Ruling from 1930-1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was Ethiopia’s 225th and last monarch, and is widely considered to be the architect of modern Africa and the central figure of Rastafari ideology. Under ...

Shortly thereafter, on Nov. 2, 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia. While Selassie never considered himself divine, many people did, leading to Rastafarianism.

On Sept. 12, 1974, military officers deposed Emperor Haile Selassie from the Ethiopian throne he had occupied for more than half a century.

Born in Ethiopia in 1892 as Täfäri Mäkonnän (“Ras” is a noble title he took later), Selassie traced his lineage back to the first emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik I, who is said to be a ...