Disir
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As we welcome Ethiopia’s first female President Sahle Zewde we must also remember her historical predecessor. Empress Zewditu was the first female head of an internationally recognized state and was both the first and last Empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire.
Empress Zewditu whose name means “the Crown” was an ambivalent leader known for her staunch conservatism and religious devotion, who ruled Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. She was the eldest daughter of the then Negus (or King) Menelik of Shewa.
At the tender age of ten she was married off to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, son and heir of Emperor Yohannes IV. The political marriage was arranged when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohannes’ rule and ended two years later in 1888 when Ras Selassie died. Although relations between her father and her father-in- law were strained, Emperor Yohannes IV sent Zewditu back to Shewa with valuable cattle as a testament of his affection for her.
She had two further brief marriages before marrying her stepmother’s nephew Ras Gugsa Welle; an army commander and member of the royal family.
Empress Zewditu: Ethiopia’s First female head of State
That's a brief little history.
Empress Zewditu whose name means “the Crown” was an ambivalent leader known for her staunch conservatism and religious devotion, who ruled Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. She was the eldest daughter of the then Negus (or King) Menelik of Shewa.
At the tender age of ten she was married off to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, son and heir of Emperor Yohannes IV. The political marriage was arranged when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohannes’ rule and ended two years later in 1888 when Ras Selassie died. Although relations between her father and her father-in- law were strained, Emperor Yohannes IV sent Zewditu back to Shewa with valuable cattle as a testament of his affection for her.
She had two further brief marriages before marrying her stepmother’s nephew Ras Gugsa Welle; an army commander and member of the royal family.
Empress Zewditu: Ethiopia’s First female head of State
That's a brief little history.
