Zewditu (also spelled
Zawditu or
Zauditu; ; 29 April 1876 – 2 April 1930) was
Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. The first female head of an internationally recognized state in
Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first Empress regnant of the
Ethiopian Empire perhaps since the legendary
Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, her reign was noted for
the reforms of her
Regent and designated heir
Ras Tafari Makonnen (who succeeded her as Emperor
Haile Selassie I), about which she was at best ambivalent and often stridently opposed, due to her staunch conservatism and strong religious devotion.