Ethiopia in the Middle Ages

Part of a series on the
History of Ethiopia
Early history Prehistory   Dʿmt 980 – 400 BC
Middle Ages Aksum 100 – 940 AD Zagwe dynasty 900–1270 Early Solomonic period 1270–1529 Amda Seyon's Expansions 1314–1344
Early modern history Ethiopian–Adal War 1527–1543 Oromo migrations 1543 – 17th cent. Habesh Eyalet 1557 – 17th cent. Gondarine period 1632–1769 Zemene Mesafint 1769–1855 Ottoman border conflict 1832–1848
Modern history Unification 1855–1913 Menelik's Invasions 1878–1904 First Italo–Ethiopian War 1895–1896 Modernization 1913–1974 World War I 1914–1918 Second Italo–Ethiopian War 1935–1936 Italian East Africa 1936–1941 World War II 1941 Italian guerrilla war 1941–1943 Federation with Eritrea 1952–1962 Eritrean Independence War 1961–1991 Ethiopian Civil War 1974–1991 Ogaden War 1977–1978
Recent history Eritrean–Ethiopian War 1998–2000 Eritrean border conflict 1998–2018 Police massacre 2005 War in Somalia 2006–2009 East Africa drought 2011–2012 Oromo protests 2014–2016 Ethiopian civil conflict 2018–present Tigray war 2020–2022
Topics Economic history Emperor Aristocracy Military Army of the Empire Expansion Currency Aksumite Famines
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The history of Ethiopia in the Middle Ages^{[note 1]} roughly spans the period from the decline of the Kingdom of Aksum in the 7th century to the Gondarine period beginning in the 17th century.^[1] Aksum had been a powerful empire during late antiquity, appearing in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and mentioned by Iranian prophet Mani as one of the "four great kingdoms on earth", along with the Sasanian Empire of Persia, the Roman Empire, and China's Three Kingdoms.^[2] The kingdom was an integral part of the trade route between Rome and the Indian subcontinent,^[2] had substantial cultural ties to the Greco-Roman world,^[3] and was a very early adopter of Christianity under Ezana of Aksum in the mid-4th century.^[4] The use of "Ethiopia" to refer to the region dates back to the 4th century.^[2] At its height, the kingdom spanned what is now Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, eastern Sudan, Yemen and the southern part of what is now Saudi Arabia.^[5] However, by the 7th century, the kingdom had begun a slow decline, for which several possible political, economic, and ecological reasons have been proposed. This decline, which has been termed the "Post-Aksumite Period", saw extreme loss of territory and lasted until the ascension of the Zagwe dynasty.^[6]

In the late 10th century, the Kingdom of Aksum fell to a queen known as Gudit. Historians are unsure of her ethnicity and religion, but she is theorized to have been Agaw and likely non-Christian, as she targeted churches in her attacks.^[7] Confusion surrounds the period directly following her reign, but the dynasty proper is considered to have been founded by Mara Takla Haymanot in 1137.^[8] The capital moved southward from Aksum to Lalibela,^[9] where many rock-hewn churches were built.^[10] Despite the anti-Christian nature of Gudit's takeover, Christianity flourished under Zagwe rule^[11] but its territorial extent was markedly smaller than that of the Aksumites, controlling the area between Lasta and the Red Sea.^[12]

The Zagwe dynasty was overthrown in 1270 by Yekuno Amlak, whose successors came to be known as the Solomonic dynasty.^[13] The Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century national epic, established the dynasty's claim of direct descent from Solomon, recounting the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, whose child was supposedly Menelik I.^[14] The Semitic Amhara rulers of the Solomonic dynasty therefore represented a restoration of the Israelite lineage of the Aksumites, as opposed to the Cushitic Zagwe rulers, who were viewed in retrospect as illegitimate.^[15] In the nearly 150 years between the reigns of Amda Seyon I and Zara Yaqob, the Solomonic emperors made significant territorial expansions into non-Christian lands to the south, west, and east of the highlands, conquering much of the territory that comprises modern-day Ethiopia.^[16] Despite enormous expansions and the successful spread of Christianity, Ethiopia was invaded by Adal, supported by the Ottoman Empire, in 1531. It was not until 1540 that Ethiopia began to regain its territory with the support of the Portuguese Empire. Ethiopia's weakened state after the war left it susceptible to the Oromo migrations, in which the Oromo people of southern Ethiopia began to expand northward and established permanent settlements.^[17] This altered political and cultural landscape is seen as the beginning of the modern era in Ethiopia.^[18] From a historiographical perspective, the Middle Ages are a mysterious period of Ethiopian history, as there was comparatively little contact with foreign nations versus the ancient and modern periods.^[19]

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