1438 The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
1542 Portuguese under Christovão da Gama capture a Moslem-occupied hill fort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.
1608 Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.
1868 At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two die from the British/Indian troops.
1868 At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two die from the British/Indian troops.
1872 Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.
1889 Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Italy control over Eritrea.
1889 Menelek of Shoa obtains the allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility, paving the way for him to be crowned emperor.
1896 Battle of Adowa: an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo–Ethiopian War.
1896 Ethiopia defeats Italy in the Battle of Adwa, marking the first victory of an African nation over a colonial power.
1916 Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
1916 Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
1930 Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
1930 Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
1934 An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.
1934 Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
1935 Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy invades Ethiopia under General de Bono.
1935 The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
1936 Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
1936 Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
1937 During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.
1952 United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
1960 While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaim him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.
1960 Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1961 The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
1963 In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
1974 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, 'Messiah' of the Rastafari movement, is deposed following a military coup by the Derg, ending a reign of 58 years.
1974 Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete ''Australopithecus afarensis'' skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
1974 The fossil known as Lucy is discovered by Donald Johanson, Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
1984 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's ''Do They Know It's Christmas'' in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
1985 A passenger train plunged into a ravine at Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
1985 Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single ''We Are the World'', to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
1988 Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
1988 Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in {{city-state|Portland|Oregon}} is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
1989 U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
1991 Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
1991 Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
1991 The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
1993 Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1994 Human evolution: The journal ''Nature'' reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete ''Australopithecus afarensis'' skull.
2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
2005 The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.