Unifying Ethiopia

The Making of the Modern Ethiopian State: Territorial Unification

• Ethiopia was brought into contact through trade, population movements, evangelization, and wars.
• Autonomous and semi-autonomous peoples and polities existed in Ethiopia until the end of the 19th century.
• Several states emerged in the region in the 19th century, involved in territorial competition for state building.
• State building remained an agenda of several powerful individuals and groups in the 19th century.
• The making of the modern Ethiopian state went through two distinct phases: territorial unification and territorial expansion.
• Kasa Hailu of Quara, later Emperor Tewodros II, was a leading figure in the territorial unification of Ethiopia.
• Kasa’s mission to create a unified state goes back to his time when he was a shifta.
• Kasa defeated major regional lords in battles one after another and was anointed as Tewodros II, King of Kings of Ethiopia.
• Tewodros II pursued his victory by marching to the south and faced resistance soon after he came to power.
• Rebellions broke out in several regions such as Gojjam, Simen, Wag and Lasta, Shewa, Wollo, and Tigray.
• Tewodros II committed suicide on April 13, 1868, after facing a serious diplomatic crisis and a battle at Maqdela with an expeditionary force sent by the British Parliament to free imprisoned Europeans.
• The territorial unification ushered in a revival of the imperial power which had declined during the Zemene-Mesafint.