Menelik II

Menelik II, king of Shewa before becoming emperor, expanded Ethiopia dramatically through conquest to the south and founded the capital at Addis Ababa. His decisive defeat of an invading Italian army at Adwa in 1896 preserved Ethiopian independence and became a landmark for Africa and the wider Black world. He modernised the state with new infrastructure and a treaty framework, though his southern conquests brought their own harsh subjugation of conquered peoples. The mistranslated Treaty of Wuchale, which Italy read as a protectorate, helped set off the war he won at Adwa.