system, signed the agreement and initiated work that established the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway with the French, introduced electricity to Addis Ababa, as well as the telephone, telegraph, the motor car as well as modern plumbing. During a particularly devastating famine caused by the decimation of plowing and burden cattle by Rinderpest early in his reign, Menelik II personally went out with a hand held hoe to furrow the fields to show that there was no shame in plowing fields by hand without oxen, something Ethiopian highlanders had been too proud to consider previously. He also forgave taxes during this particularly severe famine.

Later in his reign, he established the first Cabinet of Ministers to help in the administration of the Empire, appointing trusted and widely respected nobles and retainers to the first Ministries. These ministers would remain in place long after his death, serving in their posts through the brief reign of Lij Iyasu and into the reign of Empress Zewditu. They would in fact play a key role in the deposing of Lij Iyasu.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Rumored natural children of the Emperor include Ras Birru Wolde Gabriel and Dejazmach Kebede Tessema. The latter is often in turn rumored to be the natural grandfather of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the communist leader of the Derg who would eventually depose the monarchy and assume power in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. However, the only children that Melelek II acknowledged publicly were Zauditu, Shoaregga and Wossen Seged. Of these three, only Shoaregga has present day descendants.

During the 1890s, Menelek heard about the modern method of executing criminals using electric chairs, and he ordered 3 for his kingdom. When the chairs arrived, Menelik learned they would not work, as Ethiopia did not yet have an electrical power industry. Rather than waste his investment, Menelik used one of the chairs as his throne, sending another to Lique Mequas Abate.^{[1][dubious — see talk page]}

Menelek was known for saying "We must resist the powers, to keep our independence."

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Wallechinsky, David, Irving Wallace, and Amy Wallace. "The People's Almanac's 15 Favorite Oddities of All Time." The People's Almanac Presents the Book of Lists. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1977. 463-467.

[edit] Bibliography

• Paul B. Henze. "Yohannes IV and Menelik II: The Empire Restored, Expanded, and Defended" in Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave, 2000. ISBN 0-312-22719-1
• David Levering Lewis. "Pawns of Pawns" in The Race to Fashoda. New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987. ISBN 1-55584-058-2
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] External links

• Imperial Ethiopia Homepages - Emperor Menelik II the Early Years
• Imperial Ethiopia Homepages - Emperor Menelik II the Later Years
• Ethiopian Treasures - Emperor Menelik II

Preceded by Yohannes IV

Emperor of Ethiopia {{{years}}}

Succeeded by Iyasu V

Preceded by Haile Melekot

Rulers of Shewa as negus Menelik

Succeeded by joined to Ethiopian crown