On March 1, 1896, Menelik II inflicted a decisive blow against Italian soldiers at the Battle of Adwa, forcing Italy to recognize Ethiopia's national sovereignty. Menelik II defeated the Italians at Amba-Alagi and Mekele. Italy declared war against Menelik II and invaded Ethiopia from Asmara. When Menelik II discovered the deception, he denounced the Italian treaty. When Menelik II signed the treaty with the Italians, he did not know that the Amharic version was different from the Italian version (Uccialli), a common trickery used by many European colonialists against native populations. As a result, this treaty signing weakened the rule of Ras Mengesha, the son of the late Emperor Yohannes IV, over the region. Eritrea is in the northern Tigrean region. During his reign, the British had heavily armed Emperor Yohannes IV (aka King John of Abyssinia) against Emperor Tewodros II.īy 1880, Menelik II was signing a treaty with the Italians in the Wollo province at Wuchale, acknowledging the establishment of the Italian colony of Eritrea and its capital at Asmara. Menelik II's leadership efforts focused on consolidating the Ethiopian empire under royal patriarchal Imperial rule. Sahle Mariam stood six feet tall and had a dark complexion and fine white teeth, but smallpox had left its marks on his face.Įmperor Menelik II was a federalist that believed that the region would be strongest under a consolidated central Imperial crown at Addis Ababa (aka Addis Abeba or "new flower"), a location that would be chosen in 1886 by his Empress Taytu Betul, a city-state like London and Washington D.C. Although only 21 years of age, he was able to displace Bezebeh, who had been appointed ruler by the emperor in 1859, and subsequently declared himself negus of the province. Sahle Mariam contrived to escape from Magdela in 1865 and returned to Shewa, which had remained in a state of sporadic unrest and revolt against Tewodros.
In nearly 10 years of captivity, he had opportunity to observe Tewodros’s dedication to the unification and modernization of the empire and also the heavy-handed and often violent methods that ultimately led to the emperor’s failure and suicide. He was raised alongside the Emperor’s children and treated as a prince. During an 1855 invasion by Emperor Tewodros II, Melekot was killed and Miriam was taken prisoner and held captive for ten years in the emperor’s mountain stronghold of Amba Magdala. His mother, Woizero Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo, was a palace servant, and his father was Prince Haile-Melekot, Son of King Sahle Selassie. He was born Sahle Miriam on August 17, 1884, in Ankober, Shewa, Ethiopia.
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