Historical Figures Codexery

Haile Selassie

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, modernizer and key figure in African unity.

Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, born on 23 July 1892 in Ejersa Goro, Hararghe province.[1][2] He was overthrown by the Derg military junta in 1974 and assassinated on 27 August 1975.[3] Within Rastafari, an Abrahamic faith that began in the 1930s, Haile Selassie is viewed as having divine status.[4]

Quick Facts

Coronation
2 November 1930
Predecessor
Zewditu
Birth name
Lij Tafari Makonnen

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

As a child he was known as Lij Tafari Makonnen, with "Lij" indicating noble blood and "Tafari" meaning "one who is respected or feared"[5] He was appointed Dejazmatch of Gara Mulatta at age 13 on 1 November 1905.[6] He secured Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery.[7] He introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931, providing for a bicameral legislature.[8]

Tafari wed Menen Asfaw of Ambassel on 3 August 1911; this union continued for five decades.[9]

What the cited sources add

A message to Haile Selassie I on his coronation as Emperor of Ethiopia notes that H. Murray Jacoby was the President's Special Ambassador to the coronation.[10] Kennedy's remarks referenced the first official British mission conducted on behalf of King George 3rd to King Sahle Selassie.[10] Kennedy also noted medical assistance being given to the Medical Faculty at Haile Selassie I University and to Princess Tashai Memorial Hospital.[10] At Union Station, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered remarks while giving Emperor Haile Selassie I a formal welcome that included full military honors.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Atiso, "Subject & Course Guides: Emperor Haile Selassie Research Guide : Biography of Emperor Haile Selassie", guides.lib.ku.edu, July 2025; Page, "Colonialism: an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia", ABC-CLIO, 2003, p. 247 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pétridès, "Le Héros d'Adoua: Ras Makonnen, Prince d'Éthiopie", Librairie Plon, 1963, p. 299 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvano, "የደረግ አነሳስና (የኤርትራና ትግራይ እንቆቅልሽ ጦርነት)", Tadese Tele Salvano, 2018, p. 81–97; "Ethiopian Court Hears How Emperor Was Killed", The Washington Post (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Erlich, Haggai (2002), The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile. Lynne Rienner Publishers. , p. 192.; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Haile Selassie I", Encyclopædia Britannica (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Copley, Gregory R. Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World. Published by Defense & Forei (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marcus, Harold (1996), Haile Selassie I: The formative years, 1892–1936. Trenton: Red Sea Press. , pp. 36ff.; "Haile Selassie", Time, 2023, p. 11; Clarence-Smith, W. G. The Economics of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century. 1989, p. 103.; Miers, "Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery", Yale; Brody, J. Kenneth (2000). The Avoidable War. Transaction Publishers. , p. 209. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nahum, Fasil (1997), Constitution for a Nation of Nations: The Ethiopian Prospect. Red Sea Press. , p. 17.; Fasil (1997), Constitution for a Nation of Nations, p. 22.; Fasil (1997), Constitution for a Nation of Nations, p. 22.; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Haile Selassie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Haile Selassie, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress (Chicago: Frontline Distribution International, 1999), pp. 41f. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "2nd November ises, Requesting for a femail singer to sing the Queenof England for the Coronation.". facts only, no text reused. thenigerianvoice.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Haile Selassie (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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