Research Guide of Haile Selassie, Julius Nyerere and Thomas Sankara: Emperor Haile Selassie Research Guide

Biography of Haile Selassie, his works and achievements, books and publications about him and videos and recordings about him. His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I was born as Lij Tafari Makonnen on July 23, 1892, in the town of Ejarsa Gora in the Harage Province, some 18 miles outside the city of Harar, Ethiopia. Lij Tafari was given the religious name, Haile Selassie. He was the son of Ras Makonnen, Governor of Harar under his kinsman, Emperor Menelik II. Ras Makonnen, a Shoa Amharan noble, was married to an Oromo, Yashimabet, who died two years after Lij Tafari’s birth. In a significant break with precedence, Lij Tafari Makonnen was raised with an understanding of world affairs, and with an exposure to the outside world. He was to become the first Emperor of Ethiopia to have traveled extensively abroad. Ras Makonnen, and therefore Lij Tafari Makonnen, were directly of the Solomonic Line, as was Emperor Menelik himself and Tafari Makonnen’s great-great grandfather, Negus Sahela Selassie, of Shoa. King Sahela (Sahle) Selassie had already made treaties with foreign states, including Queen Victoria’s Britain. Ras Tafari Makonnen became Emperor outright in 1930 upon the death of Empress Zewditu. Upon assuming the throne, he took the name Haile Selassie meaning “Might of the Trinity.” Continuing his modernization of the state, Selassie in 1931 established the first Ethiopian constitution which centralized governmental power under his leadership. Selassie believed that a more powerful central government was necessary to carry out his modernization ideas for the nation’s bureaucracy, military, and economy. Selassie also focused his attention on increasing public health services, providing electricity, and creating a modern telephone network. In 1931 he founded the Bank of Ethiopia which introduced Ethiopian currency. Selassie’s ambitious programs were threatened by the imperial designs of Italian leader Benito Mussolini. Italy had already held Eritrea just north of Ethiopia and was looking to avenge its defeat at the Battle of Adowa in 1896.