Menelik II

Menelik II was king of Shewa from 1866 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. Born Sahle Maryam in Ankober, he was imprisoned as a boy by Emperor Tewodros II at the fortress of Magdala, escaped in 1865 and returned to Shewa, where he was acclaimed king. As ruler of Shewa he obtained modern weapons through direct dealings with European states and conquered territories to the south, including Harar in 1887. After he became emperor, a dispute over the Italian and Amharic texts of the Treaty of Wuchale led him to reject the treaty in 1891, and Italy invaded in 1895. Menelik mobilised an army of more than 100,000 men and defeated the Italian forces at the Battle of Adwa on 1 March 1896, which secured Ethiopian independence. He also began the Addis Ababa to Djibouti railway and set up ministries and a state bank. Strokes from 1906 left him incapacitated by 1909.