Ethiopia is the most crowded landlocked country in the world located in Africa.
It is said to be one of the oldest nations in Earth whereby it is believed to have been founded around 980 B.C.
Ethiopia borders Eritrea on its north and northeast corners and Djibouti and Somalia on the eastern side.
On its western corner Ethiopia neighbors Sudan and South Sudan while on its Southern corner Ethiopia neighbors Kenya.
Ethiopia is split by the Great Rift Valley which starts from its northeast side running downwards to the south.
During ancient times Ethiopia was known as Abyssinia.
The word Ethiopia is derived from two Greek words aitho and ops which when combined together means scorched faces.
The currency used in Ethiopia the Ethiopian Birr.
Ethiopia’s capital city is Addis Ababa which is 2400 meters above the sea level making the highest capital city in Africa and the fourth highest city in the universe.
Ethiopia has a population of over 90 million according to the census done in 2015 making it the second most crowded nation in Africa after Nigeria whose population was estimated to be over 174 million individuals in 2013.
Ras Dashen is the highest mountain in Ethiopia at 4550 meters.
70 percent of the mountains in Africa are in Ethiopia.
Other mountains found in Ethiopia are: Ancua (4,462 meters), Kidis Yared (4,453 meters), Bwahit (4,437 meters), Tullu Demtu (4,377 meters), Amba Farit(4,270 meters), Abune Yosef (4,260 meters), Ioll (4,220 meters), Bada (4,195 meters) and Kaka (4,193 meters).
Ethiopia covers a total area which is estimated to be 1,104, 300 km square which is equivalent to 426,400 square miles.
The water bodies in Ethiopia only covers 0.7 percent of the country’s total area.
The longest river in Ethiopia is river Nile which is also the largest river on earth while Lake Tana is the biggest lake in Ethiopia.
There are more than 80 different languages spoken in Ethiopia with Amharic as the national language while English is used in higher learning institutions as the language of giving instructions and directions.
Other main languages in Ethiopia are: Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya.
Unlike other African countries, Ethiopia is the only African country that was never colonized, a fact that the citizens of Ethiopia are always proud of. However they had to fight the Italians twice in order to gain this glory.
Ethiopia is a home of numerous cultural and interesting festivals with the biggest one being Timket which is celebrated three days of every year in order to honor Jesus Christ baptism which took place in the river Jordan.
Ethiopia is unique in that a year comprises of 13 months and every New Year begins on the 11th of September.
Ethiopia also has a different and unique alphabet system.
Another unique factor of Ethiopia is that its name appears several times on both the Quran and the bible.
Ethiopia is the origin of coffee since it was first found in Kaffa region located in Ethiopia after a herder observed that the goats became restless after consuming the leaves of coffee. Today, declining a cup of coffee is considered as a taboo in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia was the first country in Africa to accept Islam as a region.
Today Christianity is the most common region in Ethiopia with 62.8 percent of the total population practicing it. 33.9 percent of the Ethiopians are Muslims while 2.6 percent of the Ethiopians practice traditional faiths.
Only a small percent of 0.6 percent practice other regions such as Hinduism.
Ethiopia is believed to have been the home for the oldest human beings on earth. This evident since, the oldest fossils of modern human beings have been found in Ethiopia.
For instance, in 1973 a skeleton of human beings dating back between 3.8 to 4 million years old was discovered.
Ethiopia is a home for most of the UNESCO Heritage Sites that are in Africa.
They include Lower Valley of the Awash, Lower Valley of the Omo, Simien National Park, Tiya, Aksum, Fasil Ghebbi, Konso Cultural Landscape, Harar and Rock-Hewn Churches.
Ethiopia is the diplomatic center of Africa since several headquarters for international bodies are located in it. Such bodies include African Union, UNESCO and UNDP.
Politically, the government is headed by the prime minister with the president as the head of state.
Ethiopia’s legislature is divided into two the Upper House which is referred to as the House of Federation and the Lower House which is referred as the House of Peoples’ Representatives.
