A little bit about Ethiopia

Population
77,431,000

Capital
Addis Ababa; 2,723,000

Area
1,133,380 square kilometers
(437,600 square miles)

Language
Amharic, Tigrinya, Orominga, Guaraginga, Somali, Arabic

Religion
Muslim, Ethiopian Orthodox, tribal religions

Currency
birr

GDP per captia
$823 US (175th in the world)

Life Expectancy
42

Literacy Percent
43

Land and Ecology

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the northeast African region known as the Horn of Africa. The country has a high central plateau, with some mountains reaching more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). The Great Rift Valley splits the plateau diagonally. The western highlands get summer rainfall; the lowlands and eastern highlands are hot and dry. Most people reside in the western highlands as does the capital, Addis Ababa—the highest capital city in Africa at 2,400 meters (8,000 feet). Ethiopia, as large as France and Spain combined, has an area of 1,112,000  square kilometres. About 65 percent of the land is arable, with 15 percent presently  cultivated. From the north and running down the centre are the Abyssinian highlands, to the west of the chain the land drops to the grasslands of Sudan, to the east to the deserts of the Afar. South of Addis Ababa the land is dominated by the Rift Valley Lakes. The main rivers are the Blue Nile, the Tekezze, the Awash, the Wabe Shabele, the Omo, and the Baro.

Ethiopia is an ecologically diverse country, ranging from the deserts along the eastern border to the tropical forests in the south to extensive Afromontane in the northern and southeastern parts. Lake Tana in the north is the source of the Blue Nile. It also has a large number of endemic species, notably the Gelada Baboon, the Walia Ibex and the Ethiopian wolf (or Simien fox). The wide range of altitude has given the country a variety of ecologically distinct areas, this has helped to encourage the evolution of endemic species in ecological isolation.

The normal rainy season is from mid-June to mid-September (longer in the southern highlands) preceded by intermittent showers from February or March; the remainder of the year is generally dry.

Population / Religion

The current population is about 70 million, making it the third most populated country in Africa.The population is almost evenly split between Christians, living in the highlands, and Muslims inhabiting the lowlands. The country’s population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigray make up more than 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. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigreans are the largest ethnic groups.

Having converted during the fourth century AD, it is also the second-oldest country to become officially Christian, after Armenia, although it has been secular since 1974. According to the most recent 1994 National Census, Christians make up 61% of the country’s population, Muslims 33%, and practitioners of traditional faiths 5%.

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. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera to scoop up the entrees and side dishes. Tihlo prepared from roasted barley floor is very popular in Agame and Awlaelo (Tigrai). Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork or shellfish of any kind, as it is forbidden in the Islamic, Jewish, and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian faiths. It is also very common to eat from the same big dish in the center of the table with a group of people

History

Hunger and war plague this nation, whose history spans 2,000 years. During the first millennium A.D. the Ethiopian Orthodox Church held the kingdom’s Christianity secure against Islamic holy wars. Emperor Haile Selassie, dethroned in 1974, was the last of the monarchs. Ethiopia was not colonized during the Scramble for Africa after defeating Italy at the Battle of Adwa. However it was occupied by Mussolini’s Italy from 1935 to 1941.

Historically a relatively isolated mountain empire, Ethiopia has more recently become a crossroads of global international cooperation. It became a member of the League of Nations in 1923; signed the Declaration by United Nations in 1942; was one of the fifty-one original members of the United Nations (UN); founded the UN headquarters in Africa; there are more than 60 Ethiopian embassies around the world; and currently hosts the headquarters of the African Union (formerly the Organisation of African Unity) of which it was the principal founder.

More history and Ethio current events here.

Economy & Politics

Industry: food processing, beverages, textiles, chemicals.
Agriculture: cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed; cattle; hides.
Exports: coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds.

About 90 percent of  the population earn their living from the land, mainly as subsistence  farmers. Agriculture is the backbone of the national economy and the principal exports from this sector are coffee, oil seeds, pulses, flowers,  vegetables, sugar and foodstuffs for animals. Most Ethiopians are farmers and herders. But deforestation, drought, and soil degradation have caused crop failures and famine during the past few decades; seven million people face starvation. A high birthrate and refugees from Somalia further strain economic resources. In May 1991, a 30-year civil war between the government and rebel forces aligned with Eritrean nationalists ended with the government’s downfall. Under a transitional government, Eritrea became independent in 1993, cutting off Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea. The 1994 constitution divided the newly landlocked country into nine ethnically based regions. A 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea killed tens of thousands and ended with a UN-sponsored agreement to demarcate the ill-defined border.

Videos (click on the picture and search for Ethiopia)

Sources

Wikipedia
National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, 2004
& others, liberally cut and pasted!