Empress Zawditu
First reigning female monarch of Ethiopia
(1876-1930)

Born in 1876, she was raised as a princess, but with no idea that she might ascend the throne. Yet, as Menlick's daughter, she participated in politics, and, in September 1882, she was married to the son and heir of Yohannes IV....  

During the last two years of her reign, therefore, Zawditu turned inward, and became a mystic.  When her husband, Gugsa, died on March 31, 1930, in a battle with imperial forces, after he had attempted to depose Tafari, Zawditu appears to have had a nervous and physical breakdown.  She died on April 1, 1930.  (continued...)

SOURCE: Encyclopaedia Africana: Dictionary of African Biography®™ Volume 1: Ethiopia & Ghana, Page 156