The Ethiopian Empire (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ንጉሠ ነገሥት መንግሥተ, Mängəstä Ityop'p'ya^?), also known as Abyssinia (derived from the Arabic al-Habash), was a kingdom that spanned a geographical area covered by the northern half of the current state of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 1137 (beginning of Zagwe dynasty) until 1974, when the Solomonic dynasty was overthrown in a coup d'état.

Following the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two African nations to remain independent during the scramble for Africa by the European imperial powers in the late 19th century. The country was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945.

In 1974 Ethiopia was one of only three countries in the world to have the title of Emperor for its head of state, together with Japan, which still has the Emperor as its nominal ruler, and Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty. It was the second-to-last country in Africa to use the title of Emperor; the only one later was the Central African Empire, which was implemented between 1976 and 1979 by Emperor Bokassa I.

Ethiopia's human occupation began early, as evidenced by the findings. It is believed that the ancient Egyptians claimed that Punt, known as gold country, was in Ethiopia in 980 BC, according to the report of the Kebra Nagast Menelik I founded the Ethiopian empire. In the 1st century BC. settled the Axumite empire that existed from the 7th century. This kingdom was founded in the 4th century with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the state religion and was thus one of the first Christian states.

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