Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie , former name Ras Tafari Makonnen (1891-1975). Emperor of Ethiopia, who succeeded the empress Zauditu on her death in 1930. He heroically led the resistance to the Italian invasion (1935) but went into exile the following year in Britain. He returned to power in 1941 but was deposed in a military coup (1974) and died in captivity. Adherents of the Rastafarian religion regard him as the human incarnation of God.