Ethiopia's Era of the Princes

1753

With the Solomonic emperors at Gondar reduced to figureheads, regional warlords fought for real power. The Oromo queen Mentewab ruled in her son's name; Ras Mikael of Tigre would soon eclipse her. For a century Ethiopia would be a patchwork of feuds, mountain strongholds, and peasant survival. Only in the mid-1800s would a unifier emerge.