Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an estimated population of over 78,000,000. Its capital is Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world and Africa's second-most populous nation. Ethiopia has yielded some of humanity's oldest traces, making the area a primary factor in the origin and developmental history of humanity, with recent studies claiming the vicinity of present-day Addis Ababa as the point from which human beings migrated around the world. Ethiopian dynastic history traditionally began with the reign of Emperor Menelik I in 1000 BC. The roots of the Ethiopian state are similarly deep, dating with unbroken continuity to at least the Aksumite Empire (which officially used the name "Ethiopia" in the 4th century) and its predecessor state, D`mt (with early 1st millennium BC roots). After a period of decentralized power in the 18th and early 19th centuries known as the Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Judges/Princes"), the country was reunited in 1855 by Kassa Hailu, who became Emperor Tewodros II, beginning Ethiopia's modern history.Ethiopia's borders underwent significant territorial expansion to its modern borders for the rest of the century due to several migrations and commercial integration as well as conquests, especially by Emperor Menelik II and Ras Gobena, culminating in its victory over the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 with the military leadership of Ras Makonnen, and ensuring its sovereignty and freedom from colonization. It was brutally occupied by Benito Mussolini's Italy from 1936 to 1941, ending with its liberation by British Commonwealth and Ethiopian patriot forces.
In English and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was also once historically known as Abyssinia, derived from Habesh, an early Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name "?aba??t" (unvocalized "?B?T"), modern Habesha, the native name for the country's inhabitants (while the country was called "Ityopp'ya"). In a few languages, Ethiopia is still called by names cognate with "Abyssinia," e.g., and modern Arabic Al Habeshah, meaning land of the Habesha people.
The term Habesha, strictly speaking, refers only to the Amhara and Tigray-Tigrinya people who have historically dominated the country politically, and which combined comprise about 36% of Ethiopia's population. Sometimes, the term is used to label the nearly 45% of Ethiopian population who used Semetic languages since ancient times like the Amharic (30.1% of Ethiopian population), Tigray (6.2%), Gurage (4.3%) and other smaller Semetic speaking communities like the Harari people in South east Ethiopia. Though since Amharic become the official language of the country, most of the population of the SNNPR and a significant portion of the Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz regions use it as a second language. In contrast, in contemporary Ethiopia, the word Habesha is often used to describe all Ethiopians and Eritreans. Abyssinia can strictly refer to just the North-Western Ethiopian provinces of Amhara and Tigray as well as central Eritrea, while it was historically used as another name for Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has also been known to be considered the land of Cush. The name was originally derived from the Hebrews to refer to the nations on the eastern coast of the Red Sea. However, the Bible is clear in stating that the Cush people are actually Ethiopians. When Moses referred to the people of Cush, it was in reference of a kindred nation to the Egyptians. Due to the close political relations of Egypt and Ethiopia, both nations at one point in time were under the term Cush according to late Hebrew historians. Even though the original intentions of the word were in reference to both sides of the Red Sea, evidence has shown that parts of the eastern coast did belong to the Ethiopians.
English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya. ,
GeographyMap of Ethiopia.At 435,071 square miles (1,127,127 km²),[70] Ethiopia is the world's 27th-largest country (after Colombia). It is comparable in size to Bolivia.
The major portion of Ethiopia lies on the Horn of Africa, which is the eastern-most part of the African landmass. Bordering Ethiopia is Sudan to the west, Djibouti and Eritrea to the north, Somalia to the east, and Kenya to the south. Within Ethiopia is a massive highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley, which runs generally southwest to northeast and is surrounded by lowlands, steppes, or semi-desert. The great diversity of terrain determines wide variations in climate, soils, natural vegetation, and settlement patterns.
Climate and landformsElevation and geographic location produce three climatic zones: the cool zone above 2,400 meters (7,900 ft) where temperatures range from near freezing to 16 °C (32–61 °F); the temperate zone at elevations of 1,500 to 2,400 meters (4,900–7,900 ft) with temperatures from 16 to 30 °C (61–86 °F); and the hot zone below 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) with both tropical and arid conditions and daytime temperatures ranging from 27 to 50 °C (81–122 °F). The topography of Ethiopia ranges from several very high mountain ranges (the Semien Mountains and the Bale Mountains), to one of the lowest areas of l
ExportsEthiopia was the original source of the coffee bean, and coffee beans are the country's largest export commodity.
Ethiopia is also the 10th largest producer of livestock in the world. Other main export commodities are khat, gold, leather products, and oilseeds. Recent development of the floriculture sector means Ethiopia is poised to become one of the top flower and plant exporters in the world.
UrbanizationPopulation growth, migration, and urbanization are all straining both governments and ecosystems' capacity to provide people basic services. Urbanization has steadily been increasing in Ethiopia, with two periods of significantly rapid growth. First, in 1936-1941 during the Italian occupation of Mussolini’s fascist regime, and from 1967-1975 when the populations of urban centers tripled. In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia, building infrastructure to connect major cities, and a dam providing power and water. This along with the influx of Italians and laborers was the major cause of rapid growth during this period. The second period of growth was from 1967-1975 when rural populations migrated to urban centers seeking work and better living conditions. This pattern slowed after to the 1975 Land Reform program instituted by the government provided incentives for people to stay in rural areas. As people moved from rural areas to the cities, there were fewer people to grow food for the population. The Land Reform Act was meant to increase agriculture since food production was not keeping up with population growth over the period of 1970-1983. This program proliferated the formation of peasant associations, large villages based on agriculture. The act did lead to an increase in food production, although there is debate over the cause; it may be related to weather conditions more than the reform act. Urban populations have continued to grow with an 8.1% increase from 1975-2000.
DemographicsView from the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa.Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million in 1983 to 75.1 million in 2006. The 2007 Population and Housing Census results show that the population of Ethiopia grew at an average annual rate of 2.6% between 1994-2007 which is a decrease of 0.2% from period 1983-1994. The country's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak an Afro-Asiatic language, mainly of the Semitic (~ 40-5%) or the Cubad wordic (~ 40-5%) branches. The Oromo, Amhara, Tigray and Somali make up three-quarters of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members.
Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially Semitic-speaking ones, collectively refer to themselves as Habesha or Abesha, though others reject these names on the basis that they refer only to certain ethnicities. The Arabic form of this term (Al-Habasha) is the etymological basis of "Abyssinia," the former name of Ethiopia in English and other European languages.
According to the Ethiopian national census of 2007, the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia at 34.49%. The Amhara represent 26.89%, while the Tigray people are 6.07% of the population. Other ethnic groups are as follows: Somali 6.20%, Sidama 4.01%, Gurage 2.53%, Wolayta 2.31%, Afar 1.73%, Hadiya 1.74%, Gamo 1.50%, Kefficho 1.18% and others 11%.[1][2] Some Italians and Britons settled in Ethiopia during their colonial periods, however, most of their descendants left after independence.
The most recent census in the United States recorded 72,000 Ethiopians in the country. Despite this some other sources put it at a much higher figure, 1.2 million Ethiopians in the US being one of these. There are also large number of Ethiopian emigrants in the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Sweden and Australia
In 2007, Ethiopia hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 201,700. The majority of this population came from Somalia (approximately 111,600 individuals), Sudan (55,400) and Eritrea (23,900). The Ethiopian government required nearly all refugees to live in refugee camps.
ReligionChristian -62.8%
Islam ?-33.9%
Traditional Faiths ?-2.6%
Mosque in HararAccording to the most recent 2007 National Census, Christians make up 62.8% of the country's population (43.5% Ethiopian Orthodox, 19.3% other denominations), Muslims 33.9%, and practitioners of traditional faiths 2.6%. This agrees with the updated CIA World Factbook, Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in Ethiopia.Orthodox Christianity has a long history in Ethiopia dating back to the first century, and a dominant presence in central and northern Ethiopia. Both Orthodox & Protestant Christianity has large representations in the South and Western Ethiopia. A small ancient group of Jews, the Beta Israel, live in northwestern Ethiopia, though most have emigrated to Israel in the last decades of the twentieth century as part of the rescue missions undertaken by the Israeli government, Operation Moses and Operation Solomon. Some Israeli and Jewish scholars consider these Ethiopian Jews as a historical "Lost Tribe of Israel".
A traditional Ethiopian depiction of Jesus and Mary.The name "Ethiopia" (Hebrew Kush) is mentioned in the Bible numerous times (thirty-seven times in the King James version). Abyssinia is also mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith. While many Ethiopians claim that the Bible references of Kush apply to their own ancient civilization, pointing out that the Gihon river, a name for the Nile, is said to flow through the land, most non-Ethiopian scholars believe that the use of the term referred to the Kingdom of Kush in particular or Africa outside of Egypt in general. Some have argued[citation needed] that biblical Kush was a large part of land that included Northern Ethiopia, Eritrea and most of present day Sudan. The capital cities of biblical Kush were in Northern Sudan.
Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion; in 615, when a group of Muslims were counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia via modern day Eritrea, which was ruled by Ashama ibn Abjar, a pious Christian king. Moreover, Bilal, the first muezzin, the person chosen to call the faithful to prayer, and one of the foremost companions of Muhammad, was from Abyssinia (Eritrea, Ethiopia etc.).
There are numerous indigenous African religions in Ethiopia, mainly located in the far southwest and western borderlands. In general, most of the (largely members of the non-Chalcedonian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church) Christians generally live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents of traditional African religions tend to inhabit more lowland regions in the east and south of the country.
Ethiopia is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, whose adherents believe Ethiopia is Zion. The Rastafari view Emperor Haile Selassie I as Jesus, the human incarnation of God, a view apparently not shared by Haile Selassie I himself, who was staunchly Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. The concept of Zion is also prevalent among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, though it represents a separate and complex concept, referring figuratively to St. Mary, but also to Ethiopia as a bastion of Christianity surrounded by Muslims and other religions, much like Mount Zion in the Bible. It is also used to refer to Axum, the ancient capital and religious centre of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, or to its primary church, called Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. The Bahá'í Faith is concentrated primarily in Addis Ababa, but also in the suburbs of Yeka, Kirkos and Nefas Silk Lafto.
Ethiopian calendarEthiopia has its own calendar, which is based on the Coptic calendar, and is roughly eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.
In Ethiopian culture there are two main theories of the cause of disease. The first is attributed to God or other supernatural forces, while the other is attributed to external factors such as unclean drinking water and unsanitary food. Most genetic diseases or deaths are viewed as the will of God. Miscarriages are thought to be the result of demonic spirits.
Cuisine Typical Ethiopian cuisine: Injera (pancake-like bread) and several kinds of wat (stew).Main article: Ethiopian cuisine
The best known Ethiopian cuisine consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes and entrees, usually a wat, or thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread made of Teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera to scoop up the entrees and side dishes. Tihlo prepared from roasted barley flour is very popular in Amhara, Agame, and Awlaelo (Tigrai). Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork or shellfish of any kind, as they are forbidden in the Islamic, Jewish, and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faiths. It is also very common to eat from the same small dish in the center of the table with a group of people. In the morning they drink tea and bread, and buttermilk.
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