Back Haile Selassie Afrikaans ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ Amharic Haile Selassie AN Haile Selassie ANG هيلا سيلاسي Arabic هيلا سيلاسى ARZ Haile Selassie AST Hayle Selassi Azerbaijani هایله سلاسی AZB Haile Selasėjė I BAT-SMG

Haile Selassie

"Ras Tafari" redirects here. For the religion, see Rastafari.
Not to be confused with Haile Gebrselassie or Haile Selassie Gugsa.

Haile Selassie I
ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ
Negusa Nagast
Haile Selassie in the full ceremonial dress uniform of a field marshal, 1970
Emperor of Ethiopia
Reign2 April 1930 – 2 May 1936[nb 1]
20 January 1941 –
12 September 1974
Coronation2 November 1930
PredecessorZewditu
SuccessorAmha Selassie
Prime Minister
List of prime ministers
Regent of Ethiopia
Reign27 September 1916 – 2 April 1930
PredecessorTessema Nadew
MonarchZewditu
SuccessorKirubel Abraham
BornLij Tafari Makonnen
(Täfäri Mäkonnän)
(1892-07-23)23 July 1892
Ejersa Goro, Hararghe, Ethiopian Empire
Died27 August 1975(1975-08-27) (aged 83)
Jubilee Palace, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Burial5 November 2000
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
SpouseMenen Asfaw
Issue
HouseHouse of Shewa
DynastySolomonic dynasty
FatherMakonnen Wolde Mikael
MotherYeshimebet Ali
ReligionEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
SignatureHaile Selassie I ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ's signature
1st and 5th Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity
In office
25 May 1963 – 17 July 1964
Succeeded byGamal Abdel Nasser
In office
5 November 1966 – 11 September 1967
Preceded byJoseph Arthur Ankrah
Succeeded byMobutu Sese Seko
Military career
AllegianceEthiopian Empire
Service/branch Army of the Ethiopian Empire
 Imperial Ethiopian Navy
Ethiopian Imperial Air Force
Years of service1930–1974
RankField Marshal
Commands heldCommander-in-chief
Battles/wars
See list
Haile Selassie I's voice
Speech to the Ethiopian Parliament following the occasion of a new Constitution
Recorded 4 November 1955

Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, romanized: Qädamawi Ḫäylä Śəllase, lit. 'Power of the Trinity';[2] born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975)[3] was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) for Empress Zewditu from 1916 until 1930. Haile Selassie is widely considered a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the major figure of Rastafari, a religious movement in Jamaica that emerged shortly after he became emperor in the 1930s. Before he rose to power he defeated Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul (nephew of Empress Taytu) of Begemder at the Battle of Anchem in 1928.[4][5] He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty, which claims to trace lineage to Emperor Menelik I, a legendary figure believed by the claimants to be the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who they name as Makeda.

Haile Selassie attempted to modernise the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of the 1931 constitution, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent most of the period of Italian occupation exiled in the United Kingdom. In 1940, he travelled to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to assist in coordinating the anti-fascist struggle in Ethiopia and returned to his home country in 1941 after the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1950, and annexed Eritrea into Ethiopia as one of its provinces, while fighting to prevent secession.[6]

Haile Selassie's internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations.[7] In 1963, he presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union, and served as its first chairman. In 1974, he was overthrown in a military coup by a Marxist–Leninist junta, the Derg. On 27 August 1975, Haile Selassie was assassinated by Derg military officers, a fact that was only revealed in 1994.[8][9]

Among some members of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is referred to as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. This distinction notwithstanding, he was a Christian and adhered to the tenets and liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.[10][11] He has been criticised by some historians for his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the mesafint), which consistently opposed his changes. Some critics have also criticised Ethiopia's failure to modernise rapidly enough.[12][13] During his rule the Harari people were persecuted and many left the Harari Region.[14][15] His administration was also criticised by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal.[13][16] Although some sources state that late during his administration the Oromo language was banned from education, public speaking and use in administration,[17][18][19] there was never an official law or government policy that criminalised any language.[20][21][22] The Haile Selassie government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, and church.[23][24][25] Following the death of Hachalu Hundessa in June 2020, the Bust of Haile Selassie in Cannizaro Park, London, was destroyed by Oromo protesters, and an equestrian monument depicting the Emperor's father, Makonnen Wolde Mikael, in Harar was removed.[26][27][28]

  1. ^ Talbot, David Abner (1966). Ethiopia: Liberation Silver Jubilee 1941–1966. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ministry of Information. pp. 64–66.
  2. ^ Gates, Henry Louis, and Anthony Appiah, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. 1999, p. 902.
  3. ^ Page, Melvin Eugene; Sonnenburg, Penny M. (2003). Colonialism: an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-57607-335-3.
  4. ^ Erlich, Haggai (2002), The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1-55587-970-5, p. 192.
  5. ^ Murrell, p. 148
  6. ^ Ewing, William H.; Abdi, Beyene (1972). Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia Vol. I. Addis Ababa: The Faculty of Law Haile Sellassie I University. pp. 45–46.
  7. ^ Karsh, Efraim (1988), Neutrality and Small States. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00507-8, p. 112.
  8. ^ Salvano, Tadese Tele (2018). የደረግ አነሳስና (የኤርትራና ትግራይ እንቆቅልሽ ጦርነት) [The Derg Initiative (The Eritrean-Tigray Mysterious War)]. Tadese Tele Salvano. pp. 81–97. ISBN 978-0-7915-9662-3.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Nov 2, 1930 CE: Haile Selassie Becomes Emperor of Ethiopia National Geographic
  11. ^ Barrett, Leonard E. (1988). The Rastafarians. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-1039-6.
  12. ^ Meredith, Martin (2005), The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair. Public Affairs. ISBN 1-58648-398-6, pp. 212–13.
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference hrw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ History of Harar and Hararis (PDF). pp. 141–144.
  15. ^ Feener, Michael (2004). Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-57607-516-6. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  16. ^ Dimbleby, Jonathan (8 December 1998), "Feeding on Ethiopia's Famine", The Independent, UK (taken from Chapter 3 of Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia Alexander de Waal (Africa Watch, 1991))
  17. ^ Davey, Melissa (13 February 2016), "Oromo children's books keep once-banned Ethiopian language alive", The Guardian, retrieved 14 February 2016
  18. ^ Language & Culture (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022
  19. ^ ETHIOPIANS: AMHARA AND OROMO, January 2017
  20. ^ Bender, M. L. (1976). Language in Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 187–190. ISBN 978-0-19-436102-6.
  21. ^ Scholler, Heinrich; Brietzke, Paul H. (1976). Ethiopia: Revolution, Law and Politics. Munich: Weltforum-Verlag. p. 154. ISBN 3-8039-0136-7.
  22. ^ Ewing, William H.; Abdi, Beyene (1972). Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia Vol. II. Addis Ababa: The Faculty of Law Haile Sellassie I University. p. 1105.
  23. ^ OROMO CONTINUE TO FLEE VIOLENCE, September 1981
  24. ^ Country Information Report ethiopia, 12 August 2020, archived from the original on 11 July 2013, retrieved 17 February 2021
  25. ^ Ethiopia. Status of Amharas, 1 March 1993
  26. ^ "Haile Selassie: Statue of former Ethiopian leader destroyed in London park". BBC News. 2 July 2020.
  27. ^ "Deadly protests erupt after Ethiopian singer killed". BBC News. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  28. ^ Ethiopians Angered At Singer's Death Topple Statue, 30 June 2020, retrieved 30 June 2020


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