Haile Selassie I

Who is Haile Selassie I?

Born Tafari Makonnen near Harar, Haile Selassie I became Regent (Ras Tafari) of Ethiopia in 1916 and was crowned Emperor in 1930, ruling until he was deposed by the Derg military committee in 1974. He introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution in 1931 and pursued modernization of education, administration and the armed forces. After Fascist Italy invaded in 1935, he delivered a celebrated 1936 appeal to the League of Nations warning that collective security was being abandoned, then lived in exile until Ethiopian and Allied forces restored him in 1941. A leading pan-Africanist, he helped found the Organisation of African Unity, headquartered in Addis Ababa, in 1963. He is also revered as a messianic figure by the Rastafari movement, whose name derives from his pre-coronation title. His long reign and dramatic downfall make him one of the most consequential figures of twentieth-century Africa.

Sources: Haile Selassie I, 'My Life and Ethiopia's Progress' (autobiography, vol. 1, 1937, trans. Edward Ullendorff 1976) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Haile Selassie I' · Harold G. Marcus, 'Haile Sellassie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936' (1987)