Yohannes IV
Emperor of Ethiopia from 1871 to 1889 · Ethiopia · Lived 1837 to 1889 · aged 51
Yohannes IV is read about 338 times a day, in 32 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 23 October 2026
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Something wrong?He held the throne for eighteen years, beat back an Egyptian army, and died sword in hand at Gallabat. The emperor who toured his governors, armed himself with British guns, and forced conversion on Muslims in the name of reversing a conquest from three hundred years before.
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SMITH(1890) p021 THE QUEEN'S SWORD OF HONOUR_p075_LETTER_FROM_KING_JOHN_OF_ABYSSINIA_TO_QUEEN_VICTORIA.jpg?width=1200)
SMITH(1890) p075 LETTER FROM KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA TO QUEEN VICTORIA_p182_SEAL_OF_KING_JOHN.jpg?width=1200)
SMITH(1890) p182 SEAL OF KING JOHN_p211_JOHANNIS%2C_KING_OF_ABYSSINIA.jpg?width=1200)
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Abissinia, giornale di un viaggio di Pippo Vigoni, Milano, Hoepli, 1881 (page 12 crop).jpg?width=1200)
Abissinia, giornale di un viaggio di Pippo Vigoni, Milano, Hoepli, 1881 (page 6 crop)Awards
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Born Lij Kahssai Mercha on 11 July 1837, he came up through rebellion against Tewodros II in the 1860s. He helped the British in their 1868 expedition that ended in Tewodros' suicide and took the payment in ammunition and artillery. King of Tigray by 1869, emperor by 1871. He kept Tewodros' unification drive alive, touring regions and bending governors into line. He saw Islam as a fracture in the state and ordered forced conversions, framing it as payback for Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's wars four centuries back. He fought Isma'il Pasha's Egypt, repelled the invasion, then turned to face Muhammad Ahmad's Mahdist uprising. On 10 March 1889, at the Battle of Gallabat, he fell.
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