INTRODUCTION TO ETHIOPIA 

Capital:  Addis Ababa
Official language:  Amharic
Official name:  Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Area:  426, 373 square miles.
Distance across at widest points:  north to south 800 miles; east to west 1035 miles
Elevation:  highest – Ras Dashen, 15,158 ft. above sea level.  Lowest – Denakil Depression, 381 feet below sea level
Population:  70 million
Chief products:  Agriculture – coffee, corn, oilseed, sorghum, sugar cane, wheat.
Manufactured goods:  cement, processed food, leather goods, textiles.

GEOGRAPHY 

Ethiopia is located in the horn of Africa, bordered by Sudan on the west, Somalia and Djibouti to the east, Eritrea on the north and Kenya on the south.  It covers an area of approximately 444,000 square miles.  The varied topography of the country generally features rugged mountains, flat-topped plateaus, river canyons, rolling plains and lowlands.  The Great Rift Valley divides the Ethiopian highlands, as it spans the country from north to south.  The highlands feature alpine vegetation, while woodlands, savanna and semi-arid conditions characterize the lowland.  Ethiopia is a landlocked nation.



TOPOGRAPHY

The Ethiopian Plateau spreads out over about two-thirds of the country.  It lies between 6,000 and 10,000 feet (1,800 and 3,000 meters) above sea level.  Most of Ethiopia's people live on the plateau, which has the country's best agricultural land.  Most of the plateau receives more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain annually.  Average temperatures on the plateau range from about 72°F (22°C) in areas below 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) to less than 60°F (16°C) at higher elevations.  The Great Rift Valley, which runs north and south through eastern Africa, divides the plateau into two large sections.  The sections are further divided by deep, spectacular river gorges and high mountain ranges.  Ethiopia's highest mountain, Ras Dashen, rises 15,158 feet (4,620 meters) above sea level on the plateau.

The lowlands

The Ethiopian Plateau slopes downward in all directions toward the lowland regions.  Most of the lowland areas have an average temperature of about 80°F (27°C) and receive less than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain per year.  The Denakil Depression in northeastern Ethiopia, which lies below sea level, is one of the hottest places in the world.  Temperatures in the Denakil Depression sometimes rise above 120°F (49°C).  The lowlands are thinly populated because of the hot, dry climate and because the soil is poor for farming.

Animal life and vegetation

A wide variety of animals live in Ethiopia.  Some of these animals live nowhere else.

They include an antelope called the walia ibex and the Simien fox, also known as the Simien jackal or Ethiopian wolf.  Coffee originated in the forests of southwest Ethiopia.  Teff and several other types of crops also had their origins in the country.  Forests cover part of the southwest.  The most common tree in Ethiopia is the eucalyptus, which was imported from Australia in the 1890's.

Major Rivers

The major river basins include: the Blue Nile, Baro, Omo, Awash, Tekeze and Wabe Shebele. 


The BLUE NILE

HISTORY

Early history

Some of the oldest fossil fragments of human beings have been found in Ethiopia.  They date from about 2 million years ago.  By 500 B.C., two major groups, speakers of Semitic and Cushitic languages, inhabited the area.  The plow was already the major agricultural tool by that time, and there is evidence that Ethiopians controlled water and used irrigation.

In 1973, Donald Johanson was in the Afar, part of the Hadar region of Ethiopia, with the International Afar Research Expedition.  He made a dramatic fossil find – the leg bones of 3-million-year-old hominid.  The bones' size and shape indicated that this individual walked upright, making it the oldest hominid on record to do so.  This discovery continued and in 1974, 3.2 million-year-old Lucy was found in the region of Afar.

The Aksum Kingdom was the first important state in what is now Ethiopia.  It was well established by the A.D. 200's.  Its capital was the city of Aksum.  The Aksum Kingdom gained much wealth through trade with Arabia, Egypt, Greece, India, Persia and Rome.   The Aksumites exported gold, ivory and spices.  Aksum reached its height of power in the 300's under King Ezana.  He made Christianity the official religion of Aksum.  In the late 600's, Aksum's power fell sharply after Muslims gained control of Arabia, the Red Sea, and the coast of northern Africa.  The Muslims, religious enemies of Christian Aksum, put an end to the kingdom's foreign trade.


AKSUM OBELISK, 4^th –7^th Century AD

Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations.  It is also Africa’s oldest independent country; with the exception of the five-year occupation by Mussolini’s Italy, it has never been colonized.   According to tradition, the first emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik I, was the son of the biblical Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel.  Many later Ethiopian rulers claimed to be direct descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Menelik II became emperor in 1889 and reunified the old Ethiopian empire by gaining control of many small kingdoms.  In 1896, at the battle of Adwa, he defeated the Italian army that had occupied a part of Ethiopia called Eritrea.

The son of Menelik’s cousin, Ras Tafari, became the emperor in 1930.  He took the title Haile Selassie, continued the modernization of Ethiopia, like Menelik II, and drafted the first constitution in 1931.

In 1972 and 1973, a severe drought led to famine in the northeast part of Ethiopia.  Haile Selassie was criticized for ignoring it.  Widespread dissatisfaction with the low quality of life and government corruption led to the takeover by a military government which removed Haile Selassie in 1974.

The military government adopted socialist policies and had close ties with the Soviet Union.  The military began large-scale land reform and started breaking up the estates of the former nobility.  The government claimed ownership of the land and killed many of its opponents.  Severe drought led to the death of millions in the mid 1980’s and the government faced many rebellions from Eritrea and Tigray.  The military dictator Mengestu Haile-Mariam fled the county as the rebels approached the capital in May of 1991.  Eritrea gained independence in 1993.  In 1994 a new constitution was adopted in Ethiopia.  In 1995 the country held its first multiparty parliament election.  The Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Front, which has dominated the government since 1991, won the 1995 election as well as one held in 2000.  Party leader Meles Zenawi was elected prime minister in both elections.

  
Emperor Haile Selassie, also known as Ras Tafari  

CLIMATE 

Although Ethiopia lies within 15 degrees north of the equator, owing to the moderating influence of the altitude, the country enjoys a temperate and pleasant climate, with average temperatures rarely exceeding 68 degrees F.  The sparsely populated lowlands typically have sub-tropical and tropical climates and approximately 34 inches of rainfall.  The average annual rainfall for the whole country is considered moderate by global standards.  In most highlands, rainfall occurs in two distinct seasons:  light rains during February and March and heavy rains from June to September.

POPULATION 

With a population of 70 million and growing, Ethiopia is the third most densely populated country in Sub-Saharan Africa (after Nigeria and Egypt).  Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world; its people have an ancient culture and deep-rooted values.

Ethiopian people comprise about seventy-eight ethnic groups.  Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas.

The government classifies Ethiopians into groups based on the main language they speak.  About 80 languages are spoken in Ethiopia.  The Oromo make up the largest ethnic and language group.  The Oromo speak a Cushitic language called Oromifa or Oromo.  They live in the central and southern parts of the country.  The Amhara and Tigrayan peoples of the northern plateau speak Amharic—the nation's official language—and Tigrinya, respectively.  These Semitic languages belong to the Afro-Asian language family, which also includes Arabic and Hebrew.  Other important ethnic and language groups in Ethiopia include the Somali, who live in the southeast, and the Afar, who live in the east and northeast.  A number of smaller groups live in the southwest and along the border with Sudan.  Many Ethiopians speak more than one language, including English and other Ethiopian and European languages.

Ge'ez (also called Ethiopic) is an ancient Ethiopian language.  In the past, all Ethiopian Bibles were written in this language.  Ge'ez is still used in ceremonies of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

   OROMO WOMAN


      TIGRAI WOMAN

CITIES 

Addis Ababa, the largest city and the seat of the federal government of Ethiopia, lies in the central plateau at an altitude of 2,400 meters.  Its average temperature is 16°C.

Addis Ababa was founded in 1887 and has a population of 5 million.  It is host to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).  Several other international organizations have their headquarters and branch offices in the capital.  Addis Ababa is also the center of commerce and industry.

Other important centers of trade and industry are:  Awasa, Dire Dawa, Gonder, Adama (also called Nazareth), Jimma, Harrar, Bahir Dar, Mek’ele, Debre Markos, Nekemt, Debre Zeyit, Dese,  All these towns are connected to Addis Ababa by freeways and gravel roads.  Most of them also have infrastructures and first-class hotels and airports.

There are other large cities, such as Debre Zeyit and Dese, with over 100,000 inhabitants, and I think they should be included in this list; Harrar, Debre Markos and Nekemt are smaller. 

Addis Ababa 

WAY OF LIFE

Most Ethiopians live in rural areas as either farmers or livestock herders.  Many farmers use an ancient wooden plow called a maresha and a pair of oxen to plow their fields.  They grow various cereal crops, including barley, corn, wheat, and a tiny local grain called teff.  Livestock herders raise camels, cattle, goats and sheep, and travel from place to place to find food for their animals.  Ethiopians in cities and towns work for the government, hold jobs in various businesses and industries, or run shops.

Poverty in Ethiopia is widespread.  Each year, many Ethiopian men and women move to towns and cities to seek jobs and a better life.  Medical care, electric power, schools, and clean water supplies are part of what attracts rural Ethiopians to cities.

Styles of houses vary widely in Ethiopia.  Many houses in rural areas are round with walls constructed of wooden poles and mud plaster.  These houses have roofs of thatch or corrugated iron.  In the Tigray areas, houses often are rectangular and made of stone.  Addis Ababa and other cities have tall office buildings, multistory apartment houses, large villas, and mixed neighborhoods with houses of stone, brick, mud and cement.

CLOTHING

In rural areas, many men and women wear a one-piece white cotton cloth called a shamma.  Men wear a shamma over a cotton shirt, and women wear it over a cotton dress.  In towns and cities, many people wear clothing similar to that worn in Europe and North America.  In southern Ethiopia, some people wear traditional clothing made of leather or a colorful cloth used as a shawl and a waist wrap. 

FOOD

The national food of Ethiopia is injera with wot.  Injera is a spongy flat bread usually prepared from teff, wheat, barley or millet.  Teff is an Ethiopian grain rich in iron and other minerals; it can be found in health food stores in the US.  Injera is eaten with wot, which is a spicy sauce made of an onion and pepper base and various other spices.  Wot can be made mild or hot, and is made with vegetables and different meats such as beef, lamb or chicken.  The injera is used to scoop the wot into small portions to be eaten by hand.  Before and after a meal, one washes one’s hands; it is an acceptable tradition to be served by a domestic servant with water and soap to wash one’s hands.  It may be hard for the first time to eat using one’s fingers, but asking for utensils may be considered impolite.  In addition, Ethiopians eat barley, corn or wheat, which are roasted or boiled.  Ethiopians in some areas eat a bread made from the root of ensete, a plant that resembles a banana tree.  Popular beverages include beer, coffee, tea, and thin yogurt.  The meal is normally served on a large tray and shared with friends or family of up to five people.

Customs and Traditions

Favorite sports in Ethiopia include soccer, volleyball, and genna, a game similar to field hockey.  Ethiopians also enjoy playing card games, a local kind of chess and other board games.  Holidays include special celebrations from both the Christian and the Islamic faiths.

Also, many people chew khat to socialize and relax in the afternoon to do business in the market or on weekends as part of tradition and recreation.  Khat has been legally harvested in Ethiopia for centuries and is becoming a major agricultural crop.
In every town, people while away their spare time chewing the stimulant leaf.  It is part of the culture.  Khat is chewed for hours on end; users say it "elevates your mood and stimulates your mind.”

COFFEE

Coffee accounts for some 65% of Ethiopia's foreign trade earnings, coffee probably employs close to 10% of the population.  As a result, coffee must certainly rank as Ethiopia's most important export!  Ethiopia aims to export some 230,000 tonnes  of coffee per year.  Out of this Ethiopia consumes 93,386 tonnes , which shows that Ethiopia is a strong consumer as well as a producer.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia in a region called Keffa.  Coffee is central to the lives of all Ethiopians.  In the countryside where some people live a day's walk from a main road, coffee is often the only beverage of choice.  In addition it is also still roasted, ground, mixed with butter, and made into balls to be eaten for sustenance during the working day.  In the cities, as well as in the countryside, coffee is drunk with friends, family, on special occasions, or simply out of choice.  Coffee is everywhere!

The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, carried out by the woman of the family, is an historic tradition with much religious symbolism.  3 cups are poured for each guest, incense wafts around the room, flax covers the floor, and usually peanuts or cooked barley are offered by way of accompaniment.  From birth in Ethiopia one grows up with the coffee ceremony as an integral part of one’s social and cultural life.  An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of Ethiopian hospitality.  Performing the ceremony is almost obligatory in the presence of a visitor, whatever the time of day. 

In the 3rd century coffee was transplanted from the Ethiopian highlands to the Yemeni mountains during the spice trade between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.  From Yemen it spread to Southeast Asia, South America, and finally back to Africa.


AMHARA WOMAN:  COFFEE CEREMONY

GOVERNMENT

Ethiopia adopted a new constitution that established the FDRE, or Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, in 1995.  The federal government is responsible for national defense, foreign relations and general politics, as well as common interests and benefits.   The federal government of the FDRE is structured as a bicameral parliament.  There are two chambers:  an upper chamber and a lower chamber.  The upper chamber, with 108 members, is called the House of Federation or the Federal Council.  The lower chamber, with 548 members, is called the House of People’s Representatives, or the Council of People’s Representatives.  The upper chamber, the House of Federation, represents the common interests of the nations, nationalities and people of the states, and is headed by a constitutional president.  All council members in both chambers are elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term.  The council members in the House of Federation are elected by state assemblies, while the council members in the House of People’s Representatives are elected by a popular vote.  The federal government is headed by the prime minister, who in turn is accountable to the House of People’s Representatives, which is the highest authority of the federal government.  The FDRE comprises nine autonomous states vested with policies for self-administration.  Each autonomous state is headed by a state president elected by the state council.  The judiciary is constitutionally independent. 

 
Prime minister:  Meles Zenawi 

RELIGION

Orthodox Christianity and Islam, the two main religions in Ethiopia, have coexisted since Mohammed’s time.  The first followers of Islam were converted while the prophet Mohammed was alive, and the first mosque was built in the eighth century.  However, culturally the Orthodox Church has dominated the political, social and cultural life in the highlands, as it was the official religion of the imperial court and hence also of the feudal establishment until Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974.  Since then, religion and the state have been separated. 

Most people in Ethiopia are Muslims or Christians.  About 40 percent of the population belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is a Christian sect related to the Coptic, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.  A small percentage of the population in the south and west practices some local religions and the rest of the population is Muslim.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's headquarters is in Addis Ababa.  The boundaries of the dioceses, each under a bishop, followed provincial boundaries; a patriarch (abun) headed the church.  The ultimate authority in matters of faith was the Episcopal Synod.  In addition, the Church Council, a consultative body that included both clergy and laity, reviewed and drafted administrative policy.

Ethiopia has long enjoyed the most intimate relations with Islam.  Some of the earliest disciples of the prophet Mohammed, when persecuted in Arabia, found refuge at Aksum, which was then ruled by King Armah.  When one of the refugees, Umm Habibah, was to marry Mohammed, Armah sent her a golden dowry.  The prophet later prayed for the Aksumite king’s soul and instructed his followers to leave the Abyssinians in peace, thus averting a holy war.  Many words in Ge’ez, the classical language of the Ethiopians, can be found in the Holy Quran.  The first muezzin calling the faithful to prayer in the prophet’s time was an Ethiopian named Bilal, as his compatriots recall with pride to this day.

Ethiopian Muslims are adherents of the dominant Sunni, or orthodox, branch of Islam.  Shia Muslims are not represented in Ethiopia.  The beliefs and practices of Ethiopian Muslims are embodied in a more or less integrated amalgam of three elements:  the Islam of the Quran and the sharia, the worship of saints and the rituals and organization of religious orders, and the still-important remnant of pre-Islamic patterns.  Islam in the traditional sense is dominant only in Harrar and a few other towns.  In general, the most important practices of the Islamic faith, particularly regular prayer and fasting during the month of Ramadan, are observed in urban centers rather than in the smaller towns and villages, and more among settled peoples than among nomads.  Records of the pilgrimage to Mecca by Ethiopian Muslims are scarce.


                                         Orthodox priests

Christian holidays and festivals

Timkat (Epiphany) is the most colorful event in the year when the churches parade their Tabots to a nearby body of water.  (A Tabot is a replica of the biblical Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets with the Ten Commandments; every church in Ethiopia has one.)  The ceremony falls on the 19th of January and commemorates Christ’s baptism.  The Tabot is taken out in the afternoon on the eve of Epiphany and stays overnight with the priests and faithful congregation.  The following morning the water is blessed and splashed on everyone in a ceremony where the faithful renew their vows to the Church.  If the body of water is large enough, some people will immerse themselves.  Women who have been unable to have children participate in the ritual for fertility.  After the ceremony, the Tabot is paraded back to its church, accompanied by much singing and dancing.

Fasika (Easter) is a festival that follows a fasting period of 55 days.  During this time, no animal product is eaten.  The faithful do not eat anything at all until the daily service is finished at around 3:00 in the afternoon on Easter Sunday. From Thursday evening before Good Friday, nothing is eaten until the Easter service ends at 3:00 in the morning on Easter Sunday.

Kidus Yohannes or Enkutatash, Ethiopia’s New Years Day, is celebrated on the 11th of September.  It is primarily secular; it is a time for people to put on new clothes and visit friends and relatives.

Maskal is said to be in memory of the finding of the true Cross by the Empress Eleni.  This is as colorful as Timkat, however, instead of water, the focus of the celebration is a bonfire topped with an image of a cross to which flowers are tied.  Priests in full regalia bless the bonfire before it is lit.  This festival coincides with the mass blooming of the golden yellow Maskal daisies, called Adey Ababa in Amharic.

Lidet or Gena, the Ethiopian Christmas, is not the primary religious and secular festival that it has become in Western countries.  Falling on the 7th of January, it is celebrated seriously by a church service that goes on throughout the night, with people moving from one church to another.  Traditionally, young men play a game called Gena, similar to hockey, on this day, and Christmas has also come to be known by this name.

Muslim festivals and pilgrimages

Ethiopia’s earliest and most holy Muslim center, according to tradition, is at Nagash, north of Wukro in Tigray, where there is a fine mosque of considerable antiquity.  Perhaps the most important Islamic center since medieval times, however, has been the famous walled city of Harrar.  One of the principal holy cities of Islam, it has long been renowned for its religious learning, as well as for its mosques, many Muslim shrines, and tombs of several holy Muslim leaders of the past.

An important center of Muslim pilgrimage today is the town of Shek Husen in the Bale region.  The faithful flock there twice a year from all over Ethiopia, as well as from neighboring countries, as they do to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

                        NEW MOSQUE AT WIKRO

CALENDAR AND TIME 

The use of the Julian calendar was discarded by the Europeans 400 years ago, but Ethiopia still uses it.  This calendar divides the year into 12 month of 30 days each, with the remaining five (or six in a leap year) constituting the short 13^th month of “Pagume.”  In Greek, pagume means additional.  The Ethiopian New Year falls on the 11^th or 12^th of September every year.
 

TIME

In Ethiopia, the “top of the day” begins at the top of the clock.  The beginning of the day is taken to be at 6:00 a.m. Western time—therefore 6:00 a.m. Western time is “12:00 in the morning” in Ethiopia; 12:00 noon Western time is 6:00 noon in Ethiopia; 6:00 p.m. Western time is 12:00 in the evening Ethiopia time, and so on.  The division of the day into a.m. and p.m. is not used in Ethiopia.  Instead, quadrants of time are described according to the part of day, e.g., morning, afternoon, evening, night.  Western time and the corresponding Ethiopian time can be seen on the chart below.

This way of keeping time is normally the only way used; however, in some circumstances, such as when booking an airline flight or in certain professional settings, a.m. and p.m. are used.  Military time is the same as in America, but instead of using “hundred,” “zero zero” is used.  Example: “16 hundred hours” in Amharic is asra sedest zero zero, and so forth.

TIME CHART
 

CURRENCY 

The monetary unit of Ethiopian currency is the Birr, with 100 cents (also called centimes) to a Birr.  The Birr is currently valued at around 8.60 Birr to the US dollar, subject to change every day.  Copper coins are circulated in values of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents.  Currency notes are printed in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 Birr.  The exchange rate of the Birr against foreign currencies has been controlled by the daily Interbank Foreign Exchange Market since October 24, 2001.  The Foreign Exchange Market intervention committee of the National Bank of Ethiopia monitors and controls the rate on a daily basis.  Only the National Bank of Ethiopia and its authorized agents, as well as commercial banks, are allowed to exchange foreign currency against receipts.  Travel and tour agents, hotels and bank branches with official permission may also deal in the exchange.

“Some Ethiopian Celebrities.”

Liya Kebede, an international supermodel and the World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health


DERARTU TULU, 6-time world and Olympic gold medallist

   
KENENISA BEKELE, 11 world gold medals, 1 Olympic gold medal, 1 Olympic silver medal in the 10,000-meter race, and world record holder


HAILE GEBRESELASSIE, 2 Olympic gold medals and 11 world gold medals in the 10,000-meter race