29 Modern examples of renaissance are China and India – with Japan being much earlier. These countries have all reinvented themselves and made tremendous economic and social progress. In particular, Japan’s rise from a feudal society – like Ethiopia – has had an enduring image among the ruling elite in Ethiopia.4 The leadership is making a serious attempt to create conditions that will allow the country to achieve the desired goals of the millennium’s renaissance in a peaceful environment. 2.2 The Dawn of Ethiopia’s Different Eras 30. According to legend, Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, founded the Ethiopian Empire. Missionaries from Egypt and Syria introduced Christianity in the fourth century A.D. Following the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Ethiopia was gradually cut off from European Christendom. The Portuguese established contact with Ethiopia in 1493, primarily to strengthen their influence over the Indian Ocean and to convert Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to Roman Catholicism. There followed a century of conflict between pro- and anti-Catholic factions, resulting in the expulsion of all foreign missionaries in the 1630s. This period of bitter religious conflict contributed to hostility towards foreign Christians and Europeans, persisting into the 20th century, and was a factor in strengthening Ethiopia’s self-reliance until the mid-19th century. The reigns of Emperors Theodore II (1855-68), Johannes IV (1872-89), and Menelik II (1889-1913) heralded the dawn of the second and third eras when the Kingdom was consolidated and began to emerge from its medieval isolation. These eras were followed by the reign of Menelik’s 11th grandson, Lij lyassu. 31. When Menelik II died, his grandson - Lij Iyassu - succeeded him but did not reign for long. He was deposed in 1916. Menelik’s daughter, Zeuditu. came to the throne. She was made an Empress but ruled through a regent and cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen (1892-1975). In 1930, after the Empress died, the regent adopting the throne name Haile Selassie - was crowned Emperor. His reign was interrupted in 1936 when Italian Fascist forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia. Five years later, British and Ethiopian forces defeated the Italians and the Emperor returned to the throne. 32. Following civil unrest, which began in February 1974, the aging Haile Selassie I was deposed on 12 September 1974 by a provisional administrative council of soldiers, known as the Derg (“committee”). The Derg would remain at the forefront of political and military affairs in Ethiopia for the next seventeen years. 4 Eshetu Chole (2004), Underdevelopment in Ethiopia (OSSREA, Addis Abeba); Bahru Zewde (2007), A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855 – 1991(Currey, Oxford). - 49 -