Rastafari is a young, Africa-centred religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, following the coronation of Haile Selassie I as King of Ethiopia in 1930. Rastafarians believe Haile Selassie is God and that he will return to Africa members of the black community who are living in exile as the result of colonisation and the slave trade.

Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian regent and emperor who faced decades of turmoil as a leader, including exile and imprisonment. Eventually, he became known as a prophet and messiah of the Rastafari religious movement, and today is seen as a divine being by Rastafarians.