Shewa in the context of "Selale"

Addis Ababa (/ˌædɪs ˈæbəbə/ AD-iss AB-ə-bə; Amharic: አዲስ አበባ [adˈdis ˈaβəβa] , lit. 'new flower'; Oromo: Finfinnee, lit. 'fountain of hot mineral water') is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the eleventh-largest in Africa. At an elevation of 2,355 metres (7,726 ft), it is the fourth highest capital city in the world and the highest capital in Africa. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia.

The founding history of Addis Ababa dates back to the late 19th century by Menelik II, Negus of Shewa, in 1886 after finding Mount Entoto unpleasant two years prior. At the time, the city was a resort town; its large mineral spring abundance attracted nobilities of the empire and led them to establish permanent settlement. It also attracted many members of the working classes – including artisans and merchants – and foreign visitors. Menelik II then formed his imperial palace in 1887. Addis Ababa became the empire's capital in 1889, and subsequently international embassies were opened. Urban development began with the 20th century, without any prior planning.

Yekuno Amlak (Ge'ez: ይኩኖ አምላክ, romanized: Yəkkuno ˀAmlak); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (ተስፋ ኢየሱስ; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and northern Shewa) who became the Emperor of Ethiopia following the defeat of the last Zagwe king.

The Zemene Mesafint (Ge'ez: ዘመነ መሳፍንት) variously translated "Era of Judges", "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; taken from the biblical Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the country was de facto divided within itself into several regions with no effective central authority. It was a period in which the Emperors from the Solomonic dynasty were reduced to little more than figureheads confined to the capital city of Gondar. For the most part, the regional lords were tightly related by marriage and constituted a stable ruling elite that prevailed until the mid 20th century. The period also saw the weakening of Ethiopian territorial integrity in the north with the encroachment of the Ottoman Empire in the Ethiopian-Ottoman border conflict along with a renewal of diplomatic relations with Christian Europe after the isolationist Gondarine period and the expansion of the Shewan kingdom into the territory of the southern Oromo.

The most powerful lords during the Zemene Mesafint were Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigre and later the Warra Seh Dynasty who included Ras Ali I, Ras Aligaz, Ras Gugsa and Ras Ali II based in Yejju, a region in Wollo. The most powerful lords such as Ras Ali and Ras Gugsa were members of the Warra Sheikh (or Warra Seh), a dynasty that were made up of former Muslims from Wollo. Other regional lords included Kenfu Hailu of Gondar, Ras Hailu Yosedeq of Gojjam, Sabagadis Woldu of Tigre, Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigre, Wube Haile Mariam of Simien, Ras Dullu of Menz and provincial king Sahle Selassie of Shewa.

Beginning with the Kingdom of Aksum, Ethiopia's territory evolved significantly through conquest of the lands surrounding it. Strong Aksumite trading partnerships with other world powers gave prominence to its territorial expansion. In 330, Aksum besieged the Nubian city of Meroë, marking the beginning of its great expansion. It finally declined after the rise of Islamic dominion in South Arabia, and it ultimately collapsed in the 10th century.

The Zagwe dynasty emerged and ruled until 1270, when Amhara-Shewan Yekuno Amlak revolted against the last king, Yetbarak, commencing the Solomonic dynasty-led Ethiopian Empire. The empire reached its greatest extent under the emperors Amda Seyon I and Zara Yaqob. In 1896, Emperor Menelik II’s conquest strongly consolidated Ethiopia’s modern borders while eluding the 19th-century Scramble for Africa and Italian colonialism. Eritrea was annexed by the Ethiopian imperial government under Emperor Haile Selassie in 1952, culminating in the Eritrean War of Independence. Eritrea eventually seceded by referendum during its seizure by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1993.

The Sultanate of Ifat, known as Wafāt or Awfāt in Arabic texts, or the Kingdom of Zeila was a medieval Sunni Muslim state in the eastern regions of the Horn of Africa between the late 13th century and early 15th century. It was formed in present-day Ethiopia around eastern Shewa in Ifat. Led by the Walashma dynasty, the polity stretched from Zequalla to the port city of Zeila. The kingdom ruled over parts of what are now Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia.

Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael Wolde Melekot (Amharic: ራስ መኮንን ወልደ ሚካኤል ወልደ መለኮት; 8 May 1852 – 21 March 1906), or simply Ras Makonnen, Horse name: Abba Qagnew (አባ ቃኘው), was an Ethiopian royal from Shewa, a military leader, the governor of Harar, and the father of future Emperor Haile Selassie. Described by Nikolai Gumilev as "one of the greatest leaders of Abyssinia", he served in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa.

Menelik II (Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ dagmawi mənilək; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው abba daññäw); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም sahlä maryam), was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. A member of the Solomonic dynasty, Menelik expanded the Ethiopian Empire to its greatest historical extent and defeated Italian colonial forces at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern Ethiopian state.

A member of the Shewan branch of the Solomonic dynasty, Menelik was born in Angolalla, Shewa, as Sahle Maryam, the son of Haile Melekot (Negus of Shewa). Named "Menelik" by his grandfather King Sahle Selassie after the legendary Menelik I (son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba), he was imprisoned at age 11 by Emperor Tewodros II at the fortress of Magdala following his father's death in 1855. He escaped in 1865 amid Tewodros's declining power, returned to Shewa, and was acclaimed as its rightful king. Though harboring imperial ambitions, he avoided challenging northern rivals during the British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1868 and submitted to Emperor Yohannes IV in 1878 after failed collaboration with the Egyptians during their invasion (1875–1876).

Menelik II's conquests, also known as the Agar Maqnat (Amharic: አገር ማቅናት, romanized: ʾägär maqnat, lit. 'to position the country'), were a series of late 19th-century military campaigns led by Emperor Menelik II of Shewa to expand the territory of the Ethiopian Empire.

Emerging from a fragmented Abyssinian highland polity, Menelik—who had ascended to power in 1866—began, a decade later, to capitalize on growing centralization efforts, an increasing militarized state apparatus, and substantial arms imports from European powers to launch a wave of expansive and often violent annexations across the south, west, and east of the Horn of Africa beginning in the early 1880s. These campaigns, conducted largely by Amhara forces from Shewa, mirrored European colonial practices—such as indirect rule, settler militarism, and land dispossession—and were frequently justified by Menelik as part of a Christianizing civilizing mission. Central to the imperial structure in many southern regions was the neftenya-gabbar system, a settler-colonial arrangement that established Amhara dominance over newly incorporated regions through land grants, taxation, and forced labor.