Interior East Africa (1732–1743 CE): Consolidation of Regional Power and Declining Imperial Authority

Between 1732 and 1743, Interior East Africa witnessed a continuation of the Ethiopian Empire’s progressive fragmentation, signaling the deepening of Ethiopia’s Zemene Mesafint ("Age of Princes"). Following the death of Emperor Bakaffa in 1730, his successor, Iyasu II (r. 1730–1755), ascended the throne as a child, leaving real power in the hands of his mother, Empress Mentewab, and influential regional nobility. Mentewab, acting as regent, struggled to manage competing provincial factions and maintain cohesion within the empire.

Increasingly autonomous nobles began openly challenging imperial authority, managing their territories independently and engaging in periodic conflicts. These nobles, wielding significant military and economic resources, emerged as powerful regional figures, essentially acting as independent princes. Notably, figures like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray started rising to prominence, demonstrating the weakening hold of Gondar’s central authority.

Meanwhile, in the Afar lowlands to the east, the Imamate of Aussa gave way fully by 1734 to the establishment of the Sultanate of Aussa under Sultan Kedafu. Kedafu successfully consolidated power among rival Afar clans and established a more stable polity, which controlled the strategic trade routes linking the highlands to the Red Sea coast. This transition not only marked the reconfiguration of regional power but also highlighted the fragmentation of authority that would characterize Interior East Africa for much of the eighteenth century.

Thus, by 1743, the Ethiopian Empire stood at a crossroads: weakened central authority in Gondar persisted alongside the rising autonomy of regional rulers, setting the stage for further decentralization and conflicts that would dominate Ethiopian politics in the decades to come.

Interior East Africa (1744–1755 CE): Deepening Fragmentation and Dynastic Decline

The reign of Emperor Iyasu II (1730–1755) brought Ethiopia closer to full political fragmentation, continuing a prolonged decline of central imperial authority. Iyasu II, who ascended the throne as a child, allowed his mother, Empress Mentewab, to exercise significant control, serving as his regent and eventually crowning herself as co-ruler—an unprecedented event in Ethiopian history. Mentewab's influence, though stabilizing initially, was insufficient to arrest Ethiopia’s broader internal decline.

By the mid-18th century, Ethiopia’s empire faced acute internal conflict marked by ethnic tensions and regional rivalries. Established groups like the Agaw, Amhara, Shewan, and Tigrayan elites struggled against each other and confronted the continuing encroachment of the Oromo people. The Oromo, who had penetrated deeply into the central highlands over previous decades, now played a crucial and increasingly autonomous role in the political landscape.

The authority of Gondar’s monarchy weakened dramatically as regional rulers, many now entirely independent in practice, continued to build power bases in their own territories. Prominent among these was the increasingly influential figure Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray, who emerged as a decisive power-broker in northern Ethiopia.

By the end of this era, Ethiopia was firmly entrenched in the dynamics that would characterize the Zemene Mesafint ("Age of Princes"): persistent instability, shifting allegiances, and diminished central control, laying the foundations for further decentralization and prolonged internal conflict.

The reign of Iyasu II (1730–1755) has brought the Ethiopian Empire once again to disaster.

He had ascended the throne as a child, allowing his mother, Empress Mentewab, to play a major role as his regent from 1723 to 1730.

Mentewab had had herself crowned as co-ruler in 1730, becoming the first woman to be crowned in this manner in Ethiopian history.

Beyond the capital of Gondar, the Empire suffers from regional conflict between nationalities that have been part of the Empire for hundreds of years—the Agaw, Amharans, Shewans and Tigreans—and the Oromo newcomers.

Interior East Africa (1756–1767 CE): Intensifying Dynastic Rivalry and Rise of Regional Powers

The era from 1756 to 1767 saw deepening tensions within the Ethiopian Empire, stemming largely from Empress Mentewab's earlier political strategies and the subsequent rivalry between powerful royal factions. Mentewab’s attempt to secure stronger political ties with the influential Oromo by arranging the marriage of her son, Emperor Iyasu II, to the daughter of an Oromo chieftain from Yejju ultimately intensified internal divisions rather than promoting unity.

After Iyasu II’s death in 1755, Mentewab tried to continue exercising influence as regent for her grandson, Emperor Iyoas (r. 1755–1769). However, she encountered fierce opposition from Wubit (Welete Bersabe), the widow of Iyasu II and Iyoas’s mother, who believed that she was entitled to the role of regent. Emperor Iyoas himself exacerbated tensions among the empire’s Amhara aristocracy by favoring his Oromo Yejju relatives, speaking Oromo in court, and openly displaying a preference for Oromo customs over traditional Amhara ways.

The clash between Mentewab’s supporters, primarily drawn from the Qwara nobility, and Wubit’s Oromo relatives from Yejju threatened to plunge the empire into armed conflict. In an attempt to avert civil war, the nobility appealed to the influential Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray for mediation. However, Ras Mikael used the situation shrewdly to his advantage, outmaneuvering both queens and their factions, effectively positioning himself as a key power-broker. By sidelining both Mentewab and Wubit, Ras Mikael Sehul consolidated his dominance, emerging as the leading figure within the Christian Amhara-Tigrean elite.

These developments accelerated Ethiopia's descent into the Zemene Mesafint ("Age of Princes"), characterized by decentralized rule, weakened imperial authority, and increased autonomy for regional warlords.

Mentewab's attempt to strengthen ties between the monarchy and the Oromo by arranging the marriage of her son to the daughter of an Oromo chieftain from Yejju backfire in the long run.

Her attempt to continue in this role after the death of her son Iyasu II (1755) into the reign of her grandson Iyoas (r. 1755–1769) brings her into conflict with Wubit (Welete Bersabe), Iyasu's widow, who believes that it is her turn to serve as regent.

When Iyoas assumed the throne upon his father's sudden death, the aristocrats of Gondar had been stunned to find that he preferred to speak in the Oromo language rather than in Amharic, and favored his mother's Yejju relatives over the Qwarans of his grandmothers family.

Iyoas further increases the favor given to the Oromo when adult.

On the death of the Ras of Amhara, he attempts to promote his uncle Lubo governor of that province, but the outcry leads his adviser Wolde Leul to convince him to change his mind.

The conflict between these two queens leads to Mentewab summoning her relatives with their armed supporters from Qwara to Gondar to support her.

Wubit responds by summoning her own Oromo relatives and their considerable forces from Yejju.

Fearing that the power struggle between the Qwarans and the Yejju led by the Emperor's mother Wubit will erupt into an armed conflict, the nobility summon the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul to mediate between the two camps.

He arrives and shrewdly maneuvers to sideline the two queens and their supporters, making a bid for power for himself.

Mikael soon settles in as the leader of Amharic-Tigrean (Christian) camp of the struggle.

Interior East Africa (1768–1779 CE): Collapse of Central Authority and Emergence of Zemene Mesafint

The era from 1768 to 1779 marked a decisive turning point for the Ethiopian Empire, as internal struggles among rival factions led to the irrevocable collapse of centralized imperial authority. At the center of this turmoil was Emperor Iyoas, whose reign had become synonymous with the intense rivalry between his influential Oromo relatives and the formidable Tigrean noble, Ras Mikael Sehul.

Lacking financial resources and political backing, Iyoas increasingly favored his Oromo kin, notably the influential leader Fasil, further alienating the Amhara-Tigrean aristocracy and intensifying his conflict with Mikael Sehul. The deteriorating relationship culminated on May 7, 1769, when Mikael Sehul boldly deposed Iyoas, marking the first time an Ethiopian emperor was forcibly removed from power through political conspiracy rather than death, abdication, or battlefield defeat. Within a week, Iyoas was killed under mysterious circumstances, sealing a precedent of violent imperial deposition that became a hallmark of the subsequent era.

This assassination is traditionally regarded as the beginning of the Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Princes"), a period defined by extreme fragmentation and the dominance of regional nobles and warlords who routinely installed and deposed emperors according to their political interests. Ras Mikael swiftly placed an elderly imperial uncle, Yohannes II, on the throne only to have him assassinated shortly thereafter. He then installed the underage Tekle Haymanot II, who soon fell victim to shifting allegiances among Ethiopia’s regional power brokers.

Ras Mikael himself was eventually defeated at the three Battles of Sarbakusa, after which a triumvirate of powerful nobles—Fasil of Damot, Goshu of Amhara, and Wand Bewossen of Begemder—asserted control, setting up their own puppet emperors. Such instability became routine: one figure, Tekle Giyorgis, would notoriously ascend and lose the throne six times.

Meanwhile, some regional rulers, notably Amha Iyasus, Meridazmach of Shewa (r. 1744–1775), deliberately avoided this ceaseless cycle of conflict. Amha Iyasus instead consolidated his authority within his domain, establishing Ankober as the capital of a relatively stable Shewan kingdom, a policy followed by his successors. This strategic withdrawal from broader imperial struggles allowed Shewa to emerge as a powerful, relatively stable regional kingdom amidst Ethiopia’s widespread political disintegration.

Amha Iyasus, Meridazmach of Shewa (1744–1775), has meanwhile wisely kept out of this endless fighting, devoting his energies to consolidating his kingdom and founding Ankober.

This is a practice that his successors will follow.

The reign of Ethiopia's Emperor Iyaos has become a narrative of the struggle between his Oromo relatives and the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul.

Iyoas effectively has little say, as he had inherited an empty Imperial treasury and depends heavily on his Oromo relations.

As he increasingly favors Oromo leaders like Fasil, his relations with Mikael Sehul deteriorates.

Eventually, Mikael Sehul deposes Iyoas on May 7, 1769.

One week later, Mikael Sehul has him killed; although the details of his death are contradictory, the result is clear: for the first time an Emperor has lost his throne in a means other than his own natural death, death in battle or voluntary abdication.

From this point forward the Empire will devolve ever more openly in the hands of the great nobles and military commanders; because of its effects, Iyoas' assassination is usually regarded as the start of Zemene Mesafint, the Era of the Princes.

An aged and infirm imperial uncle prince is enthroned as Emperor Yohannes II.

Ras Mikael soon has him murdered, and underage Tekle Haymanot II is elevated to the throne.

Then Mikael Sehul is defeated in the three battles of Sarbakusa and the triumvirate of Fasil, Goshu of Amhara and Wand Bewossen of Begemder place their own emperor on the throne.

More emperors will follow as these three fall from power and are replaced by other strongmen, who will constantly elevate and remove emperors; Tekle Giyorgis will become famous for having been elevated to the throne altogether six times and also deposed six times.