1930 — Haile Selassie's Coronation

On November 2, 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia, taking the name Haile Selassie I, meaning Might of the Trinity. He had served as regent and heir apparent to Empress Zauditu, assumed the title of negus, or king, in 1928, and succeeded her when she died earlier in 1930. The coronation placed a ruler long associated with Ethiopia's progressive younger generation on the throne.

Haile Selassie had already brought Ethiopia into the League of Nations in 1923 and become the first Ethiopian ruler to travel abroad. As emperor he sought to modernize his country, and he would reign until 1974, helping to establish the Organization of African Unity in 1963.