Yekuno Amlak

Yekuno Amlak (throne name Tesfa Iyasus; died 19 June 1285), a ruler of Bete Amhara, overthrew the last Zagwe king and in 1270 founded Ethiopia's Solomonic dynasty. Tradition associates his rise with Lake Hayq monastery and the monk Tekle Haymanot.

He campaigned south against Damot, founded the capital of Ankober, and exchanged letters with the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII, to whom he sent giraffes. In 1273 he asked the Mamluk sultan Baibars for a new Abuna for the Ethiopian Church; when none arrived, he blamed the sultan of Yemen. His son Yagbe'u Seyon succeeded him.