Visit Ethiopia to see jagged mountains, vast highland plateaus, the Blue Nile and Fauna found nowhere else in the world. Experience the Ethiopian Rift valley with its huge lakes and volcanoes. The innumerable, magnificent crater lakes characterized by their aquatic life, the interweaving rivers, the enticing and graceful waterfalls, the extraordinary savannah, and the unusual wild domains are mystery – covered and peculiar. The extensive national parks and game reserves are sanctuaries for the great number of wild life species.
Ethiopia is anchored in ancient, cultured society the rich culture of its affluent society is prominent. Its societies comprise a mosaic of over 80 ethnic groups.
Explore remnants of the ancient Aksumite kingdom that sat alongside the empires of Rome and Persia. Investigate Ethiopia´s early adoption of Christianity and its unique churches. There are great and formidable stele, timeless monuments, prehistoric cave-paintings, exotic rock -hewn churches, old monasteries, castles, mosques, temples and other shrines, which harbor and shield all sorts of irreplaceable, irretrievable and priceless mementos.
Visualize Ethiopia´s powerful myths and legends – the queen of Sheba and Ark of the Covenant. Generally Ethiopia is a land of fabled queen of Sheba, home of the Ark of the Covenant, The Birth place of coffee, and ´LUCY´, the world´s oldest known complete hominid skeleton that ages for more than 3 million years, and more…
Ethiopia is one of the few countries never to lose its independence.
Ethiopia is the only country in Africa and one of the thirteen in the world that has an alphabet along with its own national calendar.
Ethiopia´s many national parks and sanctuaries enable the visitor to enjoy the country´s scenery and its wildlife, conserved in natural habitats, and offer opportunities for travel adventure unparalleled in Africa
There is much more to Ethiopia than this short brief introduction. Come and visit one of the most fascinating countries in the world. Don’t hesitate because it is changing fast
Location
Ethiopia is one of the countries that make up the northeast corner of Africa known as the Horn of Africa. It borders Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea. Ethiopia is landlocked and lies between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, between 3° and 18°N and 33° and 48°E. Its area is about 1,127,000 square kilometers. It is large as France and Spain or three times large as Germany combined most parts of it are elevated plateau rising from 2100 – 4400 meters.
Climate
Ethiopia shows a wide climatic variation, ranging from the peaks of Semien or Bale, which receive periodic snowfall, to regular daytime temperatures of over 50°C in the Danakil Desert. Ethiopia in the Equator has high altitude i.e. a temperate, moderate, even chilly climate. There are two seasons: Dry season from October to May and Rainy season, which has two parts. The main/long rainy season from June to mid of September, while March and April belongs to the irregular/short rainy season.
Topography
Ethiopia has an elevated central plateau varying in height between 2,000-3,000 meters. In the north and center of the country, there are some 25 mountains whose peaks rise above 4,000 meters. Physically, Ethiopia is geographical anomaly in predominantly flat Africa. It accounts for 80% of the continents high mountain ranges being in the tropics this has endowed it with such unique Afro-Alpine ecosystems like the Bale moorland and Semien Mountains. Deeping as low as 127 meters below sea level, the Danakil Depression and its dazzling volcanic makes it simply other worldly. Ethiopia´s Mountains rise up to a height of over 4000 meters, with mount Batu, the second highest peak in Ethiopia rising to 4377meters. The Semien mountains massif is a broad plateau, cut off to the north and west by an enormous single crag over 60 kilometers long. To the south the tableland slopes gently down to 2000 meters, divided by gorges 1000 meters deep. Insufficient geological time has elapsed to smooth the contours of the crags and buttresses of hardened basalt.
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History
The oldest designation of the present day territory of the country was Punt (meaning a blessed land and realm of the gods) given by the ancient Egyptians. Ethiopia´s ancient name Abyssinia, some say, referred to people who used to inhabit part of the land known as the Habeshat (land of the Abyssinians). Others claim that the name was given by the Greeks in view of its deep gorges and precipitous.
The name Ethiopia (Sun burnt), is mentioned in the Bible more than forty times.
Legend has it that Emperor Menelik I, the son of the queen of Saba and King Solomon, brought the Ark of the Covenant( given to Moses by God) from Jerusalem to Axum, where he settled and established one of the world’s longest known uninterrupted monarchial dynasties. In addition to this Ethiopia claims possessing one more highly valued and Judaea-Christian heritage. The fragment of the True Cross, one of the arms of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
The local Empire in Ethiopia so called Axumite Empire was named as one of the four great powerful of the world with Persia, Rome, and China. Axum´s prosperity seems to have peaked in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD. In about 340 AD, Ethiopia formally adopted Christianity under King Ezana (320 – 360 AD). This makes Ethiopia the first or second (due to different scholars) nation of Christianity. (Before or after Armenia)
Ethiopia had until 1974 the longest monarchical dynasty in the world. This was supplanted by military led-Marxist-Leninist socialist state following the revolution that deposed the last Emperor, Haile Selassie
These are only some example of Ethiopia´s magnificent history, which encompasses legend and tradition, mystery and fact, from a powerful and religious ancient civilization. The well trodden path through Ethiopia´s famous and fascinating historic sites takes you through a scenic magnificent world of fairy-tale names such as Axum, Lalibela, Gondar, Debre Damo and Bahirdar.
Language
Ethiopia supports a diverse mix of linguistic groups. Some 80 languages are spoken in Ethiopia, most of them belonging to the Semitic or Cushitic branches of the Afro-Asiatic family.
Ethiopia´s Semitic languages are transcribed in a script that is unique to the country. This consists of over 200 characters, each of which denotes a syllable as opposed to a letter.
The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic, a Semitic language which is spoken by about 27 million people (2.7 expatriates). Amharic is written with Ge´ez script, it derives its name from the ancient Semitic language. T he Ge´ez language is extinct but is still in use by the Bete Israel Jewish community and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo church. The second largest language in Ethiopia is the Oromo language, a Cushitic language spoken by about 30% of the population.
English is the most widely spoken European language as it is used for secondary education.
Religion
The diversity of people, nation and nationality of Ethiopia makes of curse a wide range of religions and faiths. Religion in Ethiopia is something very essential; because of this many people in Ethiopia are very religious and follow their faith with passion.
There are two major type of religion those are worldwide famous. The biggest religion in Ethiopia is Christianity with all different type of groups (Ethiopian Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic) all together about 65%. The second biggest is Islam about 30%. The rest are other traditional beliefs and Animists.
One of the old religions Judaism which have been used to practice in Ethiopia too, doesn’t play any role anymore since almost all of Ethiopian Jewish people, the so called Bete Israel return back to Israel.
Clothing
Traditional cloths in Ethiopia are called yehager Bahl Libs (Clothes of the country-side), which is made of cotton woven together in long strips sewn together and shiny treads are woven in to the fabric for an elegant effect. Men wear pants and a knee-long shirt with a white collar, and a sweater. Women wear a dress called “Habesha qemis”. The dress is usually white with some color on the bottom. Often women will cover her head with a “Shash”, a cloth that is tied at the neck. Men as well as women wear shawls, the “Netela” or “Gabi”.
Food
Ethiopian Food is characterized by the spices used. Berbere is an essential ingredient in Ethiopian cooking. It is a red paste made of spices and Herbs. Flavored butter is also important. It is flavored with Onion, Garlic, Ginger and spices. The national dish of Ethiopia is Wot, a spicy stew. It can be made from Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Goat or even Lentils or Chickpeas, but it always contains spicy Berbere. Alcha is a less spicy stew seasoned with green ginger
Ethiopian Food is eaten with Hands, using pieces of a type of flat bread called Injera. Injera is usually made from Teff, a kind of grain grow in Ethiopia.
Honey is occasionally used as a sweetener.
Ethiopian Coffee
More than 1000 years ago an Abyssinian goatherd who lived around AD 850 in Ethiopia’s South-western highlands plucked a few red berries from some young green trees in the in the forest and tasted them. He liked the flavor – and the feel good effect that followed. Today those self- same berries, dried, roasted and ground, have became the world’s second most popular non alcoholic Beverage after Tea
The name ‘Coffee’ derives from the Ethiopian province – Kaffa, where they first blossomed. The original home of the coffee plant, coffee Arabica, which still grows wild in the forest of the highlands. The principle coffee producing regions of Ethiopia are Kaffa and Sidamo. The drink is brewed today with the addition of melted ghee which gives it a distinctive, buttery flavor.
Today Coffee in Ethiopia is something very special and has its own ceremony. It is one of very important ceremony with very useful Socio – Cultural background.
Economy
About 85 percent of the population earns their living from the land, mainly as subsistence farmers. Agriculture is the Backbone of the national economy and the principal exports from the sector are Coffee, Oil seeds, flowers, Cotton, Chat
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Teff
Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia, where it is used to make Injera, a type of bread (flatbread). Injera is the main food in most part of the country. The main ingredient for preparing Injera is Teff, a type of crop, which grows only in Ethiopia. Teff production occurs at altitudes of 1,800 to 2,100 m, and a temperature range of 10 to 27 °c.
Teff is high in protein, carbohydrates and fiber.