ኢትዮጵያ Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in the
Horn of Africa, and officially known as the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. It is the second-most populous nation in
Africa, with over 85.2 million people, and the tenth-largest by area, with its 1,
100,000 km2. The capital is
Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is bordered by
Eritrea to the north,
Sudan to the west,
Djibouti and
Somalia to the east, and
Kenya to the south.
Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, and the
Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the
2nd century BC.[6] Ethiopia is also one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today, having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces.[7] It may be the region from which
Homo sapiens first set out for the
Middle East and points beyond.[8][9][10] When Africa was divided up by
European powers at the
Berlin Conference, Ethiopia was one of only two countries that retained its independence. It was one of only four African members of the
League of Nations. After a brief period of
Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the
United Nations. When other
African nations received their independence following
World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa.
Modern Ethiopia and its current borders are a result of significant territorial reduction in the north and expansion in the south toward its present borders, owing to several migrations and commercial integration as well as conquests, particularly by
Emperor Menelik II and
Ras Gobena. In
1974, the dynasty led by
Haile Selassie was overthrown as civil wars intensified. Since then, Ethiopia has seen a variety of governmental systems. Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the
Non-Aligned Movement (
NAM),
G-77 and the
Organisation of African Unity (
OAU).
Today, Addis Ababa is still the headquarter of the
African Union, the
Nile Basin Commission,[11] the
Pan African Chamber of Commerce (PACCI) and[12]
UNECA.
The country has one of the most powerful militaries in Africa and Addis Ababa is the headquarter of the continental
African Standby Force (
ASF). Ethiopia is one of a few
African countries to have its own alphabet.[13] Ethiopia also has its own time system and unique calendar, seven to eight years behind the
Gregorian Calendar. It has the largest number of
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.[14]
The country is a land of natural contrasts, with spectacular waterfalls and volcanic hot springs. Ethiopia has some of Africa's highest mountains as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level. The largest cave in Africa is located in Ethiopia at Sof
Omar, and the country's northernmost area at
Dallol is one of the hottest places year-round anywhere on
Earth. There are altogether around 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia today, with the two largest being the
Oromo and the
Amhara, both of which speak
Afro-Asiatic languages. The country is also famous for its
Olympic gold medalists, rock-hewn churches and as the place where the coffee bean originated.
Currently, Ethiopia is the top coffee and honey-producing country in Africa, and home to the largest livestock population in Africa.
Ethiopia has close historical ties to all three of the world's major
Abrahamic religions. It was one of the first
Christian countries in the world, having officially adopted
Christianity as the state religion in the
4th century. It still has a Christian majority, but a third of the population is Muslim. Ethiopia is the site of the first hijra in
Islamic history and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. Until the
1980s, a substantial population of
Ethiopian Jews resided in Ethiopia. The country is also the spiritual homeland of the
Rastafari religious movement, that is influenced by Pan-Africanism and has globalized
Ethiopian flag tricolors with the spread of
Reggae music alongside
Hip hop culture. Ethiopia, which has Africa's second biggest hydropower potential,[15] is the source of over 85% of the total
Nile water flow and contains rich soils, but it nevertheless underwent a series of famines in the 1980s, exacerbated by adverse geopolitics and civil wars, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands.[16]
Slowly, however, the country has begun to recover, and today Ethiopia has the biggest economy in
East Africa (
GDP) as the
Ethiopian economy is also one of the fastest growing in the world and it is a regional powerhouse in the
Horn and east Africa. The country remains politically fragile, with the opposition struggling for democracy and with reports of human rights abuses
- published: 03 Jan 2011
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