The Armenian-Ethiopian relations are mentioned in the testimonies of the historian Movses Khorenatsi.

In the 7th century, due to the Arab persecution, a great number of Armenians emigrated from Syria, Palestine, Egypt to Ethiopia and settled near the present-day city of Dessie. They built the Istifanos Monastery (or St. Stephan Monastery) (it stood until 1527) and established an Armenian settlement, which is known in the Abyssinian chronicle as “Hayk” and “the Armenian island”.