Abyssinia

The Ethiopian Empire (Tigrinya: ንጉሠ ነገሥት መንግሥቲ ዘ ኢትዮጵያ, Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ንጉሠ ነገሥት መንግሥተ, Mängəstä Ityop'p'ya), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia (derived from the Arabic al-Habash), or just simply known as Ethiopia (/ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā, About this soundlisten (help·info), Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: Itiyoophiyaa), was a monarchy that spanned a geographical area in the current states of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It began with the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak from approximately 1270 and lasted until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a coup d'état by the communist Derg. It was throughout much of its existence surrounded by hostile forces in the African Horn however it managed to preserve and develop its ancient form of Christianity based kingdom.