Tewodros II (c. 1818 – April 13, 1868) was the Emperor of Ethiopia

Emperor of Ethiopia

The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1974. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive, judicial and legislative power in that country...

 from 1855 until his death.

He was born Kassa Haile Giorgis, but was more regularly referred to as Kassa Hailu (Ge'ez

Ge'ez alphabet

Ge'ez , also called Ethiopic, is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea but originated in an abjad used to write Ge'ez, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church...

 ካሳ ኃይሉ — meaning "restitution" and "His

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 [or the] power"). His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, ending the decentralized Zemene Mesafint

Zemene Mesafint

The Zemene Mesafint was a period in Ethiopian history when the country was rent by conflicts between warlords, the Emperor was reduced to little more than a figurehead confined to the capital city of...

 (Era of the Princes).
Kassa was the son of a Christian nobleman of the Qwara

Qwara Province

Qwara was a province in Ethiopia, located between Lake Tana and the frontier with Sudan, and stretcing from Agawmeder in the south as far north as Metemma...

 district of the province of Dembiya

Dembiya

Dembiya is a historic region of Ethiopia, intimately linked with Lake Tana. According to the account of Manuel de Almeida, Dembiya was "bounded on East by Begemder, on South by Gojjam, on West by Agaws of Achefer and Tangha...

 named Haile Giorgis Wolde Giorgis.