Haile Selassie

orig. Tafari Makonnen

(born July 23, 1892, near Harer, Eth.—died Aug. 27, 1975, Addis Ababa) Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–74). Tafari was a son of Ras (Prince) Makonnen, a chief adviser to Emperor Menilek II. After Menilek's daughter, Zauditu, became empress (1917), Ras Tafari (who had married Menilek's great-granddaughter) was named regent and heir apparent to the throne. When Zauditu died in 1930, Tafari took the name of Haile Selassie (“Might of the Trinity”) to mark his imperial status. As emperor he sought to modernize his country and steer it into the mainstream of African politics. He brought Ethiopia into the League of Nations and the UN and made Addis Ababa the centre for the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union). Through most of his reign he remained popular among the majority Christian population. He was deposed in 1974 in a military coup by Mengistu Haile Mariam and kept under house arrest. He was apparently killed by his captors. Haile Selassie was regarded as the messiah of the African race by the Rastafarian movement.

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