Gondarine period

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History of Ethiopia
Early history Prehistory   Dʿmt 980 – 400 BC
Middle Ages Aksum 100 – 940 AD Zagwe dynasty 900–1270 Early Solomonic period 1270–1529 Amda Seyon's Expansions 1314–1344
Early modern history Ethiopian–Adal War 1527–1543 Oromo migrations 1543 – 17th cent. Habesh Eyalet 1557 – 17th cent. Gondarine period 1632–1769 Zemene Mesafint 1769–1855 Ottoman border conflict 1832–1848
Modern history Unification 1855–1913 Menelik's Invasions 1878–1904 First Italo–Ethiopian War 1895–1896 Modernization 1913–1974 World War I 1914–1918 Second Italo–Ethiopian War 1935–1936 Italian East Africa 1936–1941 World War II 1941 Italian guerrilla war 1941–1943 Federation with Eritrea 1952–1962 Eritrean Independence War 1961–1991 Ethiopian Civil War 1974–1991 Ogaden War 1977–1978
Recent history Eritrean–Ethiopian War 1998–2000 Eritrean border conflict 1998–2018 Police massacre 2005 War in Somalia 2006–2009 East Africa drought 2011–2012 Oromo protests 2014–2016 Ethiopian civil conflict 2018–present Tigray War 2020–2022
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The Gondarine period (alt. Gondarian) was a period of Ethiopian history between the ascension of Emperor Fasilides in 1632 and a period of decentralization in 1769, known as the Zemene Mesafint.

Gondar was founded by Emperor Fasilides in 1636 as a permanent capital, and became a highly stable, prosperous commercial center. This period saw profound achievements in Ethiopian art, architecture, and innovations such as the construction of the royal complex Fasil Ghebbi, and 44 churches^[1] that were established around Lake Tana. In the arts, the Gondarine period saw the creation of diptychs and triptychs, murals and illuminated manuscripts, mostly with religious motifs.

The death of Iyasu I in 1706 began the slow decline in Gondar’s supremacy. Emperor Iyasu I's regent, Empress Mentewab, brought her brother Ras Wolde Leul to Gondar and made him Ras Bitwaded. After this and Iyasu II’s death in 1755, brief dynastic conflicts occurred between Mentewab's Quaregnoch and the Yejju groups led by Wubit.

The Gondarine period ended when Tigray governor Ras Mikael Sehul assassinated Iyoas I in 1769 which marked the beginning of the country's decentralized Zemene Mesafint ("Era of Princes") which lasted until Emperor Tewodros II reunified the empire in 1855 in its modern form.