Editing Foreign relations of Ethiopia (section)

===Middle Ages===
{{see also|Ethiopian–Adal War|Prester John}}
[[File:Prester John.jpg|thumb|250px|"''Preste''" as the [[Emperor of Ethiopia]], enthroned on a map of East Africa. From an atlas by the Portuguese cartographer [[Diogo Homem]] for [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], c. 1555–1559. ([[British Library]])]]
Foreign relations in the Middle Ages have impacted by an interaction with Iberian countries—[[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]]—especially the latter had considerable power on internal affairs. Portuguese influence spanned from 1500 to 1672, they had an interest of spreading [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] order from 1556 to 1632. According to their narrative effluence, the Portuguese authors underscored their involvement to Ethiopia, but overturned to smoothly decay. Portuguese authors works notably [[Francisco Álvares]], [[Miguel de Castanhoso]], and  [[Pedro Páez]] survived to this day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prijac |first=Lukian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPG4CgAAQBAJ&q=Foreign+relations+of+Ethiopia+history |title=Foreign relations with Ethiopia: human and diplomatic history (from its origins to present) |date=2015 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-12658-0 |language=fr}}</ref> [[Prester John]], a fabulous Christian king, spurred the Portuguese to pursue Ethiopia whose kingdom they equates with [[Garden of Eden]]. According to the legend, he was born about 1460 and last seen in 1526. There is also speculation about his age where he lived for fifteen or twenty seven years beyond 1526.

[[Pêro da Covilhã|Pero da Covilhã]] profoundly marched overland into the Ethiopian Highlands about the end of 1492 or beginning of 1493, characterized by conquest and superiority. He sent an information to Lisbon a few years later that contributed Vasco da Gama mobilisation to African southern cap into the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese navy almost dominated the coastline of [[Eastern Hemisphere]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hespeler-Boultbee |first=John Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEtLkfpSkvoC&q=Portuguese+and+ethiopia+diplomacy |title=A Story in Stones: Portugal's Influence on Culture and Architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia 1493-1634 |date=April 2011 |publisher=CCB Publishing |isbn=978-1-926585-99-4 |language=en}}</ref>

In the early 15th century, Ethiopia sought to make diplomatic contact with European kingdoms for the first time since the Aksumite era. [[Atse]] [[Dawit I]] first made contact with the [[Republic of Venice]] by requesting for religious artifacts and craftsmen. A letter from [[Henry IV of England]] to the Ethiopian Emperor survives.<ref>Mortimer, Ian (2007) ''The Fears of Henry IV'', p. 111. {{ISBN|1-84413-529-2}}</ref> In 1428, [[Yeshaq I]] sent two emissaries to [[Alfonso V of Aragon]], who sent his own emissaries that failed to complete the return trip home to Aragon.<ref>[[#Beshah|Beshah]], pp. 13–14.</ref>

The first continuous relations with a European country began in 1508 with Portugal under [[Dawit II]] (Lebna Dengel), who had just inherited the throne from his father.<ref>[[#Beshah|Beshah]], p. 25.</ref> In 1487, King John II of Portugal sent two emissaries to the Orient, Pero da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva; Afonso would die on this mission.<ref>{{Cite book|date=5 November 2004|title=A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400–1668|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HDODAgAAQBAJ|isbn=9781134553044|last1=Newitt|first1=Malyn|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> By the end of Middle Ages, the Ethiopian Empire was in a 13 year long war with neighboring Muslim states, and a Portuguese expedition force was sent from [[Goa]], [[India]] to aid the Ethiopian Army due to an ongoing [[Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts (1538–1559)|rivalry with  the Ottoman Empire]], who provided logistical support to the Adal Sultanate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jesuits in Ethiopia |url=https://home.iscte-iul.pt/~mjsr/html/expo_jesuits/index.htm#:~:text=The%20Jesuits%20in%2016/17th,the%20Jesuit%20missionaries%20in%201633. |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=home.iscte-iul.pt}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baldridge |first=Cates |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-UASH0jE5cC&q=Portuguese+mission+to+ethiopia |title=Prisoners of Prester John: The Portuguese Mission to Ethiopia in Search of the Mythical King, 1520-1526 |date=2014-01-10 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9019-6 |language=en}}</ref>