Ethiopia, officially the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It
shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to
the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With over
102 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in
the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent. It
occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometers (420,000 sq. mi), and its
capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest skeletal evidence
for anatomically modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely
considered as the region from which modern humans first set out for the Middle
East and places beyond. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking
populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era.
Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia's governmental system was
a monarchy for most of its history. In the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of
Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, followed by the Ethiopian
Empire circa 1137. During the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia
was one of two nations to retain its sovereignty from long-term colonialism by
a European colonial power. Many newly-independent nations on the continent
subsequently adopted its flag colours. The country was occupied by Italy in
1936 and became Italian Ethiopia (part of the Italian East Africa) until 1941.
Ethiopia was also the first independent member from Africa of the 20th-century
League of Nations and the United Nations. In 1974, the Ethiopian monarchy under
Haile Selassie was overthrown by the Derg, a communist military government
backed by the Soviet Union. In 1987, the Derg established the People's
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, but it was overthrown in 1991 by the Ethiopian
People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has been the ruling political
coalition since. Ethiopia and Eritrea use the ancient Ge'ez script, which is
one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar,
which is approximately seven years and three months behind the Gregorian
calendar, co-exists alongside the wolaita calendar(GIFATA)andBorana calendar. A
majority of the population adheres to Christianity (mainly the Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo Church and protestantP'ent'ay), whereas around a third
follows Islam (primarily Sunni). The country is the site of the Migration to
Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial
population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, also resided in Ethiopia
until the 1980s. Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80
ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromo, Amhara, Somali
and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the
Cushitic or Semitic branches. Additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by
ethnic groups inhabiting the southern regions mainly Wolaita. Nilo-Saharan
languages are also spoken by the nation's Nilotic ethnic minorities. The nation
is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile west, its
forests(Funduniya at wolaita), and numerous rivers, and the world's hottest
settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are the largest
continuous mountain ranges in Africa, and the Sof Omar Caves contains the largest
cave on the continent and water fall like AJORA.. Ethiopia also has the most
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Additionally, the sovereign state is a
founding members of the UN, the Group of 24 (G-24), the Non-Aligned Movement,
G-77 and the Organisation of African Unity. Its capital city Addis Ababa serves
as the headquarters of the African Union, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African
Standby Force, and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia
Received on 13th of November, 2018.


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