1889–1913: (Menelik II — Creator of Modern Ethiopia, Victor at Adwa in 1896 as the Only African Leader to Permanently Defeat an Invading European Army, Build…

1889–1913: (Menelik II — Creator of Modern Ethiopia, Victor at Adwa in 1896 as the Only African Leader to Permanently Defeat an Invading European Army, Builder of Addis Ababa and a Railway, Participant in the Partition as He Extended Amhara Hegemony Over the Oromo South and the Somali Ogaden): Power passed relatively smoothly to Menelik of Shoa. Between 1889 and 1906, when he suffered a crippling stroke, Menelik created modern Ethiopia. He immediately withdrew Ethiopian claims to the coast and ceded Eritrea to the Italians, but even after he overwhelmed an ill-planned Italian invasion at the battle of Adwa in 1896 — becoming the only African leader to permanently defeat an invading European army in the era of partition — he was unable or unwilling to continue into Eritrea. Victory at Adwa secured his northern frontier and ensured European recognition of Ethiopian sovereignty. Menelik not only spared his state the colonial experience endured by the rest of the region but actively participated in the carving up of vast tracts of land to the south and east, demarcating his new empire with the agreement of European colonial authorities. Amhara hegemony was extended into the rich agricultural Oromo lands to the south and into the Somali Ogaden, controlled through strategic garrisoning of troops and the distribution of territorial governorships. Menelik oversaw the building of a railway, a modern capital city in Addis Ababa, a banking system, and a communications infrastructure. He employed European advisors and sent Ethiopians abroad for training. Above all, the swift appearance of European embassies in Addis Ababa signaled the recognition of an African sovereignty that no other polity in eastern Africa or beyond managed to achieve during this era of creeping foreign hegemony.