Ethiopia is sub-Saharan Africa's oldest state. Its dynasty claims descent from Menelik I, traditionally believed to be the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. A melting pot of ancient Middle Eastern and African cultures is evident in the religious, ethnic and language composition of its Semitic, Cushitic, Omotic and Nilotic peoples. Hamitic people migrated to Ethiopia from Asia Minor in prehistoric times. Semitic traders from Arabia penetrated the region in the 7th century BC. Its Red Sea ports were important to the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Coptic Christianity was brought to the region in AD 341, a variant of which became Ethiopia's state religion. Ancient Ethiopia reached its peak in the 5th century, and was subsequently isolated by the rise of Islam, and weakened by feudal wars. Modern Ethiopia was established by Emperor Menelik II, who routed an Italian invasion in 1896, and expanded his empire, by conquest. The political turmoil that followed Menelik's death brought his daughter to the throne in 1917, with his cousin, Teferi Makonnen, as regent and heir apparent. When the empress died in 1930, Teferi was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I. Haile Selassie, called the "Lion of Judah," outlawed slavery and tried to centralize his scattered realm. In 1931 he created a constitution, revised in 1955, that called for a Parliament with an appointed senate and an elected chamber of deputies, and a system of courts. But basic power remained firmly vested in the emperor and the traditional ruling class. Italy invaded Ethiopia on Oct. 3, 1935, forcing Haile Selassie into exile in the following year. Ethiopia was sub-divided, and annexed to the Italian colony of Eritrea, and to Italian Somaliland. In 1941, British troops defeated the Italians, and Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa. In 1952, Eritrea was incorporated into Ethiopia. The slow pace of development and political liberalization led to increasing discontent. On Sept. 12, 1974, a collective military dictatorship called the Provisional Military Administrative Council deposed Haile Selassie. The Derg, as it was commonly known, suspended the constitution and proclaimed a socialist state. U.S. assistance stopped, and Cuban and Soviet aid began. Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam became head of state in 1977. During his regime Ethiopia fought against Eritrean secessionists and Somali rebels, and the government brutally repressed its own people in a campaign called the "red terror." The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front seized the capital in 1991, while an allied separatist guerrilla organization, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, took control of the province of Eritrea. The two groups agreed that Eritrea would have an internationally supervised referendum on independence. This election took place in April 1993 with almost unanimous support for Eritrean independence. Ethiopia accepted the results, and recognized Eritrea as an independent state within a few days.