Tizazu

ETHIOPIA
Text Box: Geography Ethiopia is found on the Eastern part of Africa, with the surface area 1.14 million sq. kilo meters. In north, Eritrea; in east, Djibouti; in eastern south Somali; in south, Kenya and in west and western north, Sudan bordered the country. The topography of the land is multi-diversity but it is divided into three major areas. The northern part of the land has the mountainous area. Among the highest plateaus Mount Ras Dashen is elevated to 4620 meters. The eastern part is semi-desert area. On the other hand the southern and western parts are green lands with the beautiful landscape. The Great Rift Valley of Africa crossed the country from east to north. The Denakil Depression /Dallol/ which deepened 115 to 120 meters is found in the valley. Denakil Depression has a unique site on earth, and Mt. Erta-Ale which is found along the depression area blows up very hot liquid and magmas inside of the inner part of the earth crust. Many lakes and other water bodies are found in the country and because of it, the name "Tower of The Water" is given to the country. The longest river in the world, the Blue Nile River is originated from Bahir Dar, has a total length of 1360 meters. The biggest lake of the county is Lake Tana, and the others are grouped around the Rift Valley area. The county has two main climatic zones. The rainy season, winter weather, has a period of four months, from June up to the end of September. The rest 8 months stay sunny and at intervals little amount of rainfall rains in summer period. Economy According to many international governmental and non-governmental organizations static’s sources, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world; however some economists have been forecasting that within 10 years the country will have shown a good development. Agriculture is the main economy sector to the country. Cultivation and cattle breeding are exercised mostly among the rural areas’ peasants. Though the country has many natural resources, poverty has overwhelmed the whole part of the country. The capital city, Addis Ababa, is also the commercial city of the country. The main export product of the country for the last 20 and 30 years is coffee and in the recent years, flower plants are effective export products. Other items like cereals, hides and skin products, spices and cloths become secondary export goods. Nowadays many local and foreign investors are highly activated in the free market policy of the country. Agro-industry is become more preferable business sector. Injera is the staple food which is made up of Teff, the indigenous crop in the country. By the way, do you know that the coffee plant is originated from Ethiopia, from a place which is called 'Kaffa'? The infrastructure of the country is mainly based on the inland and on air. Since Ethiopia has not water boundary, shipping transport is not experienced well, but air transport is reliable. Ethiopian Airlines is a pioneer airline in Africa has counted more than 60 years service. The people The population reached more than 78 million in 2007. Historians have stated that the people of Ethiopia are originated from southern part of Arabia. Hence it is thought that there are four major ethnic groups 1, Cushitic 2, Semite 3, Nilo-Saharan 4, Omotic Under the Cushitic Oromos, Afars, Somalis, Sidamas, Wolaytas and others are grouped; and Amharas, Tigriyans, Gurageas, Aderes are to the Semites. The dialects are more than 83. Even though the diversity is big, we, the people have good social relationship one to another. There is no racism and discrimination among the peoples, not only at the present time but also throughout the history of Ethiopians most probably. The working language of the country is Amharic. In addition Oromiffa, Tigirigna, and Guragegna are the major languages, English is also spoken widely. Christianity is the main religion in the country but Islamic has also an influential in eastern and central part of the country, and Animisim and paganism are practiced in some part of southern Ethiopia. Orthodox and Islamic believers take the mass number and Protestants and Catholics come to the second and third position respectively. Religion is more acceptable in Ethiopia but there is no fight at the present time among the believers because of difference in religion. History The name of ''Ethiopia'' is originated from the Greek word, meaning 'burnt face'. The country has also two other names Abyssinia and 'Land of Habesh’, given by the Arabs. When we come to the prehistory of Ethiopia, the country is estimated that it was a homeland of human beings. Archaeologists have believed that the first human race had come out around the eastern Africa as well as the Middle East. Their evidence goes to the skeleton of Lucy, a small woman who had lived before 3.5 millions years ago. The fossil is found around the eastern part of Ethiopia, at the place of Hadar. Some other new comer fossils are Ardi, Selam and Edaltu; the oldest one among those fossils is Ardi. It goes back to 4.4 million years; and this fossil has brought a new discovery for archeologists’ study. And also the historians thought that Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries. The age of the country is come about 3 thousand years. The myth of the meeting of king Solomon of the Israel and Queen of Sheba had made the beginning of the history of Ethiopia. The two prominent individuals had given birth probably for the existence of King Menilik I. From such oral history, the descendants of Menilik I called their government, ''The Solomonic dynasty''. Through the years, the settlement place of The Solomonic dynasty became called Axum. During the Axumite period, Ethiopia had a huge territory with a civilized commercial trade and foreign relationship with the other Empires. The territory bounded the southern part of Egypt, some partial of Nubia /Sudan/, and Zeila /the present area of /Somaliland/. The monuments of Axum are estimate constructed in 100 B.C, and the purpose of the obelisks was for the sake of ritual belief. Among the obelisks three of them are big, the tallest one is fallen down; the medium one was looted by the fascist Italian government but now it is returned; and the third one is still erected since it was curved. Christianity was officially become acceptable during the reign of King Ezana in 330 in Ethiopia. After a long period of the Solomonic dynasty empire, the Zagwe dynasty replaced it without any fight and without any formal assignment. The gradual declination of the Axumite Empire had brought a new form of government on its southern part. That was called the Zagwe dynasty. The seat place of this dynasty was Roha for about at least 200 years, from 11th to 13th centuries. During this time the well renowned king Lalibela had constructed seven rock hewn churches within 23 years. In the 6th century Mohammed’s disciples had a refuge in Ethiopia, around Tigray zone. By then the ruler of Tigray was King Negash, probably estimated that the King was the first believer of Islamic religion in Ethiopia. After the end of the Zagwe dynasty, the Solomonic dynasty resurrected again around the central part of Ethiopia but not stayed for a long time. In the 17th century the Gondorian kingdom raised powerfully but simultaneously the country was divided into many small kingdoms. Emperor Alemseged Fassil had built his own well furnished castle in Gondar. Before that there was a bloody war among the Orthodox and Catholic believers during the reign of the father of Fassil, King Susenous because the Portuguese Jesuists, the Catholic believers, had influenced king Gelawdious, the father of Susenous, to change his religion. After the war, Ethiopia had taken a closed door policy with the foreign countries, for a long period of time. There were many wars among the small kingdoms, for instance between the Emperor Libne Dingle and the eastern ruler Ahmed Gragn. The eastern oldest capital of Harar was built in 1000. As similar as the Solomonic dynasty, the tribe of Oromos had their own well administered form of government which is called ''The Gada systerm''. The modern era of Ethiopia is started after the Emperor Tewodros II in 1855. The unification of the country had begun with great sacrifice. Emperor Tewodros had a great dream for the civilization of his country. He had a vision to make his country among the great kingdoms, just like the United Kingdom. He had some European prisoners and contrary to it he had also some beloved ones. Because of the prisoners Tewodros had fought with the Britain soldiers and committed suicide at the battle of Mekdela. After Tewodros II, Yohannes IV replaced him and ruled Ethiopia for about eleven years and killed by the Durbush rebellion, Sudanese warriors, at the Ethio-Sudan border. He had also taken his responsibilities by keeping the sovereignty of the country. Then Menelik II came around the central part of Ethiopia. The assurance of the unification of Ethiopia had come in during the reign of Emperor Menelik. Among the great figures of the Ethiopian leaders, Menelik has his own place with his wife Empress Taytu. Many civilization movements had taken places in the country with the great battle of Ethio-Italy war in 1907 at the field of Adwa during Menelik's reign. Ethiopia is an independent country in Africa. The Victory of Adwa has its own factor for the independence of Africa from its colonizers. The present capital city of the country, Addis Ababa, is established in 1887 by the help of Empress Taytu. Emperor Haileselassie I came to the throne in 1930 and reigned for about 44 years. Haileselassie had an absolute monarchial system but had also his own appreciated part. The foreign relationship of the country was developed highly and the Organization of African Unity was established by his help. During Haileselassie I reign, in 1935 Italy had tried to colonize Ethiopia for the second time but except conquering they couldn’t succeeded their mission. For about five years they just only invaded the country and detained some innocent peoples and warriors, and went back at last because of war support from the British troops for Ethiopia. After the monarchial system, the revolutionary government, the Dergue /the Junta/, came to power and stayed for about 17 years. Colonel Mengistu had led the country in dictatorship and moved by the gun. In 1991 the new force, EPRDF, has taken over the place of power. EPRDF is represented by the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at least for about 15 years until now. The present government had freed Eritrea as one of a sovereignty states in 1991. At the present time the ruling party, EPRDF, has declared Ethiopia is The Federal Republic Democratic state but democracy is not well practiced in the country. For instance during 2005 election, there was a great chaos between the CUD, “Kinijit” party supporters and the government officials in the main seat of the government city, in Addis Ababa. Some points Ethiopia has her own calendar which is 8 years behind of the Gregorian calendar, and the beginning of the year is the month of September. In addition the country has her own alphabetical letters though many of developed countries have no their own literature heritages. And also the rhythm of the music of Ethiopia is another variety. Without any exaggeration Ethiopia has many more cultures which make her different from the other countries but has also negative parts. Among those unpleasant things HIV AIDS, starvation, brain drain, lack of justice and good governance, poverty and some other things are blurred the good image of the country. Globalization is also become one of the factors of cultural colonization but this is not only Ethiopia's problem. And sometimes due to the natural disasters and environmental pollution the country gets into trouble. These are some of fact files about Ethiopia. * * * References 1, The New Britannica Encyclopedia, 2005, USA 2, The “SELAMTA” magazine,

Obelisks of the Axum

Harar’s empire

Gelada baboon /endemic animal/

Nile river falls

Rock hewn church Lalibela

Addis Ababa

Gondar Fasiledes castle

Ethiopian flag

Mursi tribe’s culture

 Ethiopian Coffee

Ethiopian Athletes

Denakil Depression

Mount A’rtaele

Ethiopian alphabetical letters

Lucy & Ardi /fossils/

Sof  Omar cave

Ethiopian Airlines

Map of  Ethiopia

TIYA Old Stones
Walker in Simien mountains

Mount Ras Dashen
 
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