Ethiopia, like many other countries, had attempted to implement a nation-building project, especially beginning from the mid-19th century. Implementing this project has two major aspects: territorial expansion and centralization of governance. Both processes began during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II in the 1850s (Teshale 1995; Bahru 2002). The territorial expansion particularly, which was implemented using both coercive and non-coercive methods (Bahru 2002), culminated during Emperor Minilik II (1889−1913) giving Ethiopia its current shape. This effort brought into the Ethiopian empire many ethnocultural groups that formerly had their own identity and institutions.