Haile Selassie

Emperor of Ethiopia

Tafari Makonnen 23 July 1892 Ejersa Goro, Harar, Ethiopian Empire

27 August 1975(1975-08-27) (83) National Palace, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Regnal name(native) Haile Selassie I (ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ , qädamawi häylä səllasé); (English) "Power of the Trinity"

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974; messianic figure of the Rastafari movement This article is about the Emperor of Ethiopia. For the anthropologist, see Yohannes Haile-Selassie. "Ras Tafari" redirects here. For the religious movement that venerates Haile Selassie, see Rastafari movement. His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie IHis Imperial Majesty Negusa Nagast Defender of the FaithHaile Selassie in full dress uniform, 1970Emperor of EthiopiaReign2 April 1930 – 12 September 1974 Coronation2 November 1930PredecessorZewdituSuccessorAmha SelassiePrime Minister List of prime ministers Himself Wolde Tzaddick Makonnen Endelkachew Abebe Aregai Imru Haile Selassie Aklilu Habte-Wold Endelkachew Makonnen Mikael Imru Regent Plenipotentiary of EthiopiaReign27 September 1916 – 2 April 1930 PredecessorTessema NadewSuccessorIjigayehu Amha SelassieMonarchZewdituBornTafari Makonnen (1892-07-23 ) 23 July 1892 Ejersa Goro, Harar, Ethiopian EmpireDied27 August 1975(1975-08-27) (aged 83) National Palace, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaBurial5 November 2000 Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSpouseMenen AsfawIssuePrincess RomaneworkPrincess TenagneworkCrown Prince Asfaw WossenPrincess ZenebeworkPrincess TsehaiPrince MakonnenPrince Sahle SelassieRegnal name(native) Haile Selassie I (ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ , qädamawi häylä səllasé); (English) "Power of the Trinity"HouseHouse of Solomon (Shewan Branch)FatherMakonnen Wolde MikaelMotherYeshimebet AliReligionEthiopian Orthodox TewahedoSignature1st & 5th Chairman of the Organization of African UnityIn office 25 May 1963 – 17 July 1964Succeeded by Gamal Abdel NasserIn office 5 November 1966 – 11 September 1967Preceded by Joseph Arthur AnkrahSucceeded by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu Imperial standard of Haile Selassie IObverseReverse Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ , romanized: Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, Amharic pronunciation:  ( listen ) ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Prior to his coronation, he had been the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia from 1916. He is a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the key figure of Rastafarianism, a religious movement in Jamaica which emerged shortly after his reign as an emperor in the 1930s. He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty who traced his lineage to Emperor Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and Makeda the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie attempted to modernize the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of Ethiopia's first written constitution and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent the period of Italian occupation in exile in England. He returned to lead Ethiopia in 1941 after the British Empire defeated the Italian occupiers in the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950, and integrated Eritrea as a province of Ethiopia while fighting to prevent their secession. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations. In 1963, he presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union, and served as its first chairman. He was overthrown in a 1974 military coup by a Marxist-Leninist junta, the Derg. Selassie was murdered by the junta on 27 August 1975. Among some members of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is referred to as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. This distinction notwithstanding, Haile Selassie was a Christian and adhered to the tenets and liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The Rastafari movement was founded in Jamaica sometime around 1930 and its followers are estimated at between 700,000 and one million as of 2012. He has been criticized by some historians for his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the mesafint), which consistently opposed his reforms; some critics have also criticized Ethiopia's failure to modernize rapidly enough. During his rule the Harari people were persecuted and many left the Harari Region. His regime was also criticized by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal. Certain sources state that during the Haile Selassie regime the Oromo language was legally banned from education, public speaking and use in administration however there were never any laws promulgated by Haile Selassie's government that made any language illegal. The Amhara culture dominated throughout the eras of military and monarchic rule. Both the Haile Selassie and the Derg government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, church and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic due to immediate cost, availability of teachers trained in minority languages and the availability of teaching materials. Once literacy rates increased in Ethiopia the Emperor included constitutional recognition of every minority language in Article four of the 1974 Draft Constitution which the Derg outright rejected. Following the death of Hachalu Hundessa in June 2020, the Statue of Haile Selassie in Cannizaro Park, London was destroyed by Oromo protesters, and his father's equestrian monument in Harar was removed.