1.
Lalibela
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Lalibela is a town in Amhara Region, northern Ethiopia famous for monolithic rock-cut churches. The whole of Lalibela offers an exceptional testimony to the medieval and post-medieval civilization of Ethiopia, Lalibela is one of Ethiopias holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and a center of pilgrimage. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, Ethiopia is one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the fourth century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles. The layout and names of the buildings in Lalibela are widely accepted, especially by local clergy. This has led experts to date the current church forms to the years following the capture of Jerusalem in 1187 by Muslim leader. Lalibela is located in the Semien Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region and it is the main town in Lasta woreda, which was formerly part of Bugna woreda. The Rock-Hewn Churches were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, during the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, the current town of Lalibela was known as Roha. The saintly king was named so, because a swarm of bees is said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. Lalibela, revered as a saint, is said to have seen Jerusalem, each church was carved from a single piece of rock to symbolize spirituality and humility. Christian faith inspires many features with Biblical names – even Lalibelas river is known as the River Jordan, Lalibela remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th into the 13th century. The first European to see these churches was the Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã, Portuguese priest Francisco Álvares, accompanied the Portuguese Ambassador on his visit to Lebna Dengel in the 1520s. He describes the church structures as follows, I weary of writing more about these buildings. The next reported European visitor to Lalibela was Miguel de Castanhoso, after de Castanhoso, more than 300 years passed until the next European, Gerhard Rohlfs, visited Lalibela some time between 1865 and 1870. According to the Futuh al-Habasa of Sihab ad-Din Ahmad, Ahmad Gragn burned one of the churches of Lalibela during his invasion of Ethiopia. This rural town is known around the world for its churches carved from within the earth from living rock, though the dating of the churches is not well established, most are thought to have been built during the reign of Lalibela, namely during the 12th and 13th centuries. Unesco identifies 11 churches, assembled in four groups, The Northern Group, Biete Medhane Alem, Biete Maryam, possibly the oldest of the churches, and a replica of the Tombs of Adam and Christ. Farther afield, lie the monastery of Ashetan Maryam and Yimrehane Kristos Church, there is some controversy as to when some of the churches were constructed. David Buxton established the generally accepted chronology, noting two of them follow, with great fidelity of detail, the tradition represented by Debra Damo as modified at Yemrahana Kristos
2.
Ge'ez
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Geez is an ancient South Semitic language that originated in Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. It later became the language of the Kingdom of Aksum. However, in Ethiopia Amharic or other languages, and in Eritrea and Tigray Region in Ethiopia. Tigrinya and Tigre are closely related to Geez, with at least four different configurations proposed, the foremost Ethiopian experts such as Amsalu Aklilu point to the vast proportion of inherited nouns that are unchanged, and even spelled identically in both Geez and Amharic. Geez is transliterated according to the system, Because Geez is no longer a spoken language. There is, however, no evidence either in the tradition or in Ethiopian Semitic what value these consonants may have had in Geez, a similar problem is found for the consonant transliterated ḫ. Gragg notes that it corresponds in etymology to velar or uvular fricatives in other Semitic languages, though the use of a different letter shows that it must originally have had some other pronunciation, what that pronunciation was is not certain. The chart below lists /ɬ/ and /ɬʼ/ as possible values for ś and ḍ respectively and it also lists /χ/ as a possible value for ḫ. These values are tentative, but based on the reconstructed Proto-Semitic consonants that they are descended from, in the chart below, IPA values are shown. When transcription is different from the IPA, the character is shown in angular brackets, question marks follow phonemes whose interpretation is controversial. In Geez, Emphatic consonants are phonetically ejectives, as is the case with Arabic, emphatic velars may actually be phonetically uvular. Geez consonants have an opposition between voiceless, voiced, and ejective obstruents. The Proto-Semitic emphasis in Geez has been generalized to include emphatic p̣. Geez has phonologized labiovelars, Geez ś ሠ Sawt is reconstructed as descended from a Proto-Semitic voiceless lateral fricative. Like Arabic, Geez merged Proto-Semitic š and s in ሰ, apart from this, Geez phonology is comparably conservative, the only other Proto-Semitic phonological contrasts lost may be the interdental fricatives and ghayin. Geez distinguishes two genders, masculine and feminine, which in certain words is marked with the suffix -t, there are two numbers, singular and plural. The plural can be constructed either by suffixing -āt to a word, plural using suffix, ʿāmat – ʿāmatāt year, māy – māyāt water. Internal plural, bet – ʾābyāt house, houses, qərnəb – qarānəbt eyelid, nouns also have two cases, the nominative which is not marked and the accusative which is marked with final -a. Triconsonantal nouns follow one of the following patterns, quadriconsonantal and some triconsonantal nouns follow the following pattern
3.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
4.
Kingdom of Aksum
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The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was a Habasha trading nation in the modern-day area of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD, the Persian Prophet Mani regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, alongside Persia, Rome, and China. The Axumites erected a number of stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these columns is the largest such structure in the world. In the 7th century, early Muslims from Mecca sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to the kingdom and its ancient capital, also called Aksum, was in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, tradition claims Axum as the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba. Aksum is mentioned in the 1st-century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory, which was exported throughout the ancient world. It states that the ruler of Aksum in the 1st century AD was Zoskales and he is also said to have been familiar with Greek literature. They also cite evidence indicating that the Sabaean settlers resided in the region for more than a few decades. Over 95% of Aksum remains unexplored beneath the city and its surrounding area. The Kingdom of Aksum was an empire centered in Eritrea. It existed from approximately 100–940 AD, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD, according to the Book of Aksum, Aksums first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush. The capital was moved to Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, the Empire of Aksum at its height at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of the empire was Aksum, now in northern Ethiopia, today a smaller community, the city of Aksum was once a bustling metropolis, cultural and economic center. Two hills and two lie on the east and west expanses of the city, perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area. Along the hills and plain outside the city, the Aksumites had cemeteries with elaborate grave stones called stelae, other important cities included Yeha, Hawulti-Melazo, Matara, Adulis, and Qohaito, the last three of which are now in Eritrea. By the reign of Endubis in the late 3rd century, it had begun minting its own currency and was named by Mani as one of the four powers of his time along with Persia, Rome
5.
Ethiopian Empire
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The Ethiopian Empire, also known as Abyssinia, was a kingdom that spanned a geographical area covered by the northern half of the current state of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 1137 until 1974, when the Solomonic dynasty was overthrown in a coup détat, the country was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. It was the second-to-last country in Africa to use the title of Emperor, the one later was the Central African Empire. Ethiopias human occupation began early, as evidenced by the findings and it is believed that the ancient Egyptians claimed that Punt, known as gold country, was in Ethiopia in 980 BC, according to the report of the Kebra Nagast Menelik I founded the Ethiopian empire. In the 1st century BC. settled the Axumite empire that existed from the 7th century and this kingdom was founded in the 4th century with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the state religion and was thus one of the first Christian states. After the conquest of Aksum by Queen Gudit or Yodit, a period began which some refer to as the Ethiopian Dark Ages. According to Ethiopian tradition, she ruled over the remains of the Aksumite Empire for 40 years before transmitting the crown to her descendants, very little is known about the queen or the state, if indeed there even was one she set up. What is evident, however, is that her reign marked the end of Aksumite control in Ethiopia, the last of Queen Yodits successors were overthrown by Mara Takla Haymanot. He founded the Zagwe dynasty in 1137, and married a descendant of the last Aksumite emperor to stake his claim as the legitimate heir to the long dead empire. The kingdoms capital was at Adafa, not far from modern day Lalibela in the Lasta mountains, the Zagwe continued the Christianity of Aksum and constructed many rock-hewn churches such as those at Lalibela. The dynasty would last until its overthrow by a new regime claiming descent from the old Aksumite kings, in 1270 the Zagwe dynasty was overthrown by a king claiming lineage from the Aksumite kings and, hence, Solomon. The thus-named Solomonic dynasty was founded and ruled by the Habesha, the Habesha reigned with only a few interruptions from 1270 until the late 20th century. It was under this dynasty that most of Ethiopias modern history occurred, during this time, the empire conquered and incorporated virtually all the peoples within modern Ethiopia. They successfully fought off Italian, Arab and Turkish armies and made contacts with some European powers. In 1529 Adal forces, led by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, during the conflict, Adal employed cannons provided by the Ottoman Empire. In the aftermath of the war, Adal annexed Ethiopia, uniting it with territories in what is now Somalia, in 1543, with the help of the Portuguese Empire, the Solomonic dynasty was restored. From 1769 to 1855 the Ethiopian empire was passed through the period of Princes Era and this was a period of Ethiopian history with numerous conflicts between the ras the emperor had a limited power, only dominated the area around the former capital of Gondar. Both the development of society and culture stagnated in this period, religious conflicts, both within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Muslims were often used as a pretext for mutual strife
6.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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