One exception to the general European takeover of Africa during the scramble was the kingdom of Ethiopia. Located in the mountainous highlands of northeastern Africa, Ethiopia boasted an ancient pedigree, a long-established Christian culture, a literate elite, and rich agricultural resources. During the scramble for Africa, that country also had an astute monarch in Menelik II (r. 1889–1913). Playing various European powers against one another, he acquired from them a considerable arsenal of modern weapons and gained substantial territory for his kingdom, in effect taking part in the scramble. In the famous Battle of Adowa in 1896, Menelik’s forces decisively defeated the Italians, who were seeking to add Ethiopia to their country’s African empire. By this victory, Ethiopia preserved its independence and became a continental symbol of African bravery and resistance in the face of European imperialism.

In Visual Source 18.5, an unknown Ethiopian artist, working during the 1940s, celebrated the victory at Adowa at a time when Ethiopia had just fought off yet another Italian effort at conquest, this time led by Mussolini during World War II. The painting itself replicated in both style and content many earlier artistic celebrations of the victory at Adowa. In the upper left corner, Emperor Menelik is shown wearing a crown and seated under a royal umbrella. His queen, Empress Taytu, is visible in the lower left on horseback and holding a revolver. The commander of the Ethiopian forces sits on a brown horse, while leading his troops. At the top of the painting, St. George, the patron saint of Ethiopia, presides over the battle scene within a halo of red, yellow, and green, the colors of the Ethiopian flag adopted shortly after the battle.37