The Battle of Adwa was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian forces,led by King Menelik II, defeated the Italian invading force on Sunday 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa . The decisive victory thwarted the campaign of the Kingdom of Italy to expand its colonial empire in the
Horn of Africa . By the end of the 19th century, European powers had carved up almost all of Africa after the Berlin
Conference ; only Ethiopia, Liberia and the Dervish State still maintained their independence. Adwa became a pre-eminent symbol of pan-Africanism and secured Ethiopian
sovereignty.
