#menelik ii

[panafrocore]

Menelik II, The Visionary Emperor of Ethiopia: A Legacy of Expansion and Modernization

Menelik II, also known as Sahle Maryam, was a pivotal figure in Ethiopian history, leaving an indelible mark on the nation through his ambitious leadership and far-reaching accomplishments. Born in 1844 in Angolalla, Menelik was the son of the Shewan king, Negus Haile Melekot, and Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo, a palace servant girl. His early years were shaped by both privilege and adversity, as his…

[lightdancer1]

Menelik II, Africa's great success, is of course worthy of note as well:

Before going to the Boer War and its successor the Matabele Wars, the successes of Menelik II are worthy of note. Out of all the major African rulers of centralized states, he and he alone succeeded in throwing back European powers, while further confirming that the armies of Italy did not lack for valor but did lack for people able to use it in any halfwitted sense. He created a modern army equipped with modern weaponry and using modern tactics, and with it preserved Ethiopian independence until Mussolini fought and won the second war.

In this he also won the greatest victory against colonialism in African history, and one matched in that time only by the Russo-Japanese War globally.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Palace of Menelik II, King of Shewa and Emperor of Ethiopia in Harar, Ethiopia

French vintage postcard

[dream-world-universe]

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Addis Ababa (New flower) is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. It is widely known as one of Africa's major capitals. The founding history of Addis Ababa dates back to the late 19th century by Menelik II. Addis Ababa serves as the headquarters of major international organizations, such as the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Wikipedia

[kemetic-dreams]

Kandake, kadake or kentake (Meroitic: 𐦲𐦷𐦲𐦡 kdke), often Latinised as Candace (Ancient Greek: Κανδάκη, Kandakē), was the Meroitic term for the sister of the king of Kush who, due to the matrilineal succession, would bear the next heir, making her a queen mother.

Pliny writes that the "Queen of the Ethiopians" bore the title Candace, and indicates that the Ethiopians had conquered ancient Syria and the Mediterranean.

In 25 BC the Kush kandake Amanirenas, as reported by Strabo, attacked the city of Syene, today's Aswan, in territory of the Roman Empire; Emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Napata in retaliation.

Cassius Dio wrote that Kandake's army advanced as far as the Elephantine in Egypt, but Petronius defeated them and took Napata, their capital, and other cities.

Four African queens were known to the Greco-Roman world as the "Candaces": Amanishakheto, Amanirenas, Nawidemak, and Malegereabar

Biblical usage

The Baptism of Queen Candace's Eunuch (c. 1625–30, attributed to Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Younger)

In the New Testament, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians", returning from a trip to Jerusalem, met with Philip the Evangelist:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

He discussed with Philip the meaning of a perplexing passage from the Book of Isaiah. Philip explained the scripture to him and he was promptly baptised in some nearby water. The eunuch 'went on his way, rejoicing', and presumably therefore reported back on his conversion to the Kandake

Evidence outside of Nubia that shows additional links to Kushite's queenship concept are found in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long dynastic history claimed to be over three millennia from before 1000 BC to 1973, the year of the overthrow of the last Menelik emperor, Haile Selassie. The Ethiopian monarchy's official chronicle of dynastic succession descends from Menelik I includes six regnant queens referred to as Kandake. The following queens from the king list have "Kandake" added to their name:

Nicauta Kandake (r. 740–730 BCE)

Nikawla Kandake II (r. 342–332 BCE)

Akawsis Kandake III (r. 325–315 BCE)

Nikosis Kandake IV (r. 242–232 BCE)

Nicotnis Kandake V (r. 35–25 BCE)

Garsemot Kandake VI (r. 40–50 CE) – Allegedly the queen who ruled at the time of the Biblical story of the Ethiopian eunuch.

Twenty-one queens are recorded as sole regent in the kingdom of Ethiopia until the 9th century CE. The conquest of Meroe by the Axumite King Ezana may well provide the historical fiction for the Ethiopian dynastic claim to the Nubian Kandakes and their kings, as it was from this point onwards that the Axumites began calling themselves "Ethiopians", a Greco-Roman term previously used largely for the ancient Nubians. For example, Makeda, Queen of Sheba, in the Kebra Nagast, is also recognized as Candace or "Queen Mother".

Alexandrian legend

Jewellery of Kandake Amanishakheto, from her tomb

A legend in the Alexander romance claims that "Candace of Meroë" fought Alexander the Great. In fact, Alexander never attacked Nubia and never attempted to move further south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt. The story is that when Alexander attempted to conquer her lands in 332 BC, she arranged her armies strategically to meet him and was present on a war elephant when he approached. Having assessed the strength of her armies, Alexander decided to withdraw from Nubia, heading to Egypt instead. Another story claims that Alexander and Candace had a romantic encounter.

These accounts originate from Alexander Romance by an unknown writer called Pseudo-Callisthenes, and the work is largely a fictionalized and grandiose account of Alexander's life. It is commonly quoted, but there seems to be no historical reference to this event from Alexander's time. The whole story of Alexander and Candace's encounter appears to be legendary.

John Malalas has mixed the Pseudo-Callisthenes material with other and wrote about the affair of Alexander with Kandake, adding that they got married. Malalas also wrote that Kandake was an Indian queen and Alexander met her during his Indian campaign

List of ruling kandakes

Pyramid of Amanitore in modern day Sudan

See also: List of monarchs of Kush

At least eleven kandakes also ruled in their own right as monarchs (i.e. queen regnants) of Kush:

Nahirqo (middle 2nd century BC)

An unknown queen regnant (end of the 2nd–first half of the 1st century BC)

Amanirenas (end of the 1st century BC–beginning of the 1st century AD)

Amanishakheto (early 1st century AD)

Shanakdakhete (first half of the 1st century AD)

Nawidemak (first half of the 1st century AD?)

Amanitore (middle 1st century AD)

Amanikhatashan (middle 2nd century AD?)

Amanikhalika (second half of the 2nd century AD)

Patrapeamani [de] (early 4th century)

Amanipilade (mid-4th century)

Based on the reading of a single inscription, some lists give two later kandakes named Maloqorebar (266–283 AD) and Lahideamani (306-314 AD). A recently discovered inscription corrects this earlier reading, however, showing that neither was a woman.

Archaeological sources

The Kandakes of Meroe were first described through the Greek geographer's Strabo account of the "one-eyed Candace" in 23 BCE in his encyclopedia Geographica. There are at least ten regnant Meroitic queens during the 500 years between 260 BCE and 320 CE, and at least six during the 140 periods between 60 BC and 80 AD. The iconographic portrayal of the Meroitic queens depicts them as women often alone and at the forefront of their stelae and sculptures and shown in regal women's clothing. Early depictions of Kushite queens typically do not have Egyptian elements making their appearance drastically different from their Kushite men and Egyptian counterparts. As seen in the Dream Stela of Tanawetamani, a large shawl was wrapped around the body with an additionally decorated cloak worn over the first; typically, a small tab-like element hanging below the hem touches the ground and has been interpreted as a little tail. The first association with this element of dress is with Tarharqo's mother during his coronation ceremony.  

It was not until George Reisner excavated the royal cemeteries at El Kurru and Nuri that archaeological material became available to study the Kushite queenship. Additionally, a few royal tombs of Kushite women have been found at Meroe's cemetery and in Egypt at Abydos (Leahy 1994). At El Kurru, six pyramids belong to royal women of the 25th Dynasty and a pyramid for queen Qalhata of the Napatan period. At Nuri, the tombs of royal women are located on the west plateau with more inscriptional information available at the site, linking the roles that the kings' mothers played in succession and their importance during the Kushite dynasty.

The most important event that Kushite women participated in was kingship's ensured continuity, where royal women were mentioned and represented in the royal ceremony. The lunettes of the stelae of Tanawetamani, Harsiyotef, and Nastasen all provide iconographic and textual evidence of these kings' enthronement. In all of these stelae, the king is accompanied by a female member of his family, mother, and wife. The king's mother played an essential role in the legitimacy of her son as the king; textual evidence from Taharqo's coronation stelae represents inscriptional evidence suggesting that the king's mother traveled to her son's coronation. During the Kushite 25th Dynasty, the office that is known as God's Wife of Amun was established. The royal women in this role acted as the primary contact with the Kushite god Amun. They played a decisive role in the king's accession to the throne.

Bas-reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal the kentake Shanakdakheto, dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother, but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. In bas-reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit the throne by her death.

[royalpain16]

Queen Elizabeth II in 1965

The Queen wore ornaments signifying Ethiopia's highest order at the Great Throne Hall of the Menelik Palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

[artifacts-archive]

Ethiopian Sword and Scabbard

Abyssinia

1844-1913

Traditional Abyssinian (Ethiopian) shotel sword with a rhinoceros tusk hilt, purple velvet and gold scabbard, and leather belt. This sword was formerly worn by Emperor Menelik II (1844-1913) of Ethiopia and is inscribed with his name. The sword and scabbard were among the gifts presented to President and Mrs. Wilson by the first Abyssinian (Ethiopian) mission to the U.S. in July 1919.

source

[madamlaydebug]

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Row 1 Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nat Turner, Martin Delany, Amos Wilson, Ida B. Wells

Row 2 Walter Rodney, Eusi Kwayana, Cuffy, Bussa, Sam Sharpe, Marcus Garvey, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba

Row 3 Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Steve Biko, Robert Sobukwe, Tavio Amorin, Cetshwayo

Row 4 Joseph Casely Hayford, Nzinga, Yaa Asantewaa, Taitu, Menelik II, Nehanda, Zumbi, Louis Delgrès

Row 5 Jose Correia Leite, Nanny, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Elijah Muhammad, Queen Mother Moore, Harriet Tubman, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Makandal Daaga

Row 6 La Mulâtresse Solitude, Carter G. Woodson, William Leo Hansberry, Joseph Cinqué, Chancellor Williams, Jean Price-Mars, Samory Touré

Row 7 Asa G. Hilliard III, Joshua Nkomo, Julius Nyerere, Nana Olomu, W.E.B. Du Bois, Madison, Funmilayo Kuti, Paul Bogle

[ausetkmt]

Emperor Menelik II Defeats Italian Expedition

Emperor Menelik (Menilik) II is best remembered as a great Ethiopian emperor who defeated a major Italian military expedition in the Battle of Adowa. That war victory, however, was much more important than just a simple military accomplishment. Many historians have credited Menelik II with preserving the independence of his people by halting the expansion of the Italian military and strengthening his kingdom through political and economic modernization.

The Palmares Quilombo

Quilombos were sustainable states formed by enslaved Africans during slavery in Brazil. The most famous one was Palmares, which was established in 1600 and managed to survive for a century. When the Dutch and Portuguese repeatedly attacked the Palmares, warriors from the state managed to fight them off and defeat the Europeans multiple times across the span of one century.

First North American Revolt by Enslaved Black People

In 1526, nearly four decades before the first permanent European settlement, North America saw its first uprising by a group of enslaved Black people. Spanish explorers, led by conquistador Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, brought enslaved Blacks to what is now the Carolinas. But in the midst of unrest and widespread sickness, they were able to successfully pull off a massive revolt.

The Hyksos vs. Ancient Egyptians

The battle between the Hyksos and the ancient Egyptians was a fight to reunite the country after the Hyksos took northern Egypt. To this day, it isn’t exactly clear how the Hyksos managed to take Northern Egypt, but there is a little more research about how the ancient Egyptians fought back and reclaimed their land. King Tao of Thebes led the efforts to reclaim Northern Egypt, and his son Kamose took over leadership after Tao was killed in battle. The Hyksos were eventually forced to barricade themselves in their city of Avaris before they were finally seized and expelled. Eventually they returned to Egypt again only to face a brutal defeat by Kamose’s son Ahmose I who pushed the Hyksos out of Egypt again.

The Triumph of the Accompong Maroons

The triumph of the Maroons of Accompong is a part of Jamaica’s history that is still celebrated today. The Jan. 6 celebration commemorates Maroon leader Kojo’s victory over the British in 1738, which ultimately resulted in a peace treaty between both parties.

The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution, which began in 1791, was one of the largest slave revolts in history and it was the only one to result in the founding of a state. The revolution took place in the French colony of Saint-Domingue and was the key to putting an end to slavery there. This defining moment in both European and American history proved to be one of the most successful uprisings by enslaved Black people.

[ptseti]

Menelik II, King of Shewa from 1866 to 1889, and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913, photographed in the early 1900s. He is widely honored by many Ethiopians and commemorated during the celebration of the Battle of Adwa. Many Pan-Africans regard him as an advocate for African independence against European powers during the Scramble for Africa. Credit: Royalty in Colour

[dreamconsumer]

Duel between Prince Henri of Orleans and the Count of Turin, Vaucresson, France, 1897.

Victor Emmanuel of Savoy challenged Prince Henri d'Orléans to a duel after Henri described the Italian soldiers taken prisoner in Ethiopia by Emperor Menelik II's Abyssinians in the First Italo-Ethiopian War as cowards. The Count of Turin Victor Emmanuel received the consent of King Humbert I and the sword duel took place at 5 a.m. on 15 August 1897 in the Bois de Marechaux in Vancreeson. It lasted 26 minutes and resulted in a draw: a serious wound in the abdomen of the Prince of Orléans and Victor Emmanuel wounded in his right hand.

[warsofasoiaf]

During the scramble for Africa, how was it that Ethiopia managed to maintain its independence?

Solid decision-making mostly.

Emperor Menelik II made sure to secure legitimacy from other colonial powers, incorporated or sidelined domestic opposition to ensure there were no turncoats that the Italians could use to mitigate their lack of terrain familiarity, equipped many of his troops with rifles (~82,000), cannons (~28), and secured Swiss and French advisors who feared Italo-British dominance, and massively outnumbered the Italians. By contrast, the Italians were poorly-equipped with old Carcanos, bad footwear, and marched in three columns that drifted too far from each other. The Ethiopians took advantage of these miscalculations to attack on good ground, pinning the isolated Italians and subjugating them to fire enfilade. The numerically-superior Ethiopians steadily applied pressure, tiring out the Italians and constantly releasing fresh units from the reserve until their lines broke from exhaustion. The lack of terrain familiarity prevented the columns from supporting each other and led to Dabormida's Italian Brigade getting fenced into a narrow valley and cut to pieces. Menelik II followed up with a relatively small set of demands, preservation of Ethiopian independence and abrogating the earlier treaty of Wuchale along with a sizable war indemnity. This was immediately followed by treaties with the other colonial powers in the region, Britain and France, both of whom were happier to have an independent Ethiopia than have it fall into the hands of the other power.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[islandnaturals]

Cuz you need to see real royalty on your timelines…. #BlackRoyalty @the_african_royal_families HIM Empress Zewditu, daughter of late Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia was crowned Empress (Negesta Nagastat) of Ethiopia on this day in 1917 becoming the world's only woman head of state at the time. She would reign for only13 years until her death in 1930. Her cousin Ras Tafari would succeed her to become Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia #empresszewditu #empresszewdituofethiopia #ethiopianroyalfamily #ethiopianroyal #ethiopianroyalty #ethiopianimperialfamily #africanroyalty #africanroyals #africanroyalfamilies Photo : Repost from @joyjones007 (at Jamaica) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjRjAeuO_co/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[grandmaster-anne]

February 1965

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip greeting Emperor Haile Selassie in the Menelik palace in Addis Ababa

[blackstar1887]

Emperor Menelik II: Africa's Visionary Leader Inspiring Unity and Progress

[kemetic-dreams]

Benito Sylvain (born Marie-Joseph Benoît d'Artagnan Sylvain; 21 March 1868 – 3 January 1915) was an Haitian journalist, diplomat, lawyer. He also participated and organized the 1900 Pan-African Conference.

Sylvain pathed the connection between Afro-descendants and Africans and became a representative for these groups that were colonized by France. He is arguably considered to be a pioneer of Pan-Africanism.

Benito Sylvain was born in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, in 1868. In 1887, he finished his studies in Paris at the Collège Stanislas, then attended law school, where he obtained his license and then his doctorate.

Supported by his country that appoints the officer of Marine and secretary to the embassy in London, Sylvain founded in Paris in 1890 a weekly committed against French colonialism, La Fraternité (which appeared until 1897).

In 1897, Sylvain staying in Ethiopia became the aide-de-camp to Emperor Menelik II, who defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa. Sylvain represented both Ethiopia and Haiti at the 1900 Pan-African Conference held in London, and was appointed as honorary president of the Pan African Association.

In 1906, Sylvain, who attended all lectures against slavery, published in Paris his principal work, entitled On the fate of the natives in the colonies of exploitation, an indictment against colonialism.

As there were very active Afro-descended students in France, including his compatriot Haitians, Sylvain endeavoured to make the connection between Afro-descendants and Africans, in a spirit of resistance to European colonialism, which he reasoned was a new form of slavery