17 AUGUST, 1844
Born 17 August,1844, Menelik is considered, by many modern history lecturers, to be the founder of the modern Ethiopian state (although it is more likely that King Amda-Tsion better deserves that title with respect to the emperial border following his successful campaigns of 1329-1332). He served (1865-89) as King of Shoa (Shewa) province and succeeded Yohannes IV as emperor in 1889, after a period of bitter internal struggles. Menelik modernized the army and administration, encouraged education, and controlled the great feudal chiefs. In 1894 he granted a concession for building a railway from Addis Ababa to the French port of Djibouti.
