Menelik II
Emperor
Menelik II GCB,
GCMG (
Ge'ez ምኒልክ), baptized as
Sahle Maryam (17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), was
Negus[nb 1] of
Shewa (1866–89), then
Nəgusä Nägäst[nb 2] of
Ethiopia
from 1889 to his death. At the height of his internal power and
external prestige, the process of territorial expansion and creation of
the modern empire-state had been completed by 1898.
[1] Ethiopia was transformed under
Nəgusä Nägäst Menelik: the major signposts of modernization were put in place.
[2] Externally, his victory over the Italian invaders had earned him great fame: following
Adwa,
recognition of Ethiopia’s independence by external powers was expressed
in terms of diplomatic representation at the court of Menelik and
delineation of Ethiopia’s boundaries with the adjacent colonies.
[1]
After defeating the Italians, he became the first black African king in
modern history to engage in slavery of white European war captives held
as slaves inside Ethiopia. Menelik expanded his kingdom to the south
and east, expanding into areas that had never been under his rule,
subjugating and incorporating the Oromo, Sidama, Gurage, Wolayta and
other groups.
[3][4]
Biography
Abeto Menelik (Sahle Maryam) was born in
Angolala, near
Debre Birhan,
Shewa. He was the son of
Negus Haile Melekot of Shewa and
Woizero[nb 3] Ijigayehu.
Woizero Ijigayehu was a lady in the household of Haile Melekot's
grandmother, the formidable Woizero Zenebework, widow of Merid Azmatch
Wossen Seged, and mother of King Sahle Selassie of Shewa. Most sources
indicate that while no marriage took place between Haile Melekot and
Woizero Ijigayehu, Sahle Selassie ordered his grandson legitimized.
Prior to his death in 1855,
Negus Haile Melekot named Menelik
as successor to the throne of Shewa. Shortly after Haile Melekot died,
Menelik was taken prisoner by
Nəgusä Nägäst Tewodros II. Following
Nəgusä Nägäst Tewodros II's conquest of Shewa, he had young Sahle Maryam transferred to his mountain stronghold of
Magdala. Still, Tewodros treated the young prince well. He even offered him the hand of his daughter
Altash Tewodros in marriage, which Menelik accepted.
Upon Menelik's imprisonment, his uncle,
Haile Mikael, was appointed as
Shum[nb 4] of Shewa by
Nəgusä Nägäst Tewodros II with the title of
Meridazmach[nb 5]. However,
Meridazmach Haile Mikael rebelled against Tewodros, resulting in his being replaced by the non-royal
Ato[nb 6] Bezabeh as
Shum. However,
Ato Bezabeh in turn then rebelled against the Emperor and proclaimed himself
Negus
of Shewa. Although the Shewan royals imprisoned at Magdala 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 plotted
the escape of Menelik from Magdala; with the help of
Mohammed Ali and Queen
Worqitu of Wollo,
he escaped from Magdala the night of 1 July 1865, abandoning his wife,
and returned to Shewa. Enraged, Emperor Tewodros slaughtered 29
Oromo hostages then had 12
Amhara notables beaten to death with bamboo rods.
[5]
King of Shewa
Bezabeh's attempt to raise an army against Menelik failed miserably; thousands of Shewans rallied to the flag of the son of
Negus Haile Melekot and even Bezabeh's own soldiers deserted him for the returning prince. Abeto Menelik entered
Ankober and proclaimed himself
Negus. While
Negus Menelik reclaimed his ancestral Shewan crown, he also laid claim to the Imperial throne, as a direct descendant male line of
Nəgusä Nägäst Lebna Dengel.
However, he made no overt attempt to assert this claim during this
time; Marcus interprets his lack of decisive action not only to
Menelik's lack of confidence and experience, but that "he was
emotionally incapable of helping to destroy the man who had treated him
as a son."
[6] Not wishing to take part in the
1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, he allowed his rival
Kassai to benefit with gifts of modern weapons and supplies from the
British. Afterwards other challenges—a revolt amongst the
Wollo to the north, the intrigues of his next wife
Baffana to replace him with her choice of ruler, military failures against the
Arsi Oromo to the south east—kept Menelik from directly confronting Kassai until after his rival had brought an
Abuna from
Egypt who crowned him
Nəgusä Nägäst Yohannes IV.
Submission to Yohannes
Eventually Yohannes acquiesced to the superior position of Menelik
and, on 20 March 1878, Yohannes "approached Menelik on foot. He was
carrying a rock on his neck and his face was down in the traditional
form of submission.
[7] However, very aware of how precarious his own position was, Menelik recognized Yohannes as
Negus of Tigray and gave him numerous presents which included four
cannons, several hundred modern
Remington rifles, and
ammunition for both.
[8]
Succession
On 10 March 1889, Emperor Yohannes was killed in a war with
Mahdist Sudan during the
Battle of Gallabat (Matemma). With his dying breaths, Yohannes declared his natural son,
Dejazmach Mengesha Yohannes, as his heir. On 25 March, upon hearing of the death of Yohannes,
Negus Menelik immediately proclaimed himself as
Nəgusä Nägäst.
[9]
The succession now lay between Mengesha Yohannes of Tigray and
Menelik of Shewa. Menelik 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. In the end, Menelik was able to obtain the
allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility. On 3 November
1889, Menelik was consecrated and crowned as
Nəgusä Nägäst before a glittering crowd of dignitaries and clegy. He was crowned by
Abuna Mattewos, Bishop of Shewa, at the Church of Mary on
Mount Entoto.
[10]
The newly consecrated and crowned
Nəgusä Nägäst Menelik II
quickly toured the north in force. He received the submission of the
local officials in Lasta, Yejju, Gojjam, Welo, and Begemder.
[9]
Menelik, and later his daughter Zauditu, would be the last Ethiopian
monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male descent from King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (both
Lij Iyasu and Emperor
Haile Selassie
were in the female line, Iyasu through his mother Shewarega Menelik,
and Haile Selassie through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle
Selassie).
His reign as emperor
In April 1889, while claiming the throne against Mengesha Yohannes, Menelik reached at
Wuchale (Uccialli in Italian) in Wollo province a
treaty with
Italy,
ceding the northern province of Eritrea to Italy. Most of the highland
area of this province was part of Abyssinian kingdoms for hundreds of
years under the title of Medri-Bahri (Land of the Sea), consisting of
the districts of Hamasien, Akele-Guzay, and Seraye. It was also referred
to as Merab Melash, meaning the "Land Beyond the River". The river was
the boundary that separated the two northern Abyssinian provinces;
Medri-Bahri and Tigrai.
Upon the treaty with Italy, Emperor Menelik II in 1889 stated:
"The territories north of the Merab Melash (modern Eritrea) do not belong to nor are under my rule. I am the Emperor of Abyssinia. The lands referred to as Eritrea is not peopled by Abyssinians, they are Adals, Bejas, and Tigres. Abysinnia will defend her territories but it will not fight for foreign lands of which Eritrea is to my knowledge."[11]
Menelik signed the Treaty of Wuchale with the Italians on May 2,
1889. Controversy soon emerged on the interpretation of article 17 of
the treaty. While the Amharic text reads that Menelik could, if he
wished, call upon the services of the Italian authorities in his
communications with other powers, the Italian version made this
obligatory, thereby making Ethiopia in effect a protectorate of Italy.
Tapestry of the Battle of Adwa.
Emperor Menelik denounced it and demanded that the Italian version be
changed. Negotiations failed, so Menelik renounced the treaty, 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
Adwa on 1 March 1896, forcing them to capitulate. Afterwards, Menelik returned to Addis Ababa leaving
Eritrea as a protectorate of
Italy. Menelik is believed to have said:
"leave the Italians to rule Eritrea beyond Merab River" [12]
A treaty was signed at Addis Ababa recognizing the absolute sovereign
independence of Ethiopia. In addition, he signed the treaty which
recognized
Eritrea as a sovereign state of
Italy and negotiated that the Merab river is the common border between
Eritrea and
Ethiopia.
[12]
Menelik II can be named as father for modern Ethiopia. He was a
russophile because he thought only Russia could be the main ally of his
policy of expansion of Ethiopia by reason of necessity to counteract the
British colonial expansion, starting with the war against the British (
1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, theft of
Kebra Nagast and death of
Tewodros II).
[13][14]
During the visit of a
Russian diplomatic and military mission
in 1893, Menelik II concluded a strong alliance with that country. As a
result of that alliance, from 1893 to 1913, Russia sponsored the visits
of thousands of advisers and volunteers to Ethiopia.
[15] Two friendships that evolved from these visits were friendships between Menelik II and
Alexander Bulatovich and also between Menelek II and
Nikolay Gumilyov the great poet.
[13][16][17]
Menelik had in 1898 crushed a rebellion by Ras Mengesha Yohannes (who
died in 1906). He directed his efforts thenceforth 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.
Under his reign, beginning in the 1880s, Menelik set off from the central province of
Shoa, to subjugate and incorporate 'the lands and people of the South, East and West into an empire'.
[18] During his battles, he made tactical alliance with different ethnic groups and appointed
Habte Giyorgis
Dinagde as Minister of Defense, who was of mixed Gurage-Oromo ancestry.
The people incorporated by Menelik were the southern Oromo (non Shoan
Oromo), Sidama, Gurage, Wolayta and other groups.
[19]
He began expanding his kingdom to the south and east, expanding into
areas that had never been under his rule. But some of the new lands
incorporated are claimed to have been under the
Aksum Empire before the 1500s Oromo expansion.
[20] Menelik II was half-Oromo himself on his mother's side, and also his father King
Haile Melekot's alliance with the Wollo Oromo helped him militarily.
[21] [22] He achieved most of his conquests with the help of
Ras Gobena's Shewan Oromos, who helped Menelik previously during his clashes with Gojjam.
[23]
During the conquest of southern territories, Menelik's Army carried
atrocities against his opponents in battle including mutilation,
killings and large scale slavery.
[24][25][26]
Some estimates for the number of people killed as a result of the
conquest go into the millions, but others put it in thousands.
[27][28][29] Large scale atrocities were also committed against the
Dizi people and the people of the Kaficho kingdom.
[30][31]
Most of the details and discussions of this period in Ethiopian history
is politicalized and it varies depending on the ethno-political agenda
of the sides.
Developments during Menelik's reign
Menelik II was fascinated by modernity, and like
Tewodros II
before him, had a keen ambition to introduce Western technological and
administrative advances into Ethiopia. The Russian support for Ethiopia
led to the advent of a Russian Red Cross mission. The Russian mission
was a military mission conceived as medical support for the Ethiopian
troops. It arrived in Addis Ababa some three months after Menilek's Adwa
victory,
[32]
and then the first hospital was created in Ethiopia. Following the rush
by the major powers to establish diplomatic relations following the
Ethiopian victory at Adwa, 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 and modern plumbing. He
attempted unsuccessfully to introduce coinage to replace the
Maria Theresa thaler.
According to one persistent tale, Menelik heard about the modern method of executing criminals using
electric chairs
during the 1890s, and ordered 3 for his kingdom. When the chairs
arrived, Menelik learnt they would not work, as Ethiopia did not yet
have an
electric power industry. Rather than waste his investment, Menelik used one of the chairs as his throne, sending another to his "second" (
Lique Mekwas)
Abate Ba-Yalew.
[33]
Recent research, however, has cast significant doubt on this story, and
suggested it was invented by a Canadian journalist during the 1930s.
[34]
During a particularly devastating famine caused by
Rinderpest
early in his reign, Menelik 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, Menelik 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 Zauditu. They played a key role in deposing Lij Iyasu.
Private life and death
Taytu Betul, the third wife of Menelik.
In 1864, Menelik married
Altash Tewodros, whom he divorced in 1865; the marriage produced no children. In 1865, he married
Befana Gatchew, whom he divorced in 1882; the marriage produced no children. Finally, in 1883, he married
Taytu Betul,
who remained his wife until his death. From 1906, for all intents and
purposes, Taytu Betul ruled in Menelik's stead during his infirmity.
Woizero Altash Tewodros was a daughter of Emperor Tewodros II and the
first wife of Menelik II. She and Menelik were married during the time
that Menelik was held captive by Tewodros. The marriage ended when
Menelik escaped captivity abandoning her. She was subsequently remarried
to Dejazmatch Bariaw Paulos of Adwa.
Woizero Bafena Wolde Michael was married to Menelik for seventeen years from 1865 to 1882. Her brother was
Dejazmatch Tewende Belay Wolde Michael.
Woizero Bafena was implicated in a plot to overthrow Menelik when he
was King of Shewa. She was widely suspected of being secretly in touch
with Emperor Yohannes IV in her ambition to replace her husband on the
Shewan throne with one of her sons from a previous marriage. With the
failure of her plot, Woizero Bafena was separated from Menelik, but
Menelik apparently was still deeply attached to her. An attempt at
reconciliation failed, but when his relatives and courtiers suggested
new young wives to the King, he would sadly say "You ask me to look at
these women with the same eyes that once gazed upon Bafena?" Paying
tribute both to his ex-wife's great beauty and his own continuing
attachment to her.
Empress Taytu Betul was 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. Taytu and Menelik were
married in a full communion church service and thus fully canonical and
insoluble, which Menelik had not had with either of his previous wives.
Menelik and Taytu would have no children. Empress Taytu would become
Empress consort upon her husband's succession, and would became the most
powerful consort of an Ethiopian monarch since Empress
Mentewab.
Previous to his marriage to Taytu Betul, Menelik fathered several "
natural" children. Three natural children that Menelik recognized were
Woizero Shoaregga Menelik, born 1867,
[nb 7] Woizero (later Empress)
Zauditu Menelik, born 1876,
[nb 8] and
Abeto Asfa Wossen Menelik, born 1873.
In 1886, Menelik married ten-year-old Zauditu to
Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, the fifteen-year-old son of Emperor Yohannes IV. In May 1888,
Ras Araya Selassie died.
Woizero Shoaregga was first married to Dejazmatch Wodajo Gobena, the son of Ras Gobena Dachi. They would have a son,
Abeto
Wossen Seged Wodajo, but this grandson of Menelik II was eliminated
from the succession due to dwarfism. In 1892, twenty-five-year-old
Woizero Shoaregga was married for a second time to forty-two-year-old
Ras Mikael of
Wollo. They had two children, a daughter
Woizero Zenebework, and Menelik's eventual successor,
Lij[nb 9] Iyasu.
Woizero Zenebework Mikael would eventually marry at age twelve, the
much older Ras Bezabih Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and died in childbirth a
year later.
Abeto Asfa Wossen Menelik died when he was about fifteen-years-old. Only Shoagarad has present day descendants.
Rumoured natural children of the Emperor include
Ras Birru Wolde Gabriel and
Dejazmach Kebede Tessema.
[citation needed] The latter, in turn, was possibly the natural grandfather of Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam,
[citation needed] the communist leader of the
Derg, who eventually deposed the monarchy and assumed power in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991.
On 27 October 1909, Menelik II suffered a massive stroke and his
"mind and spirit died". After that, Menelik was no longer able to reign,
and the office was taken over by Empress Taytu.
[35] as de facto ruler, until Ras Bitwaddad Tesemma was publicly appointed regent.
[36] However, he died within a year, and a council of regency — from which the empress was excluded — was formed in March 1910.
In the early morning hours of 12 December 1913,
Nəgusä Nägäst Menelik II died. He was buried quickly without announcement or ceremony
[35]
at the Se'el Bet Kidane Meheret Church, on the grounds of the Imperial
Palace. In 1916 Menelik II was reburied in the specially built church at
Ba'eta Le Mariam Monastery of
Addis Ababa.
Succession
After the death of Menelik II, the council of regency continued to
rule Ethiopia. As described above, Lij Iyasu had been designated
successor of Menelik II by Empress Taytu in May 1909. However, Lij Iyasu
was never crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, and eventually Empress
Zewditu I succeeded Menelik II on the 27 September 1916. She was his oldest daughter.
Fig 3. M51: Spiral Galaxy spinning in the anticlockwise direction observed by both telescopes
