Mystical Ethiopia Land and Resources | Climate | Culture | Population | History | Historical Places | Religions | Government Mystical Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | Economy | Emperor Haile Selassie | More Pictures |
Ethiopia,
republic in
northeastern Africa, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia. Ethiopia is bounded on the northeast by Eritrea and Djibouti, on
the east and southeast by Somalia, on the southwest by Kenya, and on the
west and northwest by Sudan. A high plateau capped with rugged mountains
covers much of Ethiopia; lowland deserts surround the plateau
region. Agriculture, the country’s chief economic activity, is carried
out in the fertile plateau area.
Ethiopia is truly a land of discovery- brilliant and beautiful, secretive, mysterious and extraordinary. Above all things, it is a country of great antiquity, with a culture and traditions dating back more than 3,000 years. The traveler in Ethiopia makes a journey through time, transported by beautiful monuments and the ruins of the edifices built long centuries ago. Ethiopia, like many other African countries, is a multi-ethnic state. many distinctions have been blurred by intermarriage over the years but many also remain. The differences may be observed in the number of languages spoken- an astonishing 83, falling into four main language groups: Semitic, Cushitic, Omotic and Nilo-Saharan. There are 200 different dialects. Ethiopia has a diverse population, with more than 70 distinct ethnic and linguistic groups. The 1994 constitution established Ethiopia as a federation and created nine regions for the country’s main ethnic groups. Known as Abyssinia until the 20th century, Ethiopia is the oldest independent nation in Africa. It was home to the powerful Christian kingdom of Aksum in the first centuries AD and became a Christian empire in the 15th century. After the 1500s Ethiopia divided into a number of small kingdoms, which were reunified by Menelik II in the 1880s. Eritrea, which had been part of Ethiopia since the 1950s, became an independent nation in 1993 after a protracted civil war. Addis Ababa is Ethiopia’s capital and largest city.
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