Ardi, the earliest known individual of partially human type (or hominid), is of the species Ardipithecus, in the Awash valley region of Ethiopia

A female of the species Australopithecus Afarensis (nicknamed Lucy when her skeleton is found), lives in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia within 50 miles of where her predecessor Ardi was unearthed

The earliest known chipped stone tools are made by hominids at Gona, in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia, close to the region where Ardi and Lucy lived many millennia earler

The rulers of Aksum, the first Ethiopian kingdom, claim descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Frumentius, brought to Ethiopia as a slave, becomes the kingdom's first Christian bishop

A friar, who has failed to find Prester John in the east, publishes a book proving that the fabulous king lives in Ethiopia

Coffee, derived from wild plants in Ethiopia, is cultivated in Arabia

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

An Ethiopian baron usurps the throne and proclaims himself emperor, as Theodore II

Italian troops occupy Eritrea, a province of Ethiopia

Addis Ababa is founded, to become subsequently the capital of Ethiopia

Menelik II is crowned emperor in Ethiopia, bringing the crown back to the Solomon dynasty

In the treaty of Uccialli, Menelik II cedes the Ethiopian province of Eritrea to Italy

The Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II, inflicts a shattering defeat on Italian forces at Aduwa

Italy, one of the local colonial powers, accepts Ethiopia's claim to the Ogaden region of the Somali territory

Ras Tafari, a member of the Ethiopian imperial family, deposes his distant relation the emperor and puts on the throne his aunt, Zauditu

The regent Ras Tafari becomes emperor of Ethiopia and takes the name Haile Selassie

The Rastafarian cult evolves in Jamaica, viewing Ras Tafari, the emperor of Ethiopia, as the black Messiah

Mussolini uses a disagreement over grazing rights as a pretext for an empire-building invasion of Ethiopia

The Italian forces invading Ethiopia reach Addis Ababa, and Haile Selassie flees into exile

The Allies recover Ethiopia from the Italians and Haile Selassie returns to his throne in Addis Ababa

A decision by the United Nations makes Eritrea an autonomous federal province within Ethiopia

The Eritrean parliament votes to merge fully with Ethiopia, ending Eritrean autonomy

The OAU (Organization of African Unity) is founded in Addis Ababa to give Africa a united voice in world affairs

Donald Johanson and Tom Gray find an almost complete Australopithecus female skeleton at Hadar in Ethiopia, and nickname her Lucy after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds