Ethiopia

Ethiopia, officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDER) is situated in the East central part of Africa, better known as the “Horn of Africa”. This landlocked African nation is bordered in the East by Somalia, in Northeast by Djibouti, in West by Sudan and by Kenya in the South. Recognized as one of the oldest nations of the world, Ethiopia has the third largest population in the African continent. You will find some of the oldest traces of humanity in this ancient country that has made it a candidate for the “Cradle of Humanity”.It is also the second-oldest officially Christian nation. Emperor Minilik II founded the capital city of Ethiopia (FDER), in the year 1883. Some important facts and details about Ethiopia are given below.

Official Languages:

Being a multi-ethnic state, Ethiopia is a land of lingual diversity. A wide variety of languages are spoken by the people of Ethiopia. Amharic, one of the three main languages used here is the official language of Ethiopia. The other two mostly-used local languages are Tigrigna and Oromifa. Apart from these most of the Afro-Asiatic languages are used here. English is the most commonly used foreign language and is also the medium of teaching in the secondary schools and universities of the country. Earlier Amharic was the medium of teaching in the primary schools but now Oromifa and Tigrigna have replaced it.

Independence, Republic and Government:

The independence of Ethiopia or FDER has along history. The country developed as an isolated empire by beating the Muslim invasion in 1523. Incursions by Egypt and Sudan in 1850 led to rapid development in the country with rapid building and expansion of the empire to the South and East. In the year 1896 Italy invaded Ethiopia and the country got its independence recognized in Europe. Italy occupied Ethiopia in 1936 but the allied force restored Heile Selassie to the power in 1941 and thus Ethiopia got its independence as an African nation.

Ethiopia has got a Federal Democratic Republic. The constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDER) was adopted in the Assembly in December 1994 and in August 1995, the Government of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was installed and Negasso Gidada was elected the first President of FDER.

The country has a federal parliamentary system where the Prime Minister is the head of the Union government. The federal government exercises the executive powers. There are two chambers in the Parliament. The judiciary is almost independent in Ethiopia. The country organized its first 547-member constituent Assembly in June 1994. in May and June, 1995, the first publicly-chosen parliament and regional legislatures were held where the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Front had a huge victory. At present Girma Wolde-Giorgia is the President of Ethiopia and Meles Zenawi of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is ruling the country as the Prime Minister.

Dire Dawa
Nazret
Gondar
Dese
Mek'ele
Balik Dar
Jimma

• Addis Ababa:Founded by emperor Menelik II in the year 1886, Addis Ababa is the capital of both Ethiopia and African Union. The city has both the status of a city and a state. Large number of people belonging to different religions like Christianity, Islam and Jewish reside in this huge city that lies at the foot of Mount Entoto. The capital of Ethiopia is home to 2,973,004 people.

• Dire Dawa: Dire Dawa is one of the chartered cities of Ethiopia and is also the second largest in the nation. Dire Dawa is an imprtant important industrial center of the country and home to several markets. The Abe Tenna D. Yilma International airport is situated in Dire Dawa. The second largest city of Ethiopia lies on the bank of Dechatu river in the eastern part of the country.

• Nazret:Nazret or Adama is another important Ethiopian city and also the capital of the Oromia region. It is located at an approximate distance of of 100 kms from Addis Ababa and above the Great Rift Valley in the eastern part of Ethiopia. The city has a huge population of more than 2,28,623 people.

• Gondar: Located in the Siemen Gondar region of the Amhara region, Gondar was the old iimperial capital of Ethiopia. The city is located North of Lake Tana and Southwest of Simien mountains.

Culture and Heritage:

As Ethiopia is a multi-faceted land you will find great diversity in it culture and heritage. The ethnic diversity of the country is reflected by the culture and heritage of this African nation. Traditional customs is an integral part of the culture of Ethiopia and among those customs respect for the elders is most important. The other important things that have formed the culture for ages are music, traditional clothings, cuisine, sports, media and diversity in language.

• Music:
  
  You will find extreme diversity in the traditional music of Ethiopia. Each ethnic group in the country has distinct music associated with special sounds. Some forms of the Ethiopina traditional music have strong influence of the Muslim and folk musics of other parts of the Horn of Africa.

• Clothings:
  
  Traditional clothings are an integral part of the rich cultural heritage of Ethiopia. The traditional dresses that are still used by the people in the countryside are called yahager lebs and are made up of cotton woven in long strips.

• Cuisine:
  
  The unique cuisine of Ethiopia speaks about the culture of delicacies of the country. You will find large variety of preparations of vegetables and meat. You will however not find any items of pork or seafoods in the traditional Ethiopian food as most of the Ethiopians in the early days were followers of Islam.

Tourism

Being one of the oldest nations of the world, Ethiopia is considered as a tourist paradise. Large number of tourist from different parts of the country and the world gather in the different ancient cities, towns and provinces of Ethiopia to know about the history of ancient civilization. Some traces of humanity in the ancient cities are still visible in Ethiopia. You will also find some of the highest and stunning places of Africa in Ethiopia. For their ancient history and cultural heritage and the way they have been preserved for ages, some tourist spots in Ethiopia have been included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The cultural ritual and religious ceremonies are the other things that draw a large number of tourists to this ancient country. Apart from visiting the different historic places in the country, people also gather here for different activities like trekking, mountain climbing, riding and pony trekking, caving, hunting, water sports, bird watching, etc