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Ethiopia

Ethiopia,[a] officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east and northeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia has a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 square miles). As of 2022, it is home to around 113.5 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world and the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria.[14][15][16] The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.[17]

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Name in national languages
  • Amharic:የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ
    Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpebilīk
    Oromo:Rippabliikii Federaalawaa Dimokraatawaa Itiyoophiyaa
    Somali:Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiga Federaalka Itoobiya
    Tigrinya:ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ኢትዮጵያ
    Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpebilīki Ítiyop'iya
    Afar:Itiyoppiya Federaalak Demokraatik Rippeblikih
Anthem: 
ወደፊት ገስግሺ ፣ ውድ እናት ኢትዮጵያ
(English: "March Forward, Dear Mother Ethiopia")
Capital
and largest city
Addis Ababa
9°1′N 38°45′E / 9.017°N 38.750°E / 9.017; 38.750
Official languagesAfar
Amharic
Oromo
Somali
Tigrinya[1][2][3]
Ethnic groups
(2007[5][6])
Religion
(2016[7])
  • 31.3% Islam
  • 0.6% Traditional faiths
  • 0.8% Others / None
Demonym(s)Ethiopian
GovernmentFederal parliamentary republic[8]
• President
Sahle-Work Zewde
Abiy Ahmed
LegislatureFederal Parliamentary Assembly
House of Federation
House of Peoples' Representatives
Formation
1270
7 May 1769
11 February 1855
1904
9 May 1936
31 January 1942
• Derg
12 September 1974
28 May 1991
21 August 1995
Area
• Total
1,104,300[9] km2 (426,400 sq mi) (26th)
• Water (%)
0.7
Population
• 2022 estimate
113,656,596[10] (13th)
• 2007 census
73,750,932[6]
• Density
92.7/km2 (240.1/sq mi) (123rd)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
$348 billion[11] (57th)
• Per capita
$3,434[11] (160th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
$111 billion[11] (67th)
• Per capita
$1,098[11] (168th)
Gini (2015) 35.0[12]
medium
HDI (2021) 0.498[13]
low · 175rd
CurrencyBirr (ETB)
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)
Driving sideright
Calling code+251
ISO 3166 codeET
Internet TLD.et

Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period.[18][19][20][21][22] Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasiatic language family.[23] In 980 BCE, the Kingdom of D'mt extended its realm over Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia, while the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region for 900 years. Christianity was embraced by the kingdom in 330,[24] and Islam arrived by the first Hijra in 615.[25] After the collapse of Aksum in 960, a variety of kingdoms, largely tribal confederations, existed in the land of Ethiopia. The Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts until being overthrown by Yekuno Amlak in 1270, inaugurating the Ethiopian Empire and the Solomonic dynasty, claimed descent from the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba under their son Menelik I. By the 14th century, the empire grew in prestige through territorial expansion and fighting against adjacent territories; most notably, the Ethiopian–Adal War (1529–1543) contributed to fragmentation of the empire, which ultimately fell under a decentralization known as Zemene Mesafint in the mid-18th century. Emperor Tewodros II ended Zemene Mesafint at the beginning of his reign in 1855, marking the reunification and modernization of Ethiopia.[26]

From 1878 onwards, Emperor Menelik II launched a series of conquests known as Menelik's Expansions, which resulted in the formation of Ethiopia's current border. Externally, during the late 19th century, Ethiopia defended itself against foreign invasions, including from Egypt and Italy; as a result, Ethiopia and Liberia preserved their sovereignty during the Scramble for Africa. In 1935, Ethiopia was occupied by Fascist Italy and annexed with Italian-possessed Eritrea and Somaliland, later forming Italian East Africa. In 1941, during World War II, it was occupied by the British Army, and its full sovereignty was restored in 1944 after a period of military administration. The Derg, a Soviet-backed military junta, took power in 1974 after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, and ruled the country for nearly 17 years amidst the Ethiopian Civil War. Following the dissolution of the Derg in 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) dominated the country with a new constitution and ethnic-based federalism. Since then, Ethiopia has suffered from prolonged and unsolved inter-ethnic clashes and political instability marked by democratic backsliding. From 2018, regional and ethnically based factions carried out armed attacks in multiple ongoing wars throughout Ethiopia.[27]

Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic state with over 80 different ethnic groups. Christianity is the most widely professed faith in the country, with significant minorities of the adherents of Islam and a small percentage to traditional faiths. This sovereign state is a founding member of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77, and the Organisation of African Unity. Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the African Union, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Standby Force and many of the global non-governmental organizations focused on Africa. Ethiopia is considered an emerging power[28][29] and developing country, having the fastest economic growth in Sub-Saharan African countries because of foreign direct investment in expansion of agricultural and manufacturing industries.[30] However, in terms of per capita income and the Human Development Index,[31] the country is regarded as poor with high rates of poverty,[32] poor respect for human rights, and a literacy rate of only 49%.[33] Agriculture is the largest economic sector in Ethiopia, accounting for 36% of the country's gross domestic product as of 2020.[34][35]

Etymology

The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, "an Ethiopian") is a compound word, derived from the two Greek words, from αἴθω + ὤψ (aithō "I burn" + ōps "face"). According to the Liddell-Scott Jones Greek-English Lexicon, the designation properly translates as burnt-face in noun form and red-brown in adjectival form.[36] The historian Herodotus used the appellation to denote those parts of Africa south of the Sahara that were then known within the Ecumene (habitable world).[37] Since the Greeks understood the term as "dark-faced", they divided the Ethiopians into two, those in Africa and those to the east from eastern Turkey to India.[38] This Greek name was borrowed into Amharic as ኢትዮጵያ, ʾĪtyōṗṗyā.

In Greco-Roman epigraphs, Aethiopia was a specific toponym for ancient Nubia.[39] At least as early as c. 850,[40] the name Aethiopia also occurs in many translations of the Old Testament in allusion to Nubia. The ancient Hebrew texts identify Nubia instead as Kush.[41] However, in the New Testament, the Greek term Aithiops does occur, referring to a servant of the Kandake, the queen of Kush.[42]

Following the Hellenic and biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a 3rd-century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's ruler governed an area which was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu. The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia the following century, and the Aksumites thereafter appropriated the designation "Ethiopians" for their own kingdom. In the Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated with the unvocalized Ḥbšt and Ḥbśt (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum. This new demonym was subsequently rendered as ḥbs ('Aḥbāsh) in Sabaic and as Ḥabasha in Arabic.[39]

In the 15th-century Ge'ez Book of Axum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp'is. He was an extra-biblical son of Cush, son of Ham, said to have founded the city of Axum.[43]

In English, and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was historically known as Abyssinia. This toponym was derived from the Latinized form of the ancient Habash.[44]

History

Prehistory

 
A Homo sapiens idaltu hominid skull
 
Kibish has the site of oldest fossil of human bones believed to be 195,000 years old along with Omo River. The skull remains are 40,000 older than in Herto, Ethiopia.

Several important finds have propelled Ethiopia and the surrounding region to the forefront of palaeontology. The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4.2 million-year-old Ardipithicus ramidus (Ardi) found by Tim D. White in 1994.[45] The most well-known hominid discovery is Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy). Known locally as Dinkinesh, the specimen was found in the Awash Valley of Afar Region in 1974 by Donald Johanson, and is one of the most complete and best preserved adult Australopithecine fossils ever uncovered. Lucy's taxonomic name refers to the region where the discovery was made. This hominid is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago.[46][47][48]

Ethiopia is also considered one of the earliest sites of the emergence of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens. The oldest of these local fossil finds, the Omo remains, were excavated in the southwestern Omo Kibish area and have been dated to the Middle Paleolithic, around 200,000 years ago.[49] Additionally, skeletons of Homo sapiens idaltu were found at a site in the Middle Awash valley. Dated to approximately 160,000 years ago, they may represent an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens, or the immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans.[50] Archaic Homo sapiens fossils excavated at the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco have since been dated to an earlier period, about 300,000 years ago,[51] while Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) from southern Ethiopia is the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known (196 ± 5 ka).[52]

According to some linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic era from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley,[53] or the Near East.[54] The majority of scholars today propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in northeast Africa because of the higher diversity of lineages in that region, a telltale sign of linguistic origin.[55][56][57]

In 2019, archaeologists discovered a 30,000-year-old Middle Stone Age rock shelter at the Fincha Habera site in Bale Mountains at an elevation of 3,469 metres (11,381 feet) above sea level. At this high altitude humans are susceptible both to hypoxia and to extreme weather. According to a study published in the journal Science, this dwelling is proof of the earliest permanent human occupation at high altitude yet discovered. Thousands of animal bones, hundreds of stone tools, and ancient fireplaces were discovered, revealing a diet that featured giant mole rats.[58][59][60][61][62][63][64]

Evidence of some of the earliest known stone-tipped projectile weapons (a characteristic tool of Homo sapiens), the stone tips of javelins or throwing spears, were discovered in 2013 at the Ethiopian site of Gademotta, which date to around 279,000 years ago.[65] In 2019, additional Middle Stone Age projectile weapons were found at Aduma, dated 100,000–80,000 years ago, in the form of points considered likely to belong to darts delivered by spear throwers.[66]

Antiquity

 
The Obelisk of Axum dates from the 4th century

In 980 BCE, Dʿmt was established in present-day Eritrea and the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. This polity's capital was located at Yeha in what is now northern Ethiopia. Most modern historians consider this civilization to be a native Ethiopian one, although in earlier times many suggested it was Sabaean-influenced because of the latter's hegemony of the Red Sea.[67]

Other scholars regard Dʿmt as the result of a union of Afroasiatic-speaking cultures of the Cushitic and Semitic branches; namely, local Agaw peoples and Sabaeans from Southern Arabia. However, Ge'ez, the ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, is thought to have developed independently from the Sabaean language. As early as 2000 BCE, other Semitic speakers were living in Ethiopia and Eritrea where Ge'ez developed.[68][69] Sabaean influence is now thought to have been minor, limited to a few localities, and disappearing after a few decades or a century. It may have been a trading or military colony in alliance with the Ethiopian civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto-Axumite state.[67]

 
Aksumite currency of the Aksumite king called Endubis, 227–35, at the British Museum. The inscriptions in Ancient Greek read "ΑΧΩΜΙΤΩ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ" ("King of Axum") and "ΕΝΔΥΒΙΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ" ("King Endubis"), the Greek language was the lingua franca by that time so its use in coins simplified foreign trade.

After the fall of Dʿmt during the 4th century BCE, the Ethiopian plateau came to be dominated by smaller successor kingdoms. In the 1st century CE, the Kingdom of Aksum emerged in what is now Tigray Region and Eritrea. According to the medieval Book of Axum, the kingdom's first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush.[43] Aksum would later at times extend its rule into Yemen on the other side of the Red Sea.[70] The Persian prophet Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his era, during the 3rd century.[71] It is also believed that there was a connection between Egyptian and Ethiopian churches. There is diminutive evidence that the Aksumites were associated with the Queen of Sheba, via their royal inscription.[72]

Around 316 CE, Frumentius and his brother Edesius from Tyre accompanied their uncle on a voyage to Ethiopia. When the vessel stopped at a Red Sea port, the natives killed all the travellers except the two brothers, who were taken to the court as slaves. They were given positions of trust by the monarch, and they converted members of the royal court to Christianity. Frumentius became the first bishop of Aksum.[73] A coin dated to 324 shows that Ethiopia was the second country to officially adopt Christianity (after Armenia did so in 301), although the religion may have been at first confined to court circles; it was the first major power to do so. The Aksumites were accustomed to the Greco-Roman sphere of influence, but embarked on significant cultural ties and trade connections between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire via the Silk Road, primarily exporting ivory, tortoise shell, gold and emeralds, and importing silk and spices.[72][74][75]

Middle Ages

 
The Kingdom of Aksum at its peak in the 6th century

The kingdom adopted the name "Ethiopia" during the reign of Ezana in the 4th century. After the conquest of Kingdom of Kush in 330, the Aksumite territory reached its peak between the 5th and 6th centuries.[67] This period was interrupted by several incursions into the South Arabian protectorate, including Jewish Dhu Nuwas of the Himyarite Kingdom and the Aksumite–Persian wars. In 575, the Aksumites besieged and retook Sana'a following the assassination of its governor Sayf ibn Dhī Yazan. The port city of Adulis was plundered by Arab Muslims in the 8th century; along with irrevocable land degradation, claimed climate change and sporadic rainfall precipitation from 730 to 760,[76] the kingdom likely said to decline its power and important trade route, and Red Sea was left to the Rashidun Caliphate in 646.[67][77]

Aksum came to an end in 960 when Queen Gudit defeated the last king of Aksum. Gudit's reign, which lasted for 40 years, aimed to abolish Christianity (a religion first accepted by King Ezana of the Axumite dynasty) by burning down churches and crucifying people who remained faithful to the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which at the time was considered as the religion of the state.[78] Gudit tried to force many people to change their religion and destroyed much historical heritage of the Axumite dynasty, earning her the epithet of Yodit Gudit (in Amharic: ዮዲት ጉዲት a play on words approximating to Judith the Evil One). Gudit's devastation caused the remnant of the Aksumite population to shift into the southern region and establish the Zagwe dynasty, changing its capital to Lalibela. The dynasty was ruled by ethnic Agaw from circa 912, although most native sources indicate 1137 when its founder Mara Takla Haymanot overthrew the last Aksumite king Dil Na'od and married his daughter. The Zagwe dynasty was known for the revival of Christianity, and by the 13th century Christianity reached the Shewan region.[79]

 
Emperor Yekuno Amlak portrait allegedly from the 18th century

Zagwe's rule ended when an Amhara noble man Yekuno Amlak revolted against King Yetbarak and established the Ethiopian Empire (known by exonym "Abyssinia"). He inaugurated the Solomonic dynasty that supposedly traced to the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba, a claim that Menelik I was their firstborn inaugurated the dynasty and the first Emperor of Ethiopia in the 10th century BCE. According to the medieval Ethiopian chronicle Kebra Nagast, which was translated to Ge'ez in 1321, his name was Bäynä Ləḥkəm (from Arabic: ابن الحكيم, Ibn Al-Hakim, "Son of the Wise"[80]).

In the early 15th century, Ethiopia sought to make diplomatic contact with European kingdoms for the first time since the Aksumite era. A letter from Henry IV of England to the Ethiopian emperor survives.[81] In 1428, Yeshaq I sent two emissaries to Alfonso V of Aragon, who sent his own emissaries that failed to complete the return trip home to Aragon.[82] The first continuous relations Europeans began in 1508 with Portugal under Dawit II.[83]

Abyssinian–Adal War (1529–1543)

 
The Sultan of Adal (right) and his troops battling Emperor Yagbea-Sion and his men.

The Ethiopian Empire embarked on territorial expansion starting with Amda Seyon I, who conquered the first Muslim state in the region, Ifat Sultanate, in the 14th century after seizing the Kingdom of Damot around 1317, and expansion efforts were sustained by Emperor Zara Yaqob who conquered Massawa and Dahlak Archipelago around 1465.[84][85][86] Ifat's successor, the Adal Sultanate, emerged in 1415 with its capital at Zelia, situated in the present-day Somaliland.[87]

 
Emperor Dawit II (Lebna Dengel) contemporary portrait by Cristofano dell'Altissimo

The Adals, supported by Ottoman Turks, initially tried to encroach the Ethiopian Empire under Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi in 1529, launching the Ethiopian–Adal War. After several campaigns, Al-Ghazi overwhelmed the Ethiopian troops at the Battle of Amba Sel in 1531. Cristóvão da Gama played a prominent role in the war, helping the Ethiopian Empire with 400 musketeers at Massawa. His vital efforts eventually led to his death at Battle of Wofla in 1542. In 1543, the Abyssinian troops led by Emperor Gelawdewos decisively defeated the Adal forces at the Battle of Wayna Daga; the Imam was fatally wounded, where tradition states that Ahmad was wounded by a Portuguese musketeer who had charged alone into the Muslim lines and died. The wounded Imam was then chased and beheaded by an Ethiopian cavalry commander, named Azmach Calite. Upon learning of his death, the Adal troops immediately withdrew the area.[88]

Gelawdewos was beheaded at the Battle of Fatagar in 1559.[89][90] In response, Abyssinian Ras Hamalmal sacked the Adal capital of Harar and killed the Sultan Barakat ibn Umar Din.[91][92] These series of conflicts paved the way for 16th-century Oromo migrations to the northern highlands.[93]

Oromo migrations (16th century)

By the 16th century, an influx of migration by ethnic Oromo into northern parts of the region fragmented the empire's power, referred to as the "Great Oromo Expansions." Embarking from present-day Guji and Borena Zone, the Oromos were largely motivated by several folkloric conceptions—beginning with Moggaasaa[94] and Liqimssa[95]—many of whom related to their raids. Early expansion was marked by rapid raids, as the raiders captured most cattle and booty and then returned to their homeland. This technique persisted until gada of Meslé.[96][97] According to Abba Bahrey, the earliest expansion occurred under Emperor Dawit II (luba Melbah), when they encroached to Bale before invading Adal Sultanate.[98]

Emperor Sarsa Dengel unsuccessfully attempted to suppress the invasion in the south after they had taken Wej in 1572.[99]

Jesuit influence (1555–1632)

 
Emperor Susenyos I was the first emperor converted to Roman Catholic in 1622, stressing the populace attitude of Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity

Ethiopia saw major diplomatic contact with Portugal from the 17th century, mainly related to religion. Beginning in 1555,[100] the Portuguese Jesuits attempted to develop Roman Catholicism as the state religion. After several failures, they sent several missionaries in 1603, including the most influential Spanish Jesuit Pedro Paez. Paez's enthusiastic relation had huge favorable effects on the political sphere. The Jesuits, including Manoel de Almeida, Manoel Barradas, and Jerónimo Lobo, wrote a half dozen histories regarding the first interaction with Ethiopians. Their book, however, was unknown until the 20th century when it was fully published.[101] Under Emperor Susenyos I, Roman Catholicism became the state religion of the Ethiopian Empire in 1622.[102] This unprecedented decision immediately caused an uprising by the Orthodox populace.[103]

Gondarine period (1632–1769)

 
Emperor Fasilides (r. 1632–1667) was a major figure of Gondarine period

In 1632, Emperor Fasilides successfully halted Roman Catholic state administration and restored Orthodox Tewahedo as the state religion.[102] Fasilides' reign sparked solidification of imperial power and moved the capital to Gondar in 1636, commencing a period of transition known as "Gondarine period".[104] He expelled Jesuits by reclaiming possessed lands and relegating them to Fremona. During his reign, he built one of the most iconic royal fortress, Fasil Ghebbi, forty-four churches were built[105] and Ethiopian art was revived. He also credited with constructing seven stone bridges over Blue Nile River.[106]

Rebellion of the Agaw population in Lasta endured the reformation. Fasilides conducted punitive expeditions to Lasta and successfully suppress it, which was described by the Scottish traveler James Bruce, "almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains; great part from famine, but a greater still from cold, a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes."[107] Fasilides tried to establish firm relations with Yemeni Imam Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il between 1642 and 1647 to discuss a trade route through Ottoman-held Massawa, which was unsuccessful.[108]

 
Emperor Iyoas I (r. 1755–1769) prematurely murdered at his reign by Ras Mikael Sehul in 1769

Gondar's power and reputation decayed following the death of Iyasu I in 1706 because most emperors preferred to enjoy luxurious life rather than spending in politics. After Iyasu II death in 1755, Empress Mentewab brought her brother, Ras Wolde Leul, to Gondar and made him Ras Bitwaded, resulted in regnal conflict between Mentewab's Quaregnoch and Wollo group led by Wubit. In 1767, Ras Mikael Sehul, a regent in Tigray Province, seized Gondar and murdered the child Iyoas I in 1769, who was emperor at the time, and installed 70-year-old Yohannes II, marking the beginning of the decentralized Zemene Mesafint era.[109]

Zemene Mesafint (1769–1889)

Between 1769 and 1855, Ethiopia experienced a period of isolation referred to as the Zemene Mesafint or "Age of Princes". The emperors became figureheads, controlled by regional lords and noblemen like Ras Mikael Sehul, Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray, and by the Yejju Oromo dynasty of the Wara Sheh, such as Ras Gugsa of Yejju. Prior to the Zemene Mesafint, Emperor Iyoas I had introduced the Oromo language (Afaan Oromo) at court, instead of Amharic.[110][111]

 
Emperor Tewodros II (r. 1855–1868) brought an end of Zemene Mesafint

Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that concluded with an alliance between the two nations, but it was not until 1855 that the Amhara kingdoms of northern Ethiopia (Gondar, Gojjam, and Shewa) were briefly united after the power of the emperor was restored beginning with the reign of Tewodros II.[112][113] Tewodros II began a process of consolidation, centralisation, and state-building that would be continued by succeeding emperors. This process reduced the power of regional rulers, restructured the empire's administration, and created a professional army. These changes created the basis for establishing the effective sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ethiopian state.[114]

Conversely, Tewodros suffered several rebellions inside his empire. Northern Oromo militias, Tigrayan rebellions, and the constant incursion of the Ottoman Empire and Egyptian forces near the Red Sea brought the weakening and the final downfall of Tewodros II. He killed himself in 1868 during his last fight with the British expedition to Abyssinia at the Battle of Magdala. After Tewodros' death, Tekle Giyorgis II was proclaimed emperor but was defeated in the Battles of Zulawu (21 June 1871) and Adwa (11 July 1871).

The victorious Mercha Kassai was subsequently declared Yohannes IV on 21 January 1872. In 1875 and 1876, Ottoman/Egyptian forces, accompanied by many European and American 'advisors', twice invaded Abyssinia but were initially defeated: once at the Battle of Gundit losing 800 men, and then in the second invasion, they were decisively defeated at the Battle of Gura on 7 March 1875, where the invading forces lost at least 3,000 men by death or capture.[115]

At the council of Boru Meda in 1878, Yohannes came out with a decree that Ethiopian Muslims must accept Christianity or be banned. Those that refused were executed on the spot. Tens of thousands were killed and more left their land and belongings to flee to Harar, Bale, Arsi, Jimma, and even to Sudan.[116] From 1885 to 1889, Ethiopia joined the Mahdist War allied to Britain, Turkey, and Egypt against the Sudanese Mahdist State. In 1887, Menelik II, king of Shewa, invaded the Emirate of Harar after his victory at the Battle of Chelenqo.[117] On 10 March 1889, Yohannes IV was killed by the Sudanese Khalifah Abdullah's army whilst leading his army in the Battle of Gallabat.[118]

From Menelik II to Adwa (1889–1913)

 
The conquests of Emperor Yohannes IV, Negus Menelik and general Ras Alula in 1879–1889

Ethiopia in roughly its current form began under the reign of Menelik II, who was Emperor from 1889 until his death in 1913. From his base in the central province of Shewa, Menelik set out to annex territories to the south, east, and west[119] — areas inhabited by the Oromo, Sidama, Gurage, Welayta, and other peoples.[120] He achieved this with the help of Ras Gobana Dacche's Shewan Oromo militia, which occupied lands that had not been held since Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's war, as well as other areas that had never been under Ethiopian rule.[121] During the conquest of the Oromo, the Ethiopian Army carried out atrocities against the Oromo population including mass mutilation, mass killings, and large-scale slavery.[122][123] Some estimates of the number of people killed as a result of the conquest are in the millions.[124][122][125] Large-scale atrocities were also committed against the Dizi people and the people of the Kingdom of Kaffa.[125][126] Menelik's campaign against Oromos outside his army was largely in retaliation for centuries of Oromo expansionism and the Zemene Mesafint, a period during which a succession of Oromo feudal rulers dominated the highlanders.[127] Chief among these was the Yejju dynasty, which included Aligaz of Yejju and his brother Ali I of Yejju. The latter founded the town of Debre Tabor, in the Amhara Region, which became the dynasty's capital.[128]

Menelik II was the son of Haile Melekot, Negus of Shewa, and Ejegayehu Lema Adeyamo, a palace servant.[129] He was born at Angolala in an Oromo area and lived his first twelve years with Shewan Oromos, with whom he thus had much in common.[130] During Menelik's reign, road construction, electricity, and education advanced, and a central taxation system was developed. The city of Finfinne was rebuilt and renamed Addis Ababa; in 1889-1891 it became the new capital of the Ethiopian Empire.

 
Menelik II at the Battle of Adwa

For his leadership, despite opposition from more traditional elements of society, Menelik II was heralded as a national hero. He had signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Italy in May 1889, by which Italy would recognize Ethiopia's sovereignty so long as Italy could control an area north of Ethiopia (now part of modern Eritrea). In return, Italy was to provide Menelik with weapons and support him as emperor. The Italians used the time between the signing of the treaty and its ratification by the Italian government to expand their territorial claims. This First Italo–Ethiopian War culminated in the Battle of Adwa on 1 March 1896, in which Italy's colonial forces were defeated by the Ethiopians.[120][131] In 1896, the Treaty of Addis Ababa was signed, replacing the Treaty of Wuchale with conditions more favorable to Ethiopia.

About a third of the population died in the Great Ethiopian Famine (1888 to 1892).[132][133]

Haile Selassie I era (1916–1974)

 
Emperor Haile Selassie I at his study in Jubilee Palace (1942)

The early 20th century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari). Haile Selassie I was born to parents with ethnic links to three Afroasiatic-speaking populations of Ethiopia: the Oromo and Amhara, the country's two largest ethnic groups, as well as the Gurage. He came to power after Lij Iyasu was deposed, and undertook a nationwide modernization campaign from 1916 when he was made a Ras and Regent (Inderase) for the Empress Regnant Zewditu, and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire. Following Zewditu's death, on 2 November 1930, he succeeded her as emperor.[134] In 1931, Haile Selassie endowed Ethiopia with its first-ever Constitution in emulation of Imperial Japan's 1890 Constitution, through which the Central Europe a model of unitary and homogenous ethnolinguistic nation-state was adopted for the Ethiopian Empire.[135]

Fascist Italy occupation (1936–1941)

 
Ethiopian cavalry during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1936

The independence of Ethiopia was interrupted by the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, beginning when it was invaded by Fascist Italy in early October 1935, and by subsequent Italian rule of the country (1936–1941) after Italian victory in the war.[136] During this time, Haile Selassie exiled and appealed to the League of Nations in 1935, delivering an address that made him a worldwide figure, and the 1935 Time Man of the Year.[137] As the majority of the Ethiopian population lived in rural towns, Italy faced continued resistance and ambushes in urban centers throughout its rule over Ethiopia. Haile Selassie fled into exile in Fairfield House, Bath, England. Mussolini was able to proclaim Italian Ethiopia and the assumption of the imperial title by the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III.[138]

In 1937, the Italian massacre of Yekatit 12 took place, in which between 1,400 and 30,000 civilians were killed and many others imprisoned.[139][140][141] This massacre was a reprisal for the attempted assassination of Rodolfo Graziani, the viceroy of Italian East Africa.[142] The Italians employed the use of asphyxiating chemical weapons in their Ethiopian invasion. The Italians regularly dropped bombs throughout Ethiopia that carried mustard gas and debilitated the Ethiopian forces. On the whole, the Italians dropped about 300 tons of mustard gas as well as thousands of other artillery. This use of chemical weapons amounted to egregious war crimes.[143]

 
Ras Seyoum Mengesha, Ras Getachew Abate and Ras Kebede Gubret with Benito Mussolini on 6 February 1937 in Rome, Italy, after the Italian occupation of Ethiopia

The Italians made investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their rule over Ethiopia. They created the so-called "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua.[144] More than 900 km of railways were reconstructed, dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private companies were established. The Italian government abolished slavery, a practice that existed in the country for centuries.[145]

Following the entry of Italy into World War II, British Empire forces, together with the Arbegnoch (literally, "patriots", referring to armed resistance soldiers) liberated Ethiopia in the course of the East African Campaign in 1941. An Italian guerrilla warfare campaign continued until 1943. The country was placed under British military administration. This was followed by British recognition of Ethiopia's full sovereignty, without any special British privileges, when the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed in December 1944,[146] although some regions remained under British control for more years. Under the peace treaty of 1947, Italy recognized the sovereignty and independence of Ethiopia.

On 26 August 1942, Haile Selassie issued a proclamation that removed legal basis for slavery.[147] Ethiopia had between two and four million slaves in the early 20th century, out of a total population of about eleven million.[148]

Post-World War II (1941–1974)

In 1952, Haile Selassie orchestrated a federation with Eritrea. He dissolved this in 1962 and annexed Eritrea, resulting in the Eritrean War of Independence.

 
 
General Mengistu (left) and Germame Neway (right) were the two perpetrators of the failed 1960 coup d'état attempt against Emperor Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie was nearly deposed in the 1960 coup d'état in a conspiracy by the chiefly progressive opposition group led by brothers Germame and Mengistu Neway whilst Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil. On the evening of Tuesday, 13 December, a group deceived the Ministers of the Imperial Crown and important personages to enter the National Palace, taking them hostage.[149] Fighting began on the next day primarily between the Loyalist imperial army (Kebur Zebegna) and rebels led by General Tsege and Colonel Warqenah. At its start, Germame and his fellow combatants killed 15 of the hostages held in Genetta Leul Palace. Central of these were officials such as then Prime Minister Ras Abebe Aregai, Makonnen Habte-Wolde and Major General Mulugeta.[150]

Heavily subdued by the imperial army, General Tsege was killed in fighting, Colonel Warqenah committed suicide,[151] and the brothers Mengistu and Germame Neway was near Mojo on 24 December, who would soon executed by hanging at church square in Addis Ababa but Germame evaded by committing suicide.[152] The coup considered one of serious threat to Haile Selassie until 1974 Ethiopian Revolution. In 1963, Haile Selassie played a leading role in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).[153]

Opinion within Ethiopia turned against Haile Selassie owing to the worldwide 1973 oil crisis causing a sharp increase in gasoline prices starting on 13 February 1974. The high gasoline prices motivated taxi drivers and teachers to go on strike on 18 February 1974, and students and workers in Addis Ababa began demonstrating against the government on 20 February 1974.[154] There were resulting food shortages, uncertainty regarding the succession, border wars, and discontent in the middle class created through modernization.[155] The feudal oligarchical cabinet of Aklilu Habte-Wold was toppled, and a new government was formed with Endelkachew Makonnen serving as Prime Minister.[156]

The Derg era (1974–1991)

 
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) clashed with the Derg during the Red Terror

Haile Selassie's rule ended on 12 September 1974, when he was deposed by the Derg, a non-ideological committee made up of military and police officers led by Aman Andom.[157] After the execution of 60 former government and military officials including Aman in November 1974,[158] the new Provisional Military Administrative Council now led by General Tafari Benti abolished the monarchy in March 1975 and established Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional government.[159] The abolition of feudalism, increased literacy, nationalization, and sweeping land reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands became priorities.[160]

After internal conflicts that resulted in the execution of chairman Tafari Benti and several of his supporters in February 1977, and the execution of vice-chairman Atnafu Abate in November 1977, Mengistu Halie Mariam gained undisputed leadership of the Derg.[161]

The Derg suffered several coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and a huge refugee problem. In 1977, Somalia, which had previously been receiving assistance and arms from the USSR, invaded Ethiopia in the Ogaden War, capturing part of the Ogaden region. Ethiopia recovered it after it began receiving massive military aid from the Soviet bloc countries of the USSR, Cuba, South Yemen, East Germany,[162] and North Korea. This included around 15,000 Cuban combat troops.[163][164]

 
Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam (left) with fellow Derg members Tafari Benti (middle) and Atnafu Abate (right). Mengistu was sentenced to death in Ethiopia for crimes committed during his government, which killed up to 500,000 people;[165] he lived in exile in Zimbabwe as of 2018.

In 1976–78, up to 500,000 were killed as a result of the Red Terror,[165] a violent political repression campaign by the Derg against various opposition groups most notably the Marxist–Leninist Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP).[155] The Red Terror was carried out in response to what the Derg termed the 'White Terror', a chain of violent events, assassinations, and killings carried out by what it called "petty bourgeois reactionaries" who desired a reversal of the 1974 revolution.[166][167] In 1987, the Derg dissolved itself and established the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) upon the adoption of the 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia modeled on the 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union with modified provisions.[168]

The 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia affected around eight million people, resulting in one million dead. Insurrections against authoritarian rule sprang up, particularly in the northern regions of Eritrea and Tigray. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically based opposition movements in 1989, to form the coalition known as the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).[169]

Concurrently, under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union began to retreat from building world communism towards glasnost and perestroika policies, marking a dramatic reduction in aid to Ethiopia from Socialist Bloc countries. This resulted in more economic hardship and the collapse of the military in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in the north. The collapse of Marxism–Leninism in general, and in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989, coincided with the Soviet Union stopping aid to Ethiopia altogether in 1990. To garner international support Mengistu embraced a mixed economy and an end to one party rule but it was too late to save his regime.[170][171][172]

EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa in May 1991, and the Soviet Union did not intervene to save the government side. Mengistu fled the country and was granted asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides.[173][174]

In 2006, after a trial that lasted 12 years, Ethiopia's Federal High Court in Addis Ababa found Mengistu guilty of genocide in absentia.[175] Numerous other top leaders of his government were also found guilty of war crimes. Mengistu and others who had fled the country were tried and sentenced in absentia. Numerous former officials received the death sentence and tens of others spent the next 20 years in jail, before being pardoned from life sentences.[176][177][178][179]

Federal Democratic Republic (1991–present)

In July 1991, the EPRDF convened a National Conference to establish the Transitional Government of Ethiopia composed of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution.[180] In June 1992, the Oromo Liberation Front withdrew from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition also left the government.[181][182] In April 1993, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia after a national referendum.[183] In 1994, a new constitution was written that established a parliamentary republic with a bicameral legislature and a judicial system.[184]

 
Former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the 2012 World Economic Forum annual meeting

The first multiparty election took place in May 1995, which was won by the EPRDF.[185] The president of the transitional government, EPRDF leader Meles Zenawi, became the first Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and Negasso Gidada was elected its president.[186] In post-Derg Ethiopia's Constitution (promulgated in 1995), the EPRDF not only took over the Derg's Soviet-inspired promise of cultural and administrative autonomy for the country's over 80 ethnic groups but also borrowed the right to independence (secession) from the Soviet Constitution. In this manner, an ethnoterritorial federal model of statehood was adopted for Ethiopia (as originally developed in the Central European empire of Austria-Hungary and in the interwar Soviet Union).[187]

In May 1998, a border dispute with Eritrea led to the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, which lasted until June 2000 and cost both countries an estimated $1 million a day.[188] This had a negative effect on Ethiopia's economy,[189] but strengthened the ruling coalition.[citation needed]

Ethiopia's 3rd multiparty election on 15 May 2005 was highly disputed, with many opposition groups claiming fraud. Though the Carter Center approved the pre-election conditions, it expressed its dissatisfaction with post-election events. European Union election observers cited state support for the EPRDF campaign, as well as irregularities in ballot counting and results publishing.[190] The opposition parties gained more than 200 parliamentary seats, compared with just 12 in the 2000 elections. While most of the opposition representatives joined the parliament, some leaders of the CUD party who refused to take up their parliamentary seats were accused of inciting the post-election violence and were imprisoned. Amnesty International considered them "prisoners of conscience" and they were subsequently released.[191]

A coalition of opposition parties and some individuals were established in 2009 to oust the government of the EPRDF in legislative elections of 2010. Meles' party, which has been in power since 1991, published its 65-page manifesto in Addis Ababa on 10 October 2009. The opposition won most votes in Addis Ababa, but the EPRDF halted the counting of votes for several days. After it ensued, it claimed the election, amidst charges of fraud and intimidation.[192]

In mid-2011, two consecutively missed rainy seasons precipitated the worst drought in East Africa seen in 60 years. Full recovery from the drought's effects did not occur until 2012, with long-term strategies by the national government in conjunction with development agencies believed to offer the most sustainable results.[193]

 
Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn meeting with former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in Addis Ababa.

Meles died on 20 August 2012 in Brussels, where he was being treated for an unspecified illness.[194] Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was appointed as a new prime minister until the 2015 elections,[195] and remained so afterwards with his party in control of every parliamentary seat.[196]

Protests broke out across the country on 5 August 2016 and hundreds of protesters were subsequently shot and killed by police. The protesters demanded an end to human rights abuses, the release of political prisoners, a fairer redistribution of the wealth generated by over a decade of economic growth, and a return of Wolqayt District to the Amhara Region.[197][198][199] The events were the most violent crackdown against protesters in Sub-Saharan Africa since the Ethiopian government killed at least 75 people during protests in the Oromia Region in November and December 2015.[200][201] Following these protests, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on 6 October 2016.[202] The state of emergency was lifted in August 2017.[203]

On 16 February 2018, the government of Ethiopia declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency following the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.[204] Hailemariam is the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history to step down; previous leaders have died in office or been overthrown.[205] He said that he wanted to clear the way for reforms.

Abiy Ahmed and the Prosperity Party (2018–present)

 
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2019

The new Prime Minister was Abiy Ahmed, who made an historic visit to Eritrea in 2018, ending the state of conflict between the two countries.[206] For his efforts in ending the 20-year-long war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel prize for peace in 2019.[207] After taking office in April 2018, 46-year-old Abiy released political prisoners, promised fair elections for 2019 and announced sweeping economic reforms.[208] As of 6 June 2019, all the previously censored websites were made accessible again, over 13,000 political prisoners were released and hundreds of administrative staff were fired as part of the reforms.[209][210][211][212]

Ethnic violence rose with the political unrest. There were Oromo–Somali clashes between the Oromo, who make up the largest ethnic group in the country, and the ethnic Somalis, leading to up to 400,000 have been displaced in 2017.[213] Gedeo–Oromo clashes between the Oromo and the Gedeo people in the south of the country led to Ethiopia having the largest number of people to flee their homes in the world in 2018, with 1.4 million newly displaced people.[214] Starting in 2019, in the Metekel conflict, fighting in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz people against Amharas and Agaws.[215] In March 2020, the leader of an Amhara militia called Fano, Solomon Atanaw, stated that they would not disarm until Metekel Zone and the Tigray Region districts of Welkait and Raya were returned to the control of Amhara Region.[216] In September 2018, 23 people were killed in acts of ethnic violence against minorities in the Special Zone of Oromia near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.[217] 35 people were later killed in Addis Ababa and in the surrounding Oromia Special Zone during protests against what many regarded as a lack of a response from the government to the violence. Some were killed by police.[218]

On 22 June 2019, factions of the security forces of the region attempted a coup d'état against the regional government, during which the President of the Amhara Region, Ambachew Mekonnen, was assassinated.[219] A bodyguard siding with the nationalist factions assassinated General Se'are Mekonnen – the Chief of the General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force – as well as his aide, Major General Gizae Aberra.[219] The Prime Minister's Office accused Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, head of the Amhara region security forces, of leading the plot,[220] and Tsige was shot dead by police near Bahir Dar on 24 June.[221]

 
Ethiopian civil conflict (2018–present) – Territorial control as of November 2022:
(For a more detailed, up-to-date, interactive map, see here).
Pro-federal government troops
  Ethiopian federal government and regional allies
Anti-federal government rebels

The Fano militia is an Amhara youth group in Ethiopia, perceived as either a protest group or an armed militia.[222] An alliance between Fano and Qeerroo, its Oromo counterpart, played a crucial role in the bringing about the political and administrative changes associated with the premiership of Abiy Ahmed.[223][224] During the Tigray War, Fano supported federal and regional security forces against rebels aligned with the Tigray People's Liberation Front or TPLF.[225] Fano units are accused of participating in ethnic massacres, including that of 58 Qemant people in Metemma during 10–11 January 2019,[226] and of armed actions in Humera in November 2020.[227]

Protests broke out across Ethiopia following the assassination of Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa[228] on 29 June 2020, leading to the deaths of at least 239 people.[229]

The federal government, under the Prosperity Party, requested that the National Election Board of Ethiopia cancel elections for 2020 due to health and safety concerns about COVID-19. No official date was set for the next election at that time, but the government promised that once a vaccine was developed for COVID-19 that elections would move forward.[230] The Tigrayan ruling party, TPLF, opposed canceling the elections and, when their request to the federal government to hold elections was rejected, the TPLF proceeded to hold elections anyway on 9 September 2020. They worked with regional opposition parties and included international observers in the election process.[231] It was estimated that 2.7 million people participated in the election.[232]

Relations between the federal government and the Tigray regional government deteriorated after the election,[233] and on 4 November 2020, Abiy began a military offensive in the Tigray Region in response to attacks on army units stationed there, causing thousands of refugees to flee to neighbouring Sudan and triggering the Tigray War.[234][235] More than 600 civilians were killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra on 9 November 2020.[236][237] In April 2021, Eritrea confirmed its troops are fighting in Ethiopia.[238] As of March 2022, as many as 500,000 people had died as a result of violence and famine in the Tigray War.[239][240] After a number of peace and mediation proposals in the intervening years, Ethiopia and the Tigrayan rebel forces agreed to a cessation of hostilities on 2 November 2022; as Eritrea was not a party to the agreement, however, their status remained unclear.[241]

Government and politics

Ethiopia is a federal parliamentary republic, wherein the Prime Minister is the head of government, and the President is the head of state but with largely ceremonial powers. Executive power is exercised by the government and federal legislative power vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. The House of Federation is the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature with 108 seats, and the lower chamber is the House of Peoples' Representatives (HoPR) with 547 seats. The House of Federation is chosen by the regional councils whereas MPs of the HoPR are elected directly, in turn, they elect the president for a six-year term and the prime minister for a 5-year term.

The Ethiopian judiciary consists of dual system with two court structures: the federal and state courts. The FDRE Constitution vested federal judicial authority to the Federal Supreme Court which can overturn and review decisions of subordinate federal courts; itself has regular division assigned for fundamental errors of law. In addition, the Supreme Court can perform circuit hearings in established five states at any states of federal levels or "area designated for its jurisdiction" if deemed "necessary for the efficient rendering of justice".[242][243]

The Federal Supreme Proclamation granted three subject matter principles: laws, parties and place to federal court jurisdiction, first "cases arising under the Constitution, federal laws and international treaties", second over "parties specified by federal laws".[244]

On the basis of Article 78 of the 1994 Ethiopian Constitution, the judiciary is completely independent of the executive and the legislature.[245] To ensure this, the vice-president and President of the Supreme Court appointed by Parliament on the nomination of Prime Minister. Once elected, the executive power has no authority to remove from office. Other judges are nominated by the Federal Judicial Administration Council (FJAC) on the basis of transparent criteria and the Prime Minister's recommendation for appointment in the HoPR. In all cases, judges cannot be removed from their duty unless they retired, violated disciplinary rules, gross incompatibility, or inefficiency to unfit due to ill health. Contrary, the majority vote of HoPR have the right to sanction removal in federal judiciary level or state council in cases of state judges.[246] In 2015, the realities of this provision were questioned in a report prepared by Freedom House.[247]

According to the Democracy Index published by the United Kingdom-based Economist Intelligence Unit in late 2010, Ethiopia was an "authoritarian regime", ranking as the 118th-most democratic out of 167 countries.[248] Ethiopia had dropped 13 places on the list since 2008, and the 2010 report attributed the drop to the government's crackdown on opposition activities, media, and civil society before the 2010 parliamentary election, which the report argued had made Ethiopia a de facto one-party state.[249]

Governance

In post-1995 regime, Ethiopia's politics has been liberalized which promotes all-encompassing reforms to the country. Today, its economy is based on mixed, market-oriented principles.[246]

The first election of 547-member constituent assembly was held in June 1994. This assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994. The elections for Ethiopia's first popularly chosen national parliament and regional legislatures were held in May and June 1995. Most opposition parties chose to boycott these elections. There was a landslide victory for the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). International and non-governmental observers concluded that opposition parties would have been able to participate had they chosen to do so.[citation needed] The first government of Ethiopia under the new constitution was installed in August 1995 with Negasso Gidada as president. The EPRDF-led government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promoted a policy of ethnic federalism, devolving significant powers to regional, ethnically based authorities. Ethiopia today has eleven semi-autonomous administrative regions that have the power to raise and spend their own revenues. Under past governments, some fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the press, were circumscribed.[250]

Citizens had little access to media other than the state-owned networks, and most private newspapers struggled to remain open and suffered periodic harassment from the government.[250] Starting from the 2005 elections, at least 18 journalists who had written articles critical of the government, were arrested on genocide and treason charges. The government used press laws governing libel to intimidate journalists who were critical of its policies.[251]

Meles' government was elected in 2000 in the first-ever multiparty elections; however, the results were heavily criticized by international observers and denounced by the opposition as fraudulent. The EPRDF also won the 2005 election returning Meles to power. Although the opposition vote increased in the election, both the opposition and observers from the European Union and elsewhere stated that the vote did not meet international standards for fair and free elections.[250] Ethiopian police are said to have massacred 193 protesters, mostly in the capital Addis Ababa, in the violence following the May 2005 elections in the Ethiopian police massacre.[252]

 
Former Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Tedros Adhanom with former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

The government initiated a crackdown in the provinces as well; in Oromia Region, the authorities used concerns over insurgency and terrorism to use torture, imprisonment, and other repressive methods to silence critics following the election, particularly people sympathetic to the registered opposition party Oromo National Congress (ONC).[251] The government has been engaged in a conflict with rebels in the Ogaden region since 2007. The biggest opposition party in 2005 was the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD). After various internal divisions, most of the CUD party leaders have established the new Unity for Democracy and Justice party led by Judge Birtukan Mideksa. A member of the country's Oromo ethnic group, Birtukan Mideksa is the first woman to lead a political party in Ethiopia.

In 2008, the top five opposition parties were the Unity for Democracy and Justice led by Judge Birtukan Mideksa, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces led by Beyene Petros, Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement led by Bulcha Demeksa, Oromo People's Congress led by Merera Gudina, and United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin Party led by Lidetu Ayalew. After the 2015 elections, Ethiopia lost its single remaining opposition MP;[253] by 2015 there were no opposition MPs in the Ethiopian parliament.[254]

Foreign relations

 
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May 2018

Starting from the Land of Punt, Ethiopia has been a trading nation that mainly exported goods such as gold, ivory, exotic animals, and incense.[255] Many historians concluded that modern diplomatic relationship of Ethiopia began under Emperor Tewodros II, whose reign was sought to establish Ethiopian border and later unsuccessfully diminished in British expedition of 1868.[256] Since then, the country was seen redundant by world powers until the opening of Suez Canal due to an influence of Mahdist War.[257]

Today, Ethiopia maintains strong relations with China, Israel, Mexico, Turkey and India as well as neighboring countries. The relationship with Sudan and Egypt is somewhat in dispute situation owing to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project, which was escalated in 2020.[258][259] Despite six upstream countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania) signed Nile Basin Initiative in 2010, Egypt and Sudan rejected water sharing treaty citing the reduction of amount of water to the Nile Basin challenges their historic connection of water rights.[260][261] In 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned that "No force can stop Ethiopia from building a dam. If there is need to go to war, we could get millions readied."[262] Ethiopia is a strategic partner of Global War on Terrorism and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).[263] US. Former President Barack Obama was the first incumbent to visit Ethiopia in July 2015, while delivering speech in the Africa Union, he highlighted combatting the Islamic terrorism.[264][265] Ethiopia has concentrated emigrant to countries in Europe mainly in Italy, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and Australia. Ethiopia has Jewish emigrant in Israel about 155,300 as of 2019. They are collectively known as Beta Israel. Ethiopia is founding member of the Group of 24 (G-24), the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77. In 1963, the Organization of African Unity later renamed itself the African Union was founded in Addis Ababa serving the political center of the Union. In addition, it is also a member of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Standby Force and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa.

Ethiopia is one of African countries and founding member of League of Nations now United Nations since at least end of colonial era in 1923. The UN tasks in Ethiopia is primarily of humanitarian issues and development. For example, UN Country Team (UNCT) in Ethiopia has representative of 28 UN funds and programmes and specialized agencies. Some of its agencies mandate regional ligature with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union. The UN focuses all-encompassing affairs in Ethiopia, providing two goals: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Development priority. This includes fighting against poverty, sustainable economic growth, climate change policy, educational and healthcare provision, increasing job employment and environmental protection.[266]

Military

 
The Ethiopian National Defense Force soldiers during ceremony in Baidoa, Somalia to mark the inclusion of Ethiopia into the African Union peace keeping mission in the country on 22 January 2014

Historically, Ethiopia was heavily built on military and saw decisive invasions against external powers. Despite modern weapons equipped with assistance of European countries such as Portugal, Russia, France and Britain, the Ethiopian army largely relied on feudal system, so its army nearly consisted of peasant militia. Under Amda Seyon I, a legion named Chewa regiments was formed in the 14th century, became dominant military force in medieval times. It was normally composed up to several thousand men. The modern military dates back in 1917 created by Tafari Makonnen which was called Kebur Zabagna. The Ethiopian Army under Kagnew Battalion unit involved in the Korean War from 1950, fought as part of United Nations Command. Some publications stated that Ethiopian troops remained for 15 years, though other stated they left until 1975, as part of the UN Command.[267] The battalion sized 6,037 troops at the time of the war.[268]

 
ENDF soldiers marching in 2019 parade

The Ethiopian National Defense Force is the largest military in Africa[269] and is directed by Ministry of Defense. Other military branches include ground forces, air force and formerly naval force. Since 1996, landlocked Ethiopia has had no navy but in 2018 Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on state TV: "We built one of the strongest ground and air forces in Africa ... we should build our naval force capacity in the future."[270]

Law enforcement

The constitution guarantees law enforcement duty to the Ethiopian Federal Police (EFP). The EFP is responsible for safeguarding and public welfare in federal level. Founded in 1995, the federal police surveyed by Federal Police Commissioner since October 2000; the Federal Police Commissioner then reports task to the Ministry of Peace, however it was overrode after political reforms in 2018, and directed to the parliament. In previous years, the federal police reports the Ministry's tasks directly. In addition, the federal police have ability to disclose regional police commissions, in order for assistance. Independently, the local militias uphold security.[citation needed]

Nowadays, bribery is a basic concern, especially observed by traffic police. Police brutality appeared as severe in recent years. On 26 August 2019, a video of handcuffed man beaten by two police officers as an elderly woman intervened the scene in Addis Ababa went viral. Recent police misconduct is said to be a failure of Federal Police Commissioner to abide Article 52 of the constitution, which states investigation of unlawful use of force, and dismissal of those misconducted officer. The African Union's Luanda and Robben Island Guidelines or the United Nations' Declaration on Justice for Victims of Abuse of Power and their Basic Principles on the Use of Force & Firearms are once obligated to the Ethiopian government disciplinary committee to combat police brutality in both individual and systemic level.[271]

Human rights

Human rights violations often accompany endured ethnic and communal violence in the country.[272] In a 2016 demonstration, 100 peaceful protestors were killed by direct government gunfire in the Oromia and Amhara regions.[273] The UN has called for UN observers on the ground in Ethiopia to investigate this incident,[274] however the EPRDF-dominated Ethiopian government has refused this call.[275] The protestors are protesting land grabs and lack of basic human rights such as the freedom to elect their representatives. The TPLF-dominated EPRDF won 100% in an election marked by fraud which has resulted in Ethiopian civilians protesting on scale unseen in prior post-election protests.[276]

Merera Gudina, leader of the Oromo People's Congress, said the East African country was at a "crossroads". He added in the interview with Reuters: "People are demanding their rights", he said. "People are fed up with what the regime has been doing for a quarter of a century. They're protesting against land grabs, reparations, stolen elections, the rising cost of living, many things. "If the government continue to repress while the people are demanding their rights in the millions that (civil war) is one of the likely scenarios."[276]

According to surveys in 2003 by the National Committee on Traditional Practices in Ethiopia, marriage by abduction accounts for 69% of the nation's marriages, with around 80% in the largest region, Oromia, and as high as 92% in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.[277][278] Journalists and activists have been threatened or arrested for their coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.[279]

Among the Omotic Karo-speaking and Hamer peoples in southern Ethiopia, adults and children with physical abnormalities are considered to be mingi, "ritually impure". The latter are believed to exert an evil influence upon others; disabled infants have traditionally been murdered without a proper burial.[280] The Karo officially banned the practice in July 2012.[281]

In 2013, the Oakland Institute released a report accusing the Ethiopian government of forcing the relocation of "hundreds of thousands of indigenous people from their lands" in the Gambela Region.[282] According to several reports by the organization, those who refused were the subject of a variety of intimidation techniques including physical and sexual abuse, which sometimes led to deaths.[283][284][285] A similar 2012 report by Human Rights Watch also describes the Ethiopian government's 2010–2011 villagization program in Gambela, with plans to carry out similar resettlements in other regions.[286] The Ethiopian government has denied the accusations of land grabbing and instead pointed to the positive trajectory of the country's economy as evidence of the development program's benefits.[285] A nationwide series of violent protests, concentrated in the Oromia Region, broke out starting on 23 October 2019, sparked by activist and media owner Jawar Mohammed's allegation that security forces had attempted to detain him. According to official reports, 86 people were killed.[287] On 29 May 2020, Amnesty International released a report accusing the security forces of Ethiopia of mass detentions and extrajudicial killings. The report stated that in 2019, at least 25 people, suspected of supporting the Oromo Liberation Army, were killed by the forces in parts the Oromia Region. Besides, between January and September 2019, at least 10,000 people were detained under suspicion, where most were "subjected to brutal beatings".[288]

LGBT rights

Homosexual acts are illegal in Ethiopia. According to Criminal Code Article 629, same-sex activity is punished up to 15 years to life in prison.[289] Ethiopia has been a socially conservative country. The majority of people are hostile towards LGBT people and persecution is commonplace on the grounds of religious and societal norms. Homosexuality came to light in the country since the failed 2008 appeal to the Council of Ministers, and the LGBT scene began to thrive slightly in major metropolitan locations, such as Addis Ababa. Some notable hotels like Sheraton Addis and Hilton Hotel became hotbeds of accusations for alleged lobbying.[290]

The Ethiopian Orthodox church plays a frontal role in opposition; some of its members formed anti-gay organizations. For example, Dereje Negash, one prominent activist, founded "Zim Anlem" in 2014, which is a traditionalism and anti-gender movement.[291] According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 97 percent[292] of Ethiopians believe homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept. This was the second-highest rate of non-acceptance in the 45 countries surveyed.[293]

Administrative divisions

 
Map of regions and zones of Ethiopia

Before 1996, Ethiopia was divided into thirteen provinces, many derived from historical regions. The nation now has a tiered governmental system consisting of a federal government overseeing regional states, zones, districts (woreda), and kebeles ("neighbourhoods").[citation needed]

Ethiopia is divided into eleven ethnically based and politically autonomous regional states (kililoch, singular kilil ) and two chartered cities (astedader akababiwoch, singular astedader akababi ), the latter being Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. The kililoch are subdivided into sixty-eight zones, and then further into 550 woredas and several special woredas.[citation needed]

The constitution assigns extensive power to regional states, which can establish their own government and democracy as long as it is in line with the federal government's constitution. Each region has at its apex a regional council where members are directly elected to represent the districts and the council has legislative and executive power to direct internal affairs of the regions.[citation needed]

Furthermore, Article 39 of the Ethiopian Constitution gives every regional state the right to secede from Ethiopia. There is debate, however, as to how much of the power guaranteed in the constitution is actually given to the states. The councils implement their mandate through an executive committee and regional sectoral bureaus. Such an elaborate structure of council, executive and sectoral public institutions is replicated at the next level (woreda).[citation needed]

Geography

 
Wonchi Lake at the crossroads between Ambo and Waliso in Oromia Region

At 1,104,300 square kilometres (426,372.61 sq mi),[9] Ethiopia is the world's 28th-largest country, comparable in size to Bolivia. It lies between the 3rd parallel north and the 15th parallel north and longitudes 33rd meridian east and 48th meridian east.

The major portion of Ethiopia lies in the Horn of Africa, which is the easternmost part of the African landmass. The territories that have frontiers with Ethiopia are Eritrea to the north and then, moving in a clockwise direction, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan. Within Ethiopia is a vast highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley, which runs generally southwest to northeast and is surrounded by lowlands, steppes, or semi-desert. There is a great diversity of terrain with wide variations in climate, soils, natural vegetation and settlement patterns.

Ethiopia is an ecologically diverse country, ranging from the deserts along the eastern border to the tropical forests in the south to extensive Afromontane in the northern and southwestern parts. Lake Tana in the north is the source of the Blue Nile. It also has many endemic species, notably the gelada, the walia ibex and the Ethiopian wolf ("Simien fox"). The wide range of altitude has given the country a variety of ecologically distinct areas, and this has helped to encourage the evolution of endemic species in ecological isolation.

The nation is a land of geographical contrasts, ranging from the vast fertile west, with its forests and numerous rivers, to the world's hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are the largest continuous mountain ranges in Africa, and the Sof Omar Caves contains the largest cave on the continent. Ethiopia also has the second-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.[294]

Climate

The predominant climate type is tropical monsoon, with wide topographic-induced variation. The Ethiopian Highlands cover most of the country and have a climate which is generally considerably cooler than other regions at similar proximity to the Equator. Most of the country's major cities are located at elevations of around 2,000–2,500 m (6,562–8,202 ft) above sea level, including historic capitals such as Gondar and Axum.

The modern capital, Addis Ababa, is situated on the foothills of Mount Entoto at an elevation of around 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). It experiences a mild climate year round. With temperatures fairly uniform year round, the seasons in Addis Ababa are largely defined by rainfall: a dry season from October to February, a light rainy season from March to May, and a heavy rainy season from June to September. The average annual rainfall is approximately 1,200 millimetres (47 in).

There are on average seven hours of sunshine per day. The dry season is the sunniest time of the year, though even at the height of the rainy season in July and August there are still usually several hours per day of bright sunshine. The average annual temperature in Addis Ababa is 16 °C (60.8 °F), with daily maximum temperatures averaging 20–25 °C (68.0–77.0 °F) throughout the year, and overnight lows averaging 5–10 °C (41.0–50.0 °F).

Most major cities and tourist sites in Ethiopia lie at a similar elevation to Addis Ababa and have a comparable climate. In less elevated regions, particularly the lower lying Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublands in the east of Ethiopia, the climate can be significantly hotter and drier. Dallol, in the Danakil Depression in this eastern zone, has the world's highest average annual temperature of 34 °C (93.2 °F).

Ethiopia is vulnerable to many of the effects of climate change. These include increases in temperature and changes in precipitation. Climate change in these forms threatens food security and the economy, which is agriculture based.[295] Many Ethiopians have been forced to leave their homes and travel as far as the Gulf, Southern Africa and Europe.[296]

Since April 2019, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has promoted Beautifying Sheger, a development project that aims to reduce the negative effects of climate change – among other things – in the capital city Addis Ababa.[297] In the following May, the government held "Dine for Sheger", a fundraising event in order to cover some of the $1 billion needed through the public.[298] $25 million was raised through the expensive event, both through the cost of attending and donations.[299] Two Chinese railway companies under the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Ethiopia had supplied funds to develop 12 of the total 56 kilometres.[300]

Biodiversity

 
Mountain nyalas in Bale Mountains National Park, one of several wildlife reserves in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has 31 endemic species of mammals.[301] The African wild dog prehistorically had widespread distribution in the territory. However, with last sightings at Finicha'a, this canid is thought to be potentially locally extinct. The Ethiopian wolf is perhaps the most researched of all the endangered species within Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a global centre of avian diversity. To date more than 856 bird species have been recorded in Ethiopia, twenty of which are endemic to the country.[302] Sixteen species are endangered or critically endangered. Many of these birds feed on butterflies, like the Bicyclus anynana.[303][full citation needed]

Historically, throughout the African continent, wildlife populations have been rapidly declining due to logging, civil wars, pollution, poaching, and other human factors.[304] A 17-year-long civil war, along with severe drought, negatively affected Ethiopia's environmental conditions, leading to even greater habitat degradation.[305] Habitat destruction is a factor that leads to endangerment. When changes to a habitat occur rapidly, animals do not have time to adjust. Human impact threatens many species, with greater threats expected as a result of climate change induced by greenhouse gases.[306] With carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 of 6,494,000 tonnes, Ethiopia contributes just 0.02% to the annual human-caused release of greenhouse gases.[307]

Ethiopia has many species listed as critically endangered and vulnerable to global extinction. The threatened species in Ethiopia can be broken down into three categories (based on IUCN ratings): critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable.[301]

Ethiopia is one of the eight fundamental and independent centres of origin for cultivated plants in the world.[308] However, deforestation is a major concern for Ethiopia as studies suggest loss of forest contributes to soil erosion, loss of nutrients in the soil, loss of animal habitats, and reduction in biodiversity. At the beginning of the 20th century, around 420,000 km2 (or 35%) of Ethiopia's land was covered by trees, but recent research indicates that forest cover is now approximately 11.9% of the area.[309] The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.16/10, ranking it 50th globally out of 172 countries.[310]

Ethiopia loses an estimated 1,410 km2 of natural forests each year due to firewood collection, conversion to farmland, overgrazing, and use of forest wood for building material. Between 1990 and 2005 the country lost approximately 21,000 km2 of forests.[311] Current government programs to control deforestation consist of education, promoting reforestation programs, and providing raw materials which are alternatives to timber. In rural areas the government also provides non-timber fuel sources and access to non-forested land to promote agriculture without destroying forest habitat.[citation needed][312]

Organizations such as SOS and Farm Africa are working with the federal government and local governments to create a system of forest management.[313] Working with a grant of approximately 2.3 million Euros, the Ethiopian government recently began training people on reducing erosion and using proper irrigation techniques that do not contribute to deforestation. This project is assisting more than 80 communities.[citation needed]

Economy

 
Development of GDP per capita
 
A proportional representation of Ethiopia exports, 2019

Ethiopia registered the fastest economic growth under Meles Zenawi's administration.[314] According to the IMF, Ethiopia was one of the fastest growing economies in the world, registering over 10% economic growth from 2004 through 2009.[315] It was the fastest-growing non-oil-dependent African economy in the years 2007 and 2008.[316] In 2015, the World Bank highlighted that Ethiopia had witnessed rapid economic growth with real domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 10.9% between 2004 and 2014.[317]

In 2008 and 2011, Ethiopia's growth performance and considerable development gains were challenged by high inflation and a difficult balance of payments situation. Inflation surged to 40% in August 2011 because of loose monetary policy, large civil service wage increase in early 2011, and high food prices.[318] For 2011–12, end-year inflation was projected to be about 22%, and single digit inflation is projected in 2012–13 with the implementation of tight monetary and fiscal policies.[319]

In spite of fast growth in recent years, GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world, and the economy faces a number of serious structural problems. However, with a focused investment in public infrastructure and industrial parks, Ethiopia's economy is addressing its structural problems to become a hub for light manufacturing in Africa.[320] In 2019 a law was passed allowing expatriate Ethiopians to invest in Ethiopia's financial service industry.[321]

The Ethiopian constitution specifies that rights to own land belong only to "the state and the people", but citizens may lease land for up to 99 years, but are unable to mortgage or sell. Renting out land for a maximum of twenty years is allowed and this is expected to ensure that land goes to the most productive user. Land distribution and administration is considered an area where corruption is institutionalized, and facilitation payments as well as bribes are often demanded when dealing with land-related issues.[322] As there is no land ownership, infrastructural projects are most often simply done without asking the land users, which then end up being displaced and without a home or land. A lot of anger and distrust sometimes results in public protests. In addition, agricultural productivity remains low, and frequent droughts still beset the country, also leading to internal displacement.[323]

Energy and hydropower

 
Layout of the Grand Renaissance Dam

Ethiopia has 14 major rivers flowing from its highlands, including the Nile. It has the largest water reserves in Africa. As of 2012, hydroelectric plants represented around 88.2% of the total installed electricity generating capacity.

The remaining electrical power was generated from fossil fuels (8.3%) and renewable sources (3.6%).

The electrification rate for the total population in 2016 was 42%, with 85% coverage in urban areas and 26% coverage in rural areas. As of 2016, total electricity production was 11.15 TW⋅h and consumption was 9.062 TW⋅h. There were 0.166 TW⋅h of electricity exported, 0 kW⋅h imported, and 2.784 GW of installed generating capacity.[17]

Ethiopia delivers roughly 81% of water volume to the Nile through the river basins of the Blue Nile, Sobat River and Atbara. In 1959, Egypt and Sudan signed a bilateral treaty, the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement, which gave both countries exclusive maritime rights over the Nile waters. Ever since, Egypt has discouraged almost all projects in Ethiopia that sought to use the local Nile tributaries. This had the effect of discouraging external financing of hydropower and irrigation projects in western Ethiopia, thereby impeding water resource-based economic development projects. However, Ethiopia is in the process of constructing a large 6,450 MW hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile river. When completed, this Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is slated to be the largest hydroelectric power station in Africa.[324]

The Gibe III hydroelectric project is so far the largest in the country with an installed capacity of 1,870 MW. For the year 2017–18 (2010 E.C) this hydroelectric dam generated 4,900 GW⋅h.[325]

Agriculture

 
Tef field near Mojo

Agriculture constitutes around 85% of the labour force. However, the service sector represents the largest portion of the GDP.[17] Many other economic activities depend on agriculture, including marketing, processing, and export of agricultural products. Production is overwhelmingly by small-scale farmers and enterprises, and a large part of commodity exports are provided by the small agricultural cash-crop sector. Principal crops include coffee, legumes, oilseeds, cereals, potatoes, sugarcane, and vegetables. Ethiopia is also a Vavilov centre of diversity for domesticated crops, including enset,[326] coffee and teff.

Exports are almost entirely agricultural commodities (with the exception of Gold exports), and coffee is the largest foreign exchange earner. Ethiopia is Africa's second biggest maize producer.[327] According to UN estimations the per capita GDP of Ethiopia has reached $357 as of 2011.[328]

Exports

 
Ethiopia Export Treemap from MITHarvard Economic Complexity Observatory (2014)

Ethiopia is often considered as the birthplace of coffee since cultivation began in the 9th century.[329] Exports from Ethiopia in the 2009–2010 financial year totalled US$1.4 billion.[330] Ethiopia produces more coffee than any other nation on the continent.[331] "Coffee provides a livelihood for close to 15 million Ethiopians, 16% of the population. Farmers in the eastern part of the country, where a warming climate is already impacting production, have struggled in recent years, and many are currently reporting largely failed harvests as a result of a prolonged drought".[332]

Ethiopia also has the 5th largest inventory of cattle.[333] Other main export commodities are khat, gold, leather products, and oilseeds. Recent development of the floriculture sector means Ethiopia is poised to become one of the top flower and plant exporters in the world.[334]

 
Ethiopian Blessed Coffee branded bags in the United States. Coffee is one of main exports of Ethiopia.

Cross-border trade by pastoralists is often informal and beyond state control and regulation. In East Africa, over 95% of cross-border trade is through unofficial channels. The unofficial trade of live cattle, camels, sheep, and goats from Ethiopia sold to Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya generates an estimated total value of between 250 and US$300 million annually (100 times more than the official figure).[335]

This trade helps lower food prices, increase food security, relieve border tensions, and promote regional integration.[335] However, the unregulated and undocumented nature of this trade runs risks, such as allowing disease to spread more easily across national borders. Furthermore, the government of Ethiopia is purportedly unhappy with lost tax revenue and foreign exchange revenues.[335] Recent initiatives have sought to document and regulate this trade.[335]

With the private sector growing slowly, designer leather products like bags are becoming a big export business, with Taytu becoming the first luxury designer label in the country.[336] Additional small-scale export products include cereals, pulses, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, and hides. With the construction of various new dams and growing hydroelectric power projects around the country, Ethiopia also plans to export electric power to its neighbours.[337][338]

Most regard Ethiopia's large water resources and potential as its "white oil" and its coffee resources as "black gold".[339][340]

Ethiopia also has large mineral resources and oil potential in some of the less inhabited regions. Political instability in those regions, however, has inhibited development. Ethiopian geologists were implicated in a major gold swindle in 2008. Four chemists and geologists from the Ethiopian Geological Survey were arrested in connection with a fake gold scandal, following complaints from buyers in South Africa. Gold bars from the National Bank of Ethiopia were found by police to be gilded metal, costing the state around US$17 million, according to the Science and Development Network website.[341]

In 2011, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project was commenced. When completed, it will provide surplus energy in Ethiopia which will be available for export to neighbouring countries.

Transport

 
Light rail in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has 926 km of electrified 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge railways, 656 km for the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway between Addis Ababa and the Port of Djibouti (via Awash)[342] and 270 km for the Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway between Addis Ababa and the twin cities of Dessie/Kombolcha[343] (also via Awash). Both railways are either in trial service or still under construction as of August 2017. Once commissioned and fully operational in 2018–2019, both railways will allow passenger transport with a designated speed of 120 km/hour and freight transport with a speed of ~80 km/hour. Expected travel time from Addis Ababa to Djibouti City for passengers would be less than twelve hours and travel time from Addis Ababa to Dessie/Kombolcha would be around six hours.

Beyond the first 270 km of the Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway, a second construction phase over 120 km foresees the extension of this railway from Dessie/Kombolcha to Hara Gebeya/Woldiya. It is not clear, when this section will be built and opened.[344] A third, northern 216 km long railway is also under construction between Mek'ele and Woldiya, but it is also not clear when this railway will be commissioned and opened.[345] All railways are part of a future railway network of more than 5,000 km of railways, the National Railway Network of Ethiopia.

As the first part of a ten-year Road Sector Development Program, between 1997 and 2002 the Ethiopian government began a sustained effort to improve its infrastructure of roads. As a result, as of 2015 Ethiopia has a total (Federal and Regional) of 100,000 km of roads, both paved and gravel.[346]

Ethiopia had 58 airports as of 2012,[17] and 61 as of 2016.[347] Among these, the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa and the Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport in Dire Dawa accommodate international flights.

Ethiopian Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance, is the country's flag carrier, and is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia.[348] From its hub at the Bole International Airport, the airline serves a network of 102 international passenger, 20 domestic passenger, and 44 cargo destinations.[349][350] It is also one of the fastest-growing carriers in the industry and continent.[351]

Tourism

 
Semien Mountains landscape, 2009

Tourism is the most popular economic sector in Ethiopia, accounting 5.5% of GDP growth in 2006. In 2015, the European Council named Ethiopia "World's Best Tourism Destination".[352] In 2020 alone, Ethiopia registered 518,000 tourists, ranked 126th in the world.[353] There are nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia:[354]

Demographics

Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world.[355] Its total population has grown from 38.1 million in 1983 to 109.5 million in 2018.[356] The population was only about nine million in the 19th century.[357] The 2007 Population and Housing Census results show that the population of Ethiopia grew at an average annual rate of 2.6% between 1994 and 2007, down from 2.8% during the period 1983–1994. Currently, the population growth rate is among the top ten countries in the world. The population is forecast to grow to over 210 million by 2060, which would be an increase from 2011 estimates by a factor of about 2.5.[358] According to UN estimations, life expectancy had improved substantially in recent years with male life expectancy reported to be 56 years and for women 60 years.[328]

Ethnic groups in Ethiopia
Ethnic group Population
Oromo
25.4 (34.4%)
Amhara
19.9 (27.0%)
Somali
4.59 (6.2%)
Tigrayans
4.49 (6.1%)
Sidama
2.95 (4.0%)
Gurage
1.86 (2.5%)
Welayta
1.68 (2.3%)
Afar
1.28 (1.7%)
Hadiya
1.27 (1.7%)
Gamo
1.10 (1.5%)
Others
9.30 (12.6%)
Population in millions according to 2007 Census[6]

Ethiopia's population is highly diverse, containing over 80 different ethnic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromo, Amhara, Somali and Tigrayans. According to the Ethiopian national census of 2007, the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, at 34.4% of the nation's population. The Amhara represent 27.0% of the country's inhabitants, while Somalis and Tigrayans represent 6.2% and 6.1% of the population respectively. Other prominent ethnic groups are as follows: Sidama 4.0%, Gurage 2.5%, Welayta 2.3%, Afar 1.7%, Hadiya 1.7%, Gamo 1.5% and Others 12.6%.[6]

Afroasiatic-speaking communities make up the majority of the population. Among these, Semitic speakers often collectively refer to themselves as the Habesha people. The Arabic form of this term (al-Ḥabasha) is the etymological basis of "Abyssinia", the former name of Ethiopia in English and other European languages.[359] Additionally, Nilo-Saharan-speaking ethnic minorities inhabit the southern regions of the country, particularly in areas of the Gambela Region which borders South Sudan. The largest ethnic groups among these include the Nuer and Anuak.

In addition, Ethiopia had over 75,000 Italian settlers during the Italian occupation of the country.[360] After independence, many Italians remained for decades after receiving full pardons from Emperor Selassie, as he saw the opportunity to continue modernization efforts.[361] However, due to the Ethiopian Civil War in 1974, nearly 22,000 Italo-Ethiopians left the country.[361] In the 2000s, some Italian companies returned to operate in Ethiopia, and many Italian technicians and managers arrived with their families, residing mainly in the metropolitan area of the capital.[362]

In 2009, Ethiopia hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 135,200. The majority of this population came from Somalia (approximately 64,300 persons), Eritrea (41,700) and Sudan (25,900). The Ethiopian government required nearly all refugees to live in refugee camps.[363]

Languages

Languages of Ethiopia as of 2007 Census[6]

  Oromo (33.8%)
  Amharic (29.3%)
  Somali (6.2%)
  Tigrinya (5.9%)
  Sidamo (4.0%)
  Wolaytta (2.2%)
  Gurage (2.0%)
  Afar (1.7%)
  Hadiyya (1.7%)
  Gamo (1.5%)
  others (11.6%)

According to Ethnologue, there are 90 individual languages spoken in Ethiopia.[364] Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches. The former includes Oromo language, spoken by the Oromo, and Somali, spoken by the Somalis; the latter includes Amharic, spoken by the Amhara, and Tigrinya, spoken by the Tigrayans. Together, these four groups make up about three-quarters of Ethiopia's population. Other Afroasiatic languages with a significant number of speakers include the Cushitic Sidamo, Afar, Hadiyya and Agaw languages, as well as the Semitic Gurage languages, Harari, Silt'e, and Argobba languages.[6] Arabic, which also belongs to the Afroasiatic family, is likewise spoken in some areas.[365]

Additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by Omotic ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Among these idioms are Aari, Bench, Dime, Dizin, Gamo-Gofa-Dawro, Maale, Hamer, and Wolaytta.[6]

Languages from the Nilo-Saharan family are also spoken by ethnic minorities concentrated in the southwestern parts of the country. These languages include Nuer, Anuak, Nyangatom, Majang, Suri, Me'en, and Mursi.[6]

English is the most widely spoken foreign language, the medium of instruction in secondary schools and all tertiary education; federal laws are also published in British English in the Federal Negarit Gazeta including the 1995 constitution.[366]

Amharic was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by regional languages such as Oromo, Somali or Tigrinya.[367] While all languages enjoy equal state recognition in the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia and Oromo is the most populous language by native speakers, Amharic is the most populous by number of total speakers.[184]

The various regions of Ethiopia and chartered cities are free to determine their own working languages.[367] Amharic is recognised as the official working language of Amhara Region, Benishangul-Gumuz, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Gambela Region, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.[368] Oromo language serves as the official working language and the primary language of education in the Oromia,[17] Harar and Dire Dawa and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. Somali is the official working language of Somali Region and Dire Dawa, while Afar,[369] Harari,[370] and Tigrinya[371] are recognized as official working languages in their respective regions. Recently the Ethiopian Government announced that Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya are adopted as official federal working languages of Ethiopia.[1][2]Italian is still spoken by some parts of the population, mostly among the older generation, and is taught in some schools (most notably the Istituto Statale Italiano Omnicomprensivo di Addis Abeba). Amharic and Tigrinya have both borrowed some words from the Italian language.[372][373]

Script

Ethiopia's principal orthography is the Ge'ez script. Employed as an abugida for several of the country's languages, it first came into usage in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE as an abjad to transcribe the Semitic Ge'ez language.[374] Ge'ez now serves as the liturgical language of both the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. During the 1980s, the Ethiopic character set was computerized. It is today part of the Unicode standard as Ethiopic, Ethiopic Extended, Ethiopic Supplement and Ethiopic Extended-A.

Other writing systems have also been used over the years by different Ethiopian communities. The latter include Bakri Sapalo's script for Oromo.[375]

Religion

Religion in Ethiopia (2016 estimate)[376]

  P'ent'ay (22.8%)
  Other Christian (0.7%)
  Islam (31.3%)
  Other (0.8%)

Ethiopia has close historical ties with all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions. In the 4th century, the Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion. As a result of the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, in 451 the Miaphysites,[377] which included the vast majority of Christians in Egypt and Ethiopia, were accused of monophysitism and designated as heretics under the common name of Coptic Christianity (see Oriental Orthodoxy). While no longer distinguished as a state religion, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church remains the majority Christian denomination. There is also a substantial Muslim demographic, representing around a third of the population. Ethiopia was the destination of the First Hijrah, a major emigration in Islamic history. A town in the Tigray Region, Negash is the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa.

 
The subterranean rock-hewn Church of Saint George in Lalibela is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to the 2007 National Census, Christians make up 62.8% of the country's population (43.5% Ethiopian Orthodox, 19.3% other denominations), Muslims 33.9%, practitioners of traditional faiths 2.6%, and other religions 0.6%.[6] The ratio of the Christian to Muslim population has largely remained stable when compared to previous censuses conducted decades ago.[378] Sunnis form the majority of Muslims with non-denominational Muslims being the second largest group of Muslims, and the Shia and Ahmadiyyas are a minority. Sunnis are largely Shafi'is or Salafis, and there are also many Sufi Muslims there.[379] The large Muslim population in the northern Afar region has resulted in a Muslim separatist movement called the "Islamic State of Afaria" seeking a sharia-compliant constitution.[380]

Some critics asserted that the Haile Selassie regime had been fabricating the census to present Ethiopia as a Christian country to the outside world, stating that Islam made up 50% of the total population in 1991, based on the 1984 census commissioned by the Derg regime.[381] Several Muslim observers and bloggers claim that Muslims are in the majority and disagree with the above census numbers, without providing factual data supporting their claims.[382]

The Kingdom of Axum was one of the first polities to officially embrace Christianity, when Frumentius of Tyre, called Fremnatos or Abba Selama ("Father of Peace") in Ethiopia, converted Emperor Ezana during the 4th century.[73][383] According to the New Testament, Christianity had entered Ethiopia even earlier, when an official in the Ethiopian royal treasury was baptized by Philip the Evangelist.[384]

 
Orthodox priests dancing during the celebration of Timkat
Emperor Haile Selassie I seen celebrating the finding of the cross at Meskel Sqaure (1971)

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is part of Oriental Orthodoxy. It is by far the largest Christian denomination, although a number of P'ent'ay (Protestant) churches have recently gained ground. Since 1930, a relatively small Ethiopian Catholic Church has existed in full communion with Rome, with adherents making up less than 1% of the total population.[378][385]

 
A mosque in Bahir Dar

Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion in 622 when a group of Muslims were counselled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca. The disciples subsequently migrated to Abyssinia via modern-day Eritrea, which was at the time ruled by Ashama ibn-Abjar, a pious Christian emperor.[383] Also, the largest single ethnic group of non-Arab Sahabah was that of the Ethiopians.[citation needed]

According to the 2007 Population and Housing Census, around 1,957,944 people in Ethiopia are adherents of traditional religions. An additional 471,861 residents practice other creeds.[6] While followers of all religions can be found in each region, they tend to be concentrated in certain parts of the country. Christians predominantly live in the northern Amhara and Tigray regions, and are largely members of the non-Chalcedonian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Those belonging to P'ent'ay predominate in the regions of Oromia and the SNNP (Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region). Muslims in Ethiopia predominantly adhere to Sunni Islam and generally inhabit eastern and northeastern areas; particularly the Somali, Afar, Dire Dawa and Harari regions. Practitioners of traditional religions mainly reside in the nation's far southwestern and western rural borderlands, in the SNNP, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambela regions.[6][383]

Until the 1980s, a substantial population of Beta Israel / ቤተ እስራኤል / ביתא ישראל (Ethiopian Jews) resided in Ethiopia.[383][386] About 4,000 Jews, who claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel are estimated to still live in Ethiopia, along with many more members of two related ethno-religious groups, the Falash Mura and the Beta Abraham. The Falash Mura are Beta Israel who, while identifying as Jews, adopted elements of Christianity due to missionary efforts, and now practice a syncretic form of Ethiopian Judaism mixed with Christianity; they number about 150,000 people. The Beta Abraham are regarded as a medieval offshoot of the Beta Israel, having incorporated elements of traditional African religion, and number about 8,000. While both still identify as Beta Israel, they exist outside the main community. The official Beta Israel community leaders tentatively accept the Falash Mura, and have requested they be allowed to migrate to Israel. The Beta Abraham have historically been shunned by most other communities, having had a reputation of being "sorcerers". In certain Ethiopian towns and villages such as Wolleka, near the Ethiopian city of Gondar, the concentration of Ethiopian-Jews is still significant but the US now has a significantly greater numbers of Ethiopian-Jews than that of Ethiopia.

Human rights groups have regularly accused the government of arresting activists, journalists and bloggers to stamp out dissent among some religious communities. Lengthy prison terms were handed to 17 Muslim activists on 3 August 2015 ranging from seven to 22 years. They were charged with trying to create an Islamic state in the majority Christian country. All the defendants denied the charges and claimed that they were merely protesting in defence of their rights.[387][388][389]

Urbanization

 
Street in Addis Ababa

Population growth, migration, and urbanization are all straining both governments' and ecosystems' capacity to provide people with basic services.[390] Urbanization has steadily been increasing in Ethiopia, with two periods of significantly rapid growth. First, in 1936–1941 during the Italian occupation under Mussolini's fascist government, and then from 1967 to 1975 when the populations of urban areas tripled.[391]

In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia, building infrastructure to connect major cities, and a dam providing power and water.[145] This along with the influx of Italians and labourers was the major cause of rapid growth during this period. The second period of growth was from 1967 to 1975 when rural populations migrated to towns seeking work and better living conditions.[391]

This pattern slowed due to the 1975 Land Reform program instituted by the government, which provided incentives for people to stay in rural areas. As people moved from rural areas to the cities, there were fewer people to grow food for the population. The Land Reform Act was meant to increase agriculture since food production was not keeping up with population growth over the period of 1970–1983. This program encouraged the formation of peasant associations, large villages based on agriculture. The legislation did lead to an increase in food production, although there is debate over the cause; it may be related to weather conditions more than the reform.[392] Urban populations have continued to grow with an 8.1% increase from 1975 to 2000.[393]

 
Largest cities or towns in Ethiopia
CSA (Urban population projection values of 2016)[394]
Rank Name Region Pop. Rank Name Region Pop.
 
Addis Ababa
 
Gondar
1 Addis Ababa Addis Ababa 3,352,000 11 Shashamane Oromia 154,587  
Mek'ele
 
Adama
2 Gondar Amhara 341,991 12 Bishoftu Oromia 153,847
3 Mek'ele Tigray 340,858 13 Sodo SNNPR 253,322
4 Adama Oromia 338,940 14 Arba Minch SNNPR 151,013
5 Hawassa SNNPR 318,618 15 Hosaena SNNPR 141,352
6 Bahir Dar Amhara 297,794 16 Harar Harari 133,000
7 Dire Dawa Dire Dawa 285,000 17 Dila SNNPR 119,276
8 Dessie Amhara 198,428 18 Nekemte Oromia 115,741
9 Jimma Oromia 186,148 19 Debre Birhan Amhara 107,827
10 Jijiga Somali 164,321 20 Asella Oromia 103,522

Rural and urban life

 
Gondar skyline

Migration to urban areas is usually motivated by the hope of better lives. In peasant associations daily life is a struggle to survive. About 16% of the population in Ethiopia lives on less than one dollar per day (2008). Only 65% of rural households in Ethiopia consume the World Health Organization's (WHO's) minimum standard of food per day (2,200 kilocalories), with 42% of children under 5 years old being underweight.[395]

Most poor families (75%) share their sleeping quarters with livestock, and 40% of children sleep on the floor, where nighttime temperatures average 5 degrees Celsius in the cold season.[395] The average family size is six or seven, living in a 30 square metre mud and thatch hut, with less than two hectares of land to cultivate.[395]

 

The peasant associations face a cycle of poverty. Since the landholdings are so small, farmers cannot allow the land to lie fallow, which reduces soil fertility.[395] This land degradation reduces the production of fodder for livestock, which causes low milk yields.[395] Since the community burns livestock manure as fuel, rather than plowing the nutrients back into the land, the crop production is reduced.[395] The low productivity of agriculture leads to inadequate incomes for farmers, hunger, malnutrition and disease. These unhealthy farmers have difficulty working the land and the productivity drops further.[395]

Although conditions are drastically better in cities, all of Ethiopia suffers from poverty and poor sanitation. However, poverty in Ethiopia fell from 44% to 29.6% during 2000–2011, according to the World Bank.[396] In the capital city of Addis Ababa, 55% of the population used to live in slums.[145] Now, however, a construction boom in both the private and the public sector has led to a dramatic improvement in living standards in major cities, particularly in Addis Ababa. Notably, government-built condominium housing complexes have sprung up throughout the city, benefiting close to 600,000 individuals.[397] Sanitation is the most pressing need in the city, with most of the population lacking access to waste treatment facilities. This contributes to the spread of illness through unhealthy water.[145]

 
Street scene in Adigrat

Despite the living conditions in the cities, the people of Addis Ababa are much better off than people living in the peasant associations owing to their educational opportunities. Unlike rural children, 69% of urban children are enrolled in primary school, and 35% of those are eligible to attend secondary school.[clarification needed][145] Addis Ababa has its own university as well as many other secondary schools. The literacy rate is 82%.[145]

Many NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are working to solve this problem; however, most are far apart, uncoordinated, and working in isolation.[393] The Sub-Saharan Africa NGO Consortium is attempting to coordinate efforts.[393]

Health

 
Declining child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia since 1950

The World Health Organization's 2006 World Health Report gives a figure of 1,936 physicians (for 2003),[398] which comes to about 2.6 per 100,000. A brain drain associated with globalization is said to affect the country, with many educated professionals leaving Ethiopia for better economic opportunities in the West.

Ethiopia's main health problems are said to be communicable (contagious) diseases worsened by poor sanitation and malnutrition. Over 44 million people (nearly half the population) do not have access to clean water.[399] These problems are exacerbated by the shortage of trained doctors and nurses and health facilities.[400]

The state of public health is considerably better in the cities. Birth rates, infant mortality rates, and death rates are lower in cities than in rural areas due to better access to education, medicines, and hospitals.[145] Life expectancy is better in cities compared to rural areas, but there have been significant improvements witnessed throughout the country in recent years, the average Ethiopian living to be 62.2 years old, according to a UNDP report.[401] Despite sanitation being a problem, use of improved water sources is also on the rise; 81% in cities compared to 11% in rural areas.[393] As in other parts of Africa, there has been a steady migration of people towards the cities in hopes of better living conditions.

In early 2005, the WHO reported that Ethiopia had 119 hospitals (12 in Addis Ababa) and 412 health centres.[402] Infant mortality rates are relatively high, as 41 infants die per 1,000 live births.[403] Ethiopia has been able to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds (one of the Millennium Development Goals) since 1990.[402][failed verification] Although this is a dramatic decrease, birth-related complications such as obstetric fistula affect many of the nation's women.[404]

HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia stood at 1.1% in 2014, a dramatic decrease from 4.5% 15 years ago.[citation needed] The most affected are poor communities and women, due to lack of health education, empowerment, awareness and lack of social well-being. The government of Ethiopia and many international organizations like World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations, are launching campaigns and are working aggressively to improve Ethiopia's health conditions and promote health awareness on AIDS and other communicable diseases.[405]

 
An Ethiopian girl about to receive her measles vaccine

Ethiopia has a relatively high infant and maternal mortality rate. Although, Ethiopia did not meet the MDG target of reducing maternal mortality rate by two-thirds in 2015, there are improvements nonetheless. For instance, the contraception prevalence rate increased from 8.1% in 2000 to 41.8% in 2014, and Antenatal care service coverage increase from 29% to an astounding 98.1% in the same period.[citation needed] Currently, the maternal mortality rate stands at 420 per 100,000 live births.[citation needed] Only a minority of Ethiopians are born in hospitals, while most are born in rural households. Those who are expected to give birth at home have elderly women serve as midwives who assist with the delivery.[406] The "WHO estimates that a majority of maternal fatalities and disabilities could be prevented if deliveries were to take place at well-equipped health centres, with adequately trained staff".[407]

 
Community health care workers

The low availability of health-care professionals with modern medical training, together with lack of funds for medical services, leads to the preponderance of less-reliable traditional healers that use home-based therapies to heal common ailments.

One common cultural practice, irrespective of religion or economic status, is female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.[408] The practice was made illegal in Ethiopia in 2004.[409] FGM is a pre-marital custom mainly endemic to Northeast Africa and parts of the Near East that has its ultimate origins in Ancient Egypt.[410][411] Encouraged by women in the community, it is primarily intended to deter promiscuity and to offer protection from assault.[412]

Ethiopia has a high prevalence of FGM, but prevalence is lower among young girls. Ethiopia's 2005 Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) noted that the national prevalence rate is 74% among women ages 15–49.[413] The practice is almost universal in the regions of Dire Dawa, Somali, and Afar. In the Oromo and Harari regions, more than 80% of girls and women undergo the procedure. FGC is least prevalent in the regions of Tigray and Gambela, where 29% and 27% of girls and women, respectively, are affected.[414] According to a 2010 study performed by the Population Reference Bureau, Ethiopia has a prevalence rate of 81% among women ages 35 to 39 and 62% among women ages 15–19.[415] A 2014 UNICEF report found that only 24% of girls under 14 had undergone FGM.[416]

Male circumcision is also practised in the country, and about 76% of Ethiopia's male population is reportedly circumcised.[417]

The Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia is signatory to various international conventions and treaties that protect the rights of women and children. Its constitution provides for the fundamental rights and freedoms for women. There is an attempt being made to raise the social and economic status of women through eliminating all legal and customary practices, which hinder women's equal participation in society and undermine their social status.

The National Mental Health Strategy, published in 2012, introduced the development of policy designed to improve mental health care in Ethiopia. This strategy mandated that mental health be integrated into the primary health care system.[418] However, the success of the National Mental Health Strategy has been limited. For example, the burden of depression is estimated to have increased 34.2% from 2007 to 2017.[419] Furthermore, the prevalence of stigmatizing attitudes, inadequate leadership and co-ordination of efforts, as well as a lack of mental health awareness in the general population, all remain as obstacles to successful mental health care.[420]

Education

 

Educational system of Ethiopia was dominated by the Orthodox Tewahedo Church since the Axumite Christian era in 330 CE. An ancient form of Ethiopian Christian education was conducted by clergymen, with highly emphasized its dogma. Graduation of students leads to earning priesthood and intellectual elite known as debtera.[421] Modern education was introduced in 1908 when Emperor Menelik II opened the first school in Addis Ababa, Menelik II School.[422] In addition, Emperor Haile Selassie also contributed to open the first university, Addis Ababa University, founded in 1950 after it was renamed "Haile Selassie I University" until 1975. More recently, the government is improving numerous regional universities and facilities.[423]

 
Plants in a laboratory of Ethio-Parents' School in Addis Ababa

The current system follows school expansion schemes which are very similar to the system in the rural areas during the 1980s, with an addition of deeper regionalization, providing rural education in students' own languages starting at the elementary level, and with more budgetary financing allocated to the education sector. Public education is free at primary levels and usually offers between age 7 and 12. The sequence of general education in Ethiopia is six years of primary school, then four years of lower secondary school followed by two years of higher secondary school.[424]

The Ethiopian education is governed by Ministry of Education and its cycle consists 4+4+2+2 system; elementary education consists of eight years, divided into two cycles of four years, and four years of secondary education, divided into two stages of two years.[425] National exams are conducted by the National Education Assessment and Examination Agency (NEAEA). Since 2018, there are two national exams: the Ethiopian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (EGSECE), also known as Grade 10 national exam and Grade 12 national exam.[426]

Today, there are 30 public universities. Prior to 1991, Ethiopia did not have tertiary institution, but now there are 61 accredited private HEIs. The overall number of tertiary students in both public and private institutions exploded by more than 2,000 percent, from 34,000 in 1991 to 757,000 in 2014, per UIS data.[352] Access to education in Ethiopia has improved significantly. Approximately three million people were in primary school in 1994–95 but by 2008–09, primary enrolment had risen to 15.5 million – an increase of over 500%.[427] In 2013–14, Ethiopia had witnessed a significant boost in gross enrolment across all regions.[428] The national GER was 104.8% for boys, 97.8% for girls and 101.3% across both sexes.[429]

The literacy rate has increased in recent years: according to the 1994 census, the literacy rate in Ethiopia was 23.4%.[364] In 2007 it was estimated to be 39% (male 49.1% and female 28.9%).[430] A report by UNDP in 2011 showed that the literacy rate in Ethiopia was 46.7%. The same report also indicated that the female literacy rate had increased from 27 to 39 per cent from 2004 to 2011, and the male literacy rate had increased from 49 to 59 per cent over the same period for persons 10 years and older.[431] By 2015, the literacy rate had further increased, to 49.1% (57.2% male and 41.1% female).[432]

Culture

 
An Ethiopian woman roasting coffee beans in a coffee house. The coffee serving ceremony is the most important course in Ethiopia.[433]

Ethiopia's rich and diverse culture heavily influenced by the local population, an interaction of Semitic, Cushitic and less populous Nilo-Saharan speaking people, which evolved from first millennium BCE. Semitic Tigrayans and Amharas, who dominated the politics in the past, distinguished from other population by hierarchical structure and agrarian life derived partly from South Arabia as a result of back migration, while the southern Cushitic (Oromo and Somali) are strong adherents to egalitarianism and pastoral life. Others including Kaffa, Sidamo, and Afar tradition derived from the latter people.[434]

The most common recognized culture observed in coffee ceremony. Unlike most countries, coffee is served in presence of social gathering, in family, friend or neighborhood level. There are three rounds of coffee drinking: the first one called "awol" (Tigrinya: ኣዎል), the second "tona" (ቶና) and the third "baraka" (ባርካ). The tradition of coffee legend goes back to Kaldi, a goat herder from Keffa Zone who noticed his goat was caught up with hysteria after they eat shrub that stimulate them to dance uncontrollably with rampant. After holding berries, he was advised exhibit to priests in nearby monastery. One monk called the generosity of Kaldi "the Devil work" and tossed to the fire, generating aromatic odor. The legend told that Kaldi lived in 850 CE, commonly associated with belief of starting coffee cultivation in Ethiopia in the 9th century.[329]

Arts

 
Alwan Codex 27 – Ethiopian biblical manuscript
 
Illustration showing two Aksumite scribes

Arts of Ethiopia were largely influenced by Christian iconography throughout much of its history. This consisted of illuminated manuscripts, painting, crosses, icons and other metalwork such as crowns. Most historical arts were commissioned by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the state religion for a millennium. The earlier Aksumite period arts were stone carvings as evidenced in their stelae, though there is no surviving Christian art from this era. As Christianity was introduced, its iconography was partly influenced by Byzantine art. Most remaining arts beyond the early modern period were ruined as a result of invasion of the Adal Sultanate in the Ethiopian Highlands, but were revived by Catholic emissaries. The Western intervention in Ethiopian art began in the 20th century, with also maintaining traditional Ethiopian character.[citation needed]

Architecture

 
The Royal Enclosure at Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar

Perhaps the most impressive architecture in antiquity was founded during Dʿmt period. Ashlar masonry was an archetype of South Arabian architecture with most architectural structure similarity.[435]

The Aksumite continued to flourish its architecture around the 4th century CE. Aksumite stelae commonly used single block and rocks. The Tomb of the False Door built for Aksumite emperors used monolithic style.[436] The Lalibela civilization was largely of Aksumite influence, but the layer of stones or wood is quite different for some dwelling.[437]

In Gondarine period, the architecture of Ethiopia was infused by Baroque, Arab, Turkish and Gujarati Indian styles independently taught by Portuguese emissaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. Example includes the imperial fortress Fasil Ghebbi, which is influenced by either of these styles. The medieval architecture also forborne the later 19th- and 20th-century era of designations.[438]

Philosophy

Ethiopian philosophy has been superlatively prolific since ancient times in Africa, though offset of Greek and Patristic philosophy. The best known philosophical revival was in the early modern period figures such as Zera Yacob (1599–1692) and his student Walda Heywat, who wrote Hatata (Inquiry) in 1667 as an argument for the existence of God.

Literature

 
Giyorgis of Segla, prolific religious author in the Late Middle Ages

The Ethiopian literature traced back to the Aksumite period in the 4th century, most of them are merely religious motifs. In royal inscription, they employed both Ge'ez and Greek language, but the latter was dismissed in 350. Unlike most Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia has ancient distinct language, the Ge'ez, which dominated political and educational aspects. In spite of the current political instability in the country instigates endangering cultural heritage of these works, some improvements are made for preservation in recent years.[439]

The Ethiopian literary works mostly consisted of handwritten codex (branna, or ብራና in Amharic). It is prepared by gathering parchment leaves and sewing to stick together. The codex size is considerably varies depending on volumes and preparation. For example, pocket size codex lengthens 45 cm, which is heavier in weight. Historians speculated that archaic codex is existed in Ethiopia. Today manuscripts resembling primitive codex are still evident for existence where parchment leaves are convenient for writing.[439]

Another notable writing book is protective (or magic) scroll, serving as written amulet. Some of these were intended for magical purpose, for example ketab is used for magical defence. Scrolls typically produced by debtera, non-ordained clergy expertise on exorcism and healings. About 30 cm scroll is portable whereas 2 cm is often unrolled and hanged to the wall of house. Scrolls emulating original medium of Ethiopia literature is highly disputed, where there is overwhelming evidence that Ge'ez language books were written in codex. In lesser, Ethiopia used accordion books (called sensul) which was dated to late 15th or 16th century, made up of folded parchment paper, with or without cover. Those book usually contain pictorial representation of life and death of religious figures, or significant texts have also juxtaposed.[439]

Poetry

 
Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin in 1980s

Ethiopia is highly popularized in poetry. Most poets recount past events, social unrests, poverty and famine. Qene is the most used element of Ethiopian poetry – regarded as a form of Amharic poetry, though the term generally refers to any poems. True qene requires advanced ingenious mindset. By providing two metaphorical words, i.e. one with obvious clues and the other is too convoluted conundrum, one must answer parallel meanings. Thus, this is called sem ena work (gold and wax).[440] The most notable poets are Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Kebede Michael and Mengistu Lemma.

Calendar

 
Model commemorating the Obelisk of Aksum's return to Ethiopia from Italy, showing the date of its departure and return according to the Ethiopian calendar

Ethiopia has several local calendars. The most widely known is the Ethiopian calendar, also known as the Ge'ez calendar, and written with the ancient Ge'ez script, one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world.[441] It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar, which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar. Like the Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of exactly 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days, which form a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge'ez[citation needed]

Like the Julian calendar, the sixth epagomenal day—which in essence is a leap day—is added every four years without exception on 29 August of the Julian calendar, six months before the Julian leap day. Thus, the first day of the Ethiopian year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between 1901 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually 11 September (Gregorian), but falls on 12 September in years before the Gregorian leap year. It is approximately seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar because of an alternate calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus.[citation needed]

Another calendrical system was developed around 300 BCE by the Oromo people. A lunar-stellar calendar, this Oromo calendar relies on astronomical observations of the moon in conjunction with seven particular stars or constellations. Oromo months (stars/lunar phases) are Bittottessa (Iangulum), Camsa (Pleiades), Bufa (Aldebarran), Waxabajjii (Belletrix), Obora Gudda (Central Orion-Saiph), Obora Dikka (Sirius), Birra (full moon), Cikawa (gibbous moon), Sadasaa (quarter moon), Abrasa (large crescent), Ammaji (medium crescent), and Gurrandala (small crescent).[442]

Cuisine

 
Typical Ethiopian cuisine: injera (pancake-like bread) and several kinds of wat (stew)

The best-known Ethiopian cuisine consists of various types of thick meat stews, known as wat in Ethiopian culture, and vegetable side dishes served on top of injera, a large sourdough flatbread made of teff flour. This is not eaten with utensils, but instead the injera is used to scoop up the entrées and side dishes. Almost universally in Ethiopia, it is common to eat from the same dish in the middle of the table with a group of people. It is also a common custom to feed others within a group or own hands—a tradition referred to as "gursha".[443] Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork or shellfish of any kind, as both are forbidden in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, Islamic and Jewish faiths.

Chechebsa, Marqa, Chukko, Michirra and Dhanga are the most popular dishes from the Oromo. Kitfo, which originated among the Gurage, is one of the country's most popular delicacies. In addition, Doro Wot (ዶሮ ወጥ in Amharic) and Tsebehi Derho (ጽብሒ ድርሆ in Tigrinya), are other popular dishes, originating from northwestern Ethiopia.[citation needed] Tihlo (ጥሕሎ)—which is a type of dumpling—is prepared from roasted barley flour and originated in the Tigray Region. Tihlo is now very popular in Amhara and spreading further south.[444]

Holidays

 
Meskel commemorates the discovery of True Cross by Roman queen Helena in 326 CE

Most holidays are belonged to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, and secondly of Islam. Secular holidays espouse national or historical chronicles.

Secular holidays are follows with date of celebration:

Ethiopian Orthodox holidays are:

Islamic holidays are:

Media

 
The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation headquarter in Addis Ababa

The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), formerly known as ETV, is the state media. Radio broadcasting was commenced earlier in 1935 before the television service began in 1962 with assistance of British firm Thomson and Emperor Haile Selassie.[3] Since 2015, EBC has upgraded its studios with modernized transmission.

Kana TV is the most popular TV channel in Ethiopia.[445] It is mainly known for dubbing foreign content into Amharic. Over several decades, the state television has served as the major mass media until in the late 2000s, when EBS TV launched as the first private television channel. Moreover, numerous private channels were commenced in 2016, culminating in the growth of privately owned media companies in the country. As an example, Fana TV has been the largest TV network since its launch in 2017.

The most widely circulated newspapers in Ethiopia are Addis Fortune, Capital Ethiopia, Ethiopian Reporter, Addis Zemen[citation needed] (Amharic) and Ethiopian Herald.[citation needed]

The sole internet service provider is the national telecommunications firm Ethio telecom. A large portion of users in the country access the internet through mobile devices.[446] As of July 2016, there are around 4.29 million people who have internet access at their home as compared to a quarter of a million users a decade before that.[447] The Ethiopian government has at times intentionally shut down internet service in the country or restricted access to certain social media sites during periods of political unrest. In August 2016, following protest and demonstration in the Oromia Region, all access to the internet was shut down for a period of two days.[448] In June 2017, the government shut down access to the internet for mobile users during a period that coincided with the administration of university entrance examination. Although the reason for the restriction was not confirmed by the government,[446] the move was similar to a measure taken during the same period in 2016, after a leak of test questions.[449][450]

Science and technology

 
Pathobiologist Aklilu Lemma. In 1964, he discovered an alternative treatment for schistosomiasis, known as snail fever.[451]
 
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged in 2013. He was best known for discovering fossilized hominin called Selam or "Lucy's baby" in December 2000.[452]

Science and technology in Ethiopia emerging as progressive due to lack of organized institutions. Manufacturing and service providers often place themselves in competitive programming in order to advance innovative and technological solutions through in-house arenas. The Ethiopian Space Science and Technology is responsible for conducting multifaceted tasks regarding space and technology. In addition, Ethiopia also launched 70 kg ET-RSS1 multi-spectral remote sensing satellite in December 2019. The President Sahle-Work Zewde told prior in October 2019 that "the satellite will provide all the necessary data on changes in climate and weather-related phenomena that would be used for the country's key targets in agriculture, forestry as well as natural resources protection initiatives." By January 2020, satellite manufacturing, assembling, integrating and testing began. This would also incremented facility built by French company funded by European Investment Bank (EIB). The main observatory Entoto Observatory and Space Science Research Center (EORC) allocated space programmes. The Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute is a part of Scientific Research & Development Services Industry, responsible for environmental and climate conservation.[453] Numerous profound scientists have contributed degree of honours and reputations. Some are Kitaw Ejigu, Mulugeta Bekele, Aklilu Lemma, Gebisa Ejeta and Melaku Worede.

Ethiopia is known for use of traditional medicine since millennia. The first epidemic occurred in Ethiopia was in 849, causing the Aksumite Emperor Abba Yohannes evicted from place due to "God's punishment for misdeeds". The first traditional medicine was claimed to be derived from this catastrophe, but the exact source is debated. Though differ from ethnic groups, traditional medicine often implements herbs, spiritual healing, bone-setting and minor surgical procedures in treating disease.[454] Others fields include conventional mathematics used to measure astrology, calendar and unit of measurement.

Ethiopia was ranked 126th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021.[455]

Music

 
Aksumite composer Yared credited as forebear of traditional music for both Ethiopia and Eritrea

The music of Ethiopia is extremely diverse, with each of the country's 80 ethnic groups being associated with unique sounds. Ethiopian music uses a distinct modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes. As with many other aspects of Ethiopian culture and tradition, tastes in music and lyrics are strongly linked with those in neighbouring Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan.[456][457] Traditional singing in Ethiopia presents diverse styles of polyphony, (heterophony, drone, imitation, and counterpoint). Traditionally, lyricism in Ethiopian song writing is strongly associated with views of patriotism or national pride, romance, friendship, and a unique type of memoire known as tizita.

Saint Yared, a 6th-century Aksumite composer, is widely regarded as the forerunner of traditional music of Eritrea and Ethiopia, creating liturgical music of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He also composed Zema, subdivided into three chants: Ge'ez, Ezel and Araray. Yared life thought to have been "failure and success" where his was poor performance in education. Yared then fired from the school and went to his uncle birthplace Murade Qal. There his saw caterpillar endeavours to reach a tree's peak. He epitomized to his real life and returned to the school with good spirit, later became prominent to political sphere. During the remaining of his lifetime, he was a friend of Aksumite Emperor Gebre Meskel and the exiled Nine Saints.[458]

Modern music traced back to the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, where 40 Armenian orphans called Arba Lijoch arrived from Jerusalem to Addis Ababa. By 1924, the band was almost established as orchestral; but after World War II, several similar bands emerged such as Imperial Bodyguard Band, Army Band, and Police Band.[459]

 
Mahmoud Ahmed performing in 2005

In the 1960s and 1970s, traditional infused modern Ethiopian music was revived in what is known as the "Golden Age". Several notable musical artists emerged thereafter, for example, Tilahun Gessesse, Alemayehu Eshete, Bizunesh Bekele, Muluken Melesse and Mahmoud Ahmed. It also employed tradition style called tizita. During the Derg regime, these artists were prohibited to perform in the country and often forced into exile in North America and Europe, mixing with jazz and funk influences. For example, Roha Band, Walias Band, and Ethio Stars. By this time, Neway Debebe was critical of the Derg government.[440]

Modern music became developed shortly in the 1990s and 2000s. In this period, the most popular artists were Aster Aweke, Gigi and Teddy Afro. Ethiopian music further modernized in the next decade, employing electronic type and more popular. DJ Rophnan was renowned for pioneering EDM after releasing his debut album Reflection in 2018.[440]

Cinema

 
Hager Fikir Theatre in April 2006

The first cinema was introduced in 1898, three years after the first world film was projected. Cinematic artifacts ascribed by Italian minister Federico Ciccodicola [it] which then offered to Emperor Menelik II. The early 20th century appearance with spectacle was around 1909 and embraced by documentary or biographical films. Au de Menilek was the first film directed by Charles Martel. The first 16mm black-and-white film dedicated to coronation of Emperor Zewditu, then coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie was filmed.

The 1990s saw international booming of Ethiopian films. The most influential people in this era were Haile GerimaSalem Mekuria, Yemane Demissie, and Teshome Gabriel.

Films began modernized in the 2000s and implemented Amharic language. The most internationally grossed films are Selanchi, Difret, Lamb, Prince of Love and Lambadina. The modern era saw several reoccurring actors including Selam Tesfaye, Fryat Yemane, Hanan Tarik, Mahder Assefa, Amleset Muchie and Ruth Negga.

One of the most prestigious film award is Gumma Film Awards held in Addis Ababa. The award, which was started in 2014, broadcast on live television in some stations.[460] Festivals including Addis International Film Festival and the Ethiopian International Film Festival showcase amateur and professional filmmakers works; the latter being voted by judges. They were established in 2007[461] and 2005 respectively.[462]

Sport

 
Genzebe Dibaba middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold medal in this event and a bronze in the 5000 metres at the 2015 World Championships.

The main sports in Ethiopia are track and field (particularly long distance running) and football. Ethiopian athletes have won many Olympic gold medals in track and field, most of them in long distance running.[463] Abebe Bikila became the first athlete from a Sub-Saharan country to win an Olympic gold medal when he won the Marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games in a world record time of 2:15:16.[464][465] Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, and Tirunesh Dibaba are all world-renowned long distance runners, each with multiple Olympic and World Championship gold medals. Letesenbet Gidey holds the world records in both the women's 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre run. Other notable Ethiopian runners are Mamo Wolde, Miruts Yifter, Derartu Tulu, Meseret Defar, Birhane Adere, Tiki Gelana, Genzebe Dibaba, Tariku Bekele, Gelete Burka, and Yomif Kejelcha.

As of 2012 and going into 2013, the current national Ethiopian national football team (nicknamed the Walayia Antelopes) made history by qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and reached the last 10 African football teams in the last stage of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Noted players include captain Adane Girma and top scorer Saladin Said.

Ethiopia has Sub-Saharan Africa's longest basketball tradition as it established a national basketball team in 1949.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Amharic: ኢትዮጵያ, romanizedĪtyōṗṗyā pronounced [i.tjo.p’ja], Oromo: Itiyoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ, romanized: Ítiyop'iya, Afar: Itiyoppiya

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ethiopia, this, article, about, country, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, ethopia, moth, this, article, contains, several, patronymic, names, rather, than, family, names, these, persons, addressed, their, given, name, their, inherited, name, offici. This article is about the country For other uses see Ethiopia disambiguation Not to be confused with Ethopia moth This article contains several patronymic names rather than family names These persons are addressed by their given name and not by their inherited name Ethiopia a officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa It shares borders with Eritrea to the north Djibouti to the northeast Somalia to the east and northeast Kenya to the south South Sudan to the west and Sudan to the northwest Ethiopia has a total area of 1 100 000 square kilometres 420 000 square miles As of 2022 it is home to around 113 5 million inhabitants making it the 13th most populous country in the world and the 2nd most populous in Africa after Nigeria 14 15 16 The national capital and largest city Addis Ababa lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates 17 Federal Democratic Republic of EthiopiaName in national languages Amharic የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ Ye ityōṗṗya Federalawi Demokirasiyawi RipebilikOromo Rippabliikii Federaalawaa Dimokraatawaa ItiyoophiyaaSomali Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiga Federaalka ItoobiyaTigrinya ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ ኢትዮጵያ Federalawi Demokirasiyawi Ripebiliki Itiyop iyaAfar Itiyoppiya Federaalak Demokraatik RippeblikihFlag EmblemAnthem ወደፊት ገስግሺ ውድ እናት ኢትዮጵያ English March Forward Dear Mother Ethiopia source source track track track track track track track track track Capitaland largest cityAddis Ababa9 1 N 38 45 E 9 017 N 38 750 E 9 017 38 750Official languagesAfar Amharic Oromo Somali Tigrinya 1 2 3 Regional languages 4 Harari Sidama Languages of EthiopiaEthnic groups 2007 5 6 34 5 Oromo 26 9 Amhara 6 2 Somali 6 1 Tigrayan 4 0 Sidama 2 5 Gurage 2 3 Welayta 1 7 Hadiya 1 7 Afar 1 5 Gamo 12 6 OthersReligion 2016 7 67 3 Christianity 43 8 Ethiopian Orthodoxy 22 8 P ent ay 0 7 Other Christian31 3 Islam0 6 Traditional faiths0 8 Others NoneDemonym s EthiopianGovernmentFederal parliamentary republic 8 PresidentSahle Work Zewde Prime MinisterAbiy AhmedLegislatureFederal Parliamentary Assembly Upper houseHouse of Federation Lower houseHouse of Peoples RepresentativesFormation Ethiopian Empire1270 Zemene Mesafint7 May 1769 Reunification11 February 1855 Centralisation1904 Occupied and annexed into Italian East Africa9 May 1936 Anglo Ethiopian Agreement31 January 1942 Derg12 September 1974 Transitional government28 May 1991 Current constitution21 August 1995Area Total1 104 300 9 km2 426 400 sq mi 26th Water 0 7Population 2022 estimate113 656 596 10 13th 2007 census73 750 932 6 Density92 7 km2 240 1 sq mi 123rd GDP PPP 2022 estimate Total 348 billion 11 57th Per capita 3 434 11 160th GDP nominal 2022 estimate Total 111 billion 11 67th Per capita 1 098 11 168th Gini 2015 35 0 12 mediumHDI 2021 0 498 13 low 175rdCurrencyBirr ETB Time zoneUTC 3 EAT Driving siderightCalling code 251ISO 3166 codeETInternet TLD etAnatomically modern humans emerged from modern day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period 18 19 20 21 22 Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasiatic language family 23 In 980 BCE the Kingdom of D mt extended its realm over Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia while the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region for 900 years Christianity was embraced by the kingdom in 330 24 and Islam arrived by the first Hijra in 615 25 After the collapse of Aksum in 960 a variety of kingdoms largely tribal confederations existed in the land of Ethiopia The Zagwe dynasty ruled the north central parts until being overthrown by Yekuno Amlak in 1270 inaugurating the Ethiopian Empire and the Solomonic dynasty claimed descent from the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba under their son Menelik I By the 14th century the empire grew in prestige through territorial expansion and fighting against adjacent territories most notably the Ethiopian Adal War 1529 1543 contributed to fragmentation of the empire which ultimately fell under a decentralization known as Zemene Mesafint in the mid 18th century Emperor Tewodros II ended Zemene Mesafint at the beginning of his reign in 1855 marking the reunification and modernization of Ethiopia 26 From 1878 onwards Emperor Menelik II launched a series of conquests known as Menelik s Expansions which resulted in the formation of Ethiopia s current border Externally during the late 19th century Ethiopia defended itself against foreign invasions including from Egypt and Italy as a result Ethiopia and Liberia preserved their sovereignty during the Scramble for Africa In 1935 Ethiopia was occupied by Fascist Italy and annexed with Italian possessed Eritrea and Somaliland later forming Italian East Africa In 1941 during World War II it was occupied by the British Army and its full sovereignty was restored in 1944 after a period of military administration The Derg a Soviet backed military junta took power in 1974 after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty and ruled the country for nearly 17 years amidst the Ethiopian Civil War Following the dissolution of the Derg in 1991 the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF dominated the country with a new constitution and ethnic based federalism Since then Ethiopia has suffered from prolonged and unsolved inter ethnic clashes and political instability marked by democratic backsliding From 2018 regional and ethnically based factions carried out armed attacks in multiple ongoing wars throughout Ethiopia 27 Ethiopia is a multi ethnic state with over 80 different ethnic groups Christianity is the most widely professed faith in the country with significant minorities of the adherents of Islam and a small percentage to traditional faiths This sovereign state is a founding member of the UN the Group of 24 the Non Aligned Movement the Group of 77 and the Organisation of African Unity Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the African Union the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa the African Standby Force and many of the global non governmental organizations focused on Africa Ethiopia is considered an emerging power 28 29 and developing country having the fastest economic growth in Sub Saharan African countries because of foreign direct investment in expansion of agricultural and manufacturing industries 30 However in terms of per capita income and the Human Development Index 31 the country is regarded as poor with high rates of poverty 32 poor respect for human rights and a literacy rate of only 49 33 Agriculture is the largest economic sector in Ethiopia accounting for 36 of the country s gross domestic product as of 2020 34 35 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Prehistory 2 2 Antiquity 2 3 Middle Ages 2 3 1 Abyssinian Adal War 1529 1543 2 3 2 Oromo migrations 16th century 2 3 3 Jesuit influence 1555 1632 2 4 Gondarine period 1632 1769 2 5 Zemene Mesafint 1769 1889 2 6 From Menelik II to Adwa 1889 1913 2 7 Haile Selassie I era 1916 1974 2 7 1 Fascist Italy occupation 1936 1941 2 7 2 Post World War II 1941 1974 2 8 The Derg era 1974 1991 2 9 Federal Democratic Republic 1991 present 2 10 Abiy Ahmed and the Prosperity Party 2018 present 3 Government and politics 3 1 Governance 3 2 Foreign relations 3 3 Military 3 4 Law enforcement 3 5 Human rights 3 5 1 LGBT rights 3 6 Administrative divisions 4 Geography 4 1 Climate 4 2 Biodiversity 5 Economy 5 1 Energy and hydropower 5 2 Agriculture 5 3 Exports 5 4 Transport 5 5 Tourism 6 Demographics 6 1 Languages 6 1 1 Script 6 2 Religion 6 3 Urbanization 6 3 1 Rural and urban life 6 4 Health 6 5 Education 7 Culture 7 1 Arts 7 2 Architecture 7 3 Philosophy 7 4 Literature 7 4 1 Poetry 7 5 Calendar 7 6 Cuisine 7 7 Holidays 7 8 Media 7 9 Science and technology 7 10 Music 7 11 Cinema 7 12 Sport 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 10 1 Citations 10 2 General sources 11 Further reading 12 External linksEtymologySee also Aethiopia The Greek name Aἰ8iopia from Aἰ8iops Aithiops an Ethiopian is a compound word derived from the two Greek words from aἴ8w ὤps aithō I burn ōps face According to the Liddell Scott Jones Greek English Lexicon the designation properly translates as burnt face in noun form and red brown in adjectival form 36 The historian Herodotus used the appellation to denote those parts of Africa south of the Sahara that were then known within the Ecumene habitable world 37 Since the Greeks understood the term as dark faced they divided the Ethiopians into two those in Africa and those to the east from eastern Turkey to India 38 This Greek name was borrowed into Amharic as ኢትዮጵያ ʾityōṗṗya In Greco Roman epigraphs Aethiopia was a specific toponym for ancient Nubia 39 At least as early as c 850 40 the name Aethiopia also occurs in many translations of the Old Testament in allusion to Nubia The ancient Hebrew texts identify Nubia instead as Kush 41 However in the New Testament the Greek term Aithiops does occur referring to a servant of the Kandake the queen of Kush 42 Following the Hellenic and biblical traditions the Monumentum Adulitanum a 3rd century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire indicates that Aksum s ruler governed an area which was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia the following century and the Aksumites thereafter appropriated the designation Ethiopians for their own kingdom In the Ge ez version of the Ezana inscription Aἰ8iopes is equated with the unvocalized Ḥbst and Ḥbst Ḥabashat and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum This new demonym was subsequently rendered as ḥbs Aḥbash in Sabaic and as Ḥabasha in Arabic 39 In the 15th century Ge ez Book of Axum the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp is He was an extra biblical son of Cush son of Ham said to have founded the city of Axum 43 In English and generally outside of Ethiopia the country was historically known as Abyssinia This toponym was derived from the Latinized form of the ancient Habash 44 HistoryMain article History of Ethiopia Further information Ethiopian historiography Prehistory Main article Prehistoric Ethiopia A Homo sapiens idaltu hominid skull Kibish has the site of oldest fossil of human bones believed to be 195 000 years old along with Omo River The skull remains are 40 000 older than in Herto Ethiopia Several important finds have propelled Ethiopia and the surrounding region to the forefront of palaeontology The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4 2 million year old Ardipithicus ramidus Ardi found by Tim D White in 1994 45 The most well known hominid discovery is Australopithecus afarensis Lucy Known locally as Dinkinesh the specimen was found in the Awash Valley of Afar Region in 1974 by Donald Johanson and is one of the most complete and best preserved adult Australopithecine fossils ever uncovered Lucy s taxonomic name refers to the region where the discovery was made This hominid is estimated to have lived 3 2 million years ago 46 47 48 Ethiopia is also considered one of the earliest sites of the emergence of anatomically modern humans Homo sapiens The oldest of these local fossil finds the Omo remains were excavated in the southwestern Omo Kibish area and have been dated to the Middle Paleolithic around 200 000 years ago 49 Additionally skeletons of Homo sapiens idaltu were found at a site in the Middle Awash valley Dated to approximately 160 000 years ago they may represent an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens or the immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans 50 Archaic Homo sapiens fossils excavated at the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco have since been dated to an earlier period about 300 000 years ago 51 while Omo Kibish I Omo I from southern Ethiopia is the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known 196 5 ka 52 According to some linguists the first Afroasiatic speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic era from the family s proposed urheimat original homeland in the Nile Valley 53 or the Near East 54 The majority of scholars today propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in northeast Africa because of the higher diversity of lineages in that region a telltale sign of linguistic origin 55 56 57 In 2019 archaeologists discovered a 30 000 year old Middle Stone Age rock shelter at the Fincha Habera site in Bale Mountains at an elevation of 3 469 metres 11 381 feet above sea level At this high altitude humans are susceptible both to hypoxia and to extreme weather According to a study published in the journal Science this dwelling is proof of the earliest permanent human occupation at high altitude yet discovered Thousands of animal bones hundreds of stone tools and ancient fireplaces were discovered revealing a diet that featured giant mole rats 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Evidence of some of the earliest known stone tipped projectile weapons a characteristic tool of Homo sapiens the stone tips of javelins or throwing spears were discovered in 2013 at the Ethiopian site of Gademotta which date to around 279 000 years ago 65 In 2019 additional Middle Stone Age projectile weapons were found at Aduma dated 100 000 80 000 years ago in the form of points considered likely to belong to darts delivered by spear throwers 66 Antiquity Main articles Dʿmt and Kingdom of Aksum The Obelisk of Axum dates from the 4th century In 980 BCE Dʿmt was established in present day Eritrea and the Tigray Region of Ethiopia This polity s capital was located at Yeha in what is now northern Ethiopia Most modern historians consider this civilization to be a native Ethiopian one although in earlier times many suggested it was Sabaean influenced because of the latter s hegemony of the Red Sea 67 Other scholars regard Dʿmt as the result of a union of Afroasiatic speaking cultures of the Cushitic and Semitic branches namely local Agaw peoples and Sabaeans from Southern Arabia However Ge ez the ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia is thought to have developed independently from the Sabaean language As early as 2000 BCE other Semitic speakers were living in Ethiopia and Eritrea where Ge ez developed 68 69 Sabaean influence is now thought to have been minor limited to a few localities and disappearing after a few decades or a century It may have been a trading or military colony in alliance with the Ethiopian civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto Axumite state 67 Aksumite currency of the Aksumite king called Endubis 227 35 at the British Museum The inscriptions in Ancient Greek read AXWMITW BASILEYS King of Axum and ENDYBIS BASILEYS King Endubis the Greek language was the lingua franca by that time so its use in coins simplified foreign trade After the fall of Dʿmt during the 4th century BCE the Ethiopian plateau came to be dominated by smaller successor kingdoms In the 1st century CE the Kingdom of Aksum emerged in what is now Tigray Region and Eritrea According to the medieval Book of Axum the kingdom s first capital Mazaber was built by Itiyopis son of Cush 43 Aksum would later at times extend its rule into Yemen on the other side of the Red Sea 70 The Persian prophet Mani listed Axum with Rome Persia and China as one of the four great powers of his era during the 3rd century 71 It is also believed that there was a connection between Egyptian and Ethiopian churches There is diminutive evidence that the Aksumites were associated with the Queen of Sheba via their royal inscription 72 Around 316 CE Frumentius and his brother Edesius from Tyre accompanied their uncle on a voyage to Ethiopia When the vessel stopped at a Red Sea port the natives killed all the travellers except the two brothers who were taken to the court as slaves They were given positions of trust by the monarch and they converted members of the royal court to Christianity Frumentius became the first bishop of Aksum 73 A coin dated to 324 shows that Ethiopia was the second country to officially adopt Christianity after Armenia did so in 301 although the religion may have been at first confined to court circles it was the first major power to do so The Aksumites were accustomed to the Greco Roman sphere of influence but embarked on significant cultural ties and trade connections between the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Empire via the Silk Road primarily exporting ivory tortoise shell gold and emeralds and importing silk and spices 72 74 75 Middle Ages Main article Ethiopia in the Middle Ages The Kingdom of Aksum at its peak in the 6th century The kingdom adopted the name Ethiopia during the reign of Ezana in the 4th century After the conquest of Kingdom of Kush in 330 the Aksumite territory reached its peak between the 5th and 6th centuries 67 This period was interrupted by several incursions into the South Arabian protectorate including Jewish Dhu Nuwas of the Himyarite Kingdom and the Aksumite Persian wars In 575 the Aksumites besieged and retook Sana a following the assassination of its governor Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan The port city of Adulis was plundered by Arab Muslims in the 8th century along with irrevocable land degradation claimed climate change and sporadic rainfall precipitation from 730 to 760 76 the kingdom likely said to decline its power and important trade route and Red Sea was left to the Rashidun Caliphate in 646 67 77 Aksum came to an end in 960 when Queen Gudit defeated the last king of Aksum Gudit s reign which lasted for 40 years aimed to abolish Christianity a religion first accepted by King Ezana of the Axumite dynasty by burning down churches and crucifying people who remained faithful to the Orthodox Tewahedo Church which at the time was considered as the religion of the state 78 Gudit tried to force many people to change their religion and destroyed much historical heritage of the Axumite dynasty earning her the epithet of Yodit Gudit in Amharic ዮዲት ጉዲት a play on words approximating to Judith the Evil One Gudit s devastation caused the remnant of the Aksumite population to shift into the southern region and establish the Zagwe dynasty changing its capital to Lalibela The dynasty was ruled by ethnic Agaw from circa 912 although most native sources indicate 1137 when its founder Mara Takla Haymanot overthrew the last Aksumite king Dil Na od and married his daughter The Zagwe dynasty was known for the revival of Christianity and by the 13th century Christianity reached the Shewan region 79 Emperor Yekuno Amlak portrait allegedly from the 18th century Zagwe s rule ended when an Amhara noble man Yekuno Amlak revolted against King Yetbarak and established the Ethiopian Empire known by exonym Abyssinia He inaugurated the Solomonic dynasty that supposedly traced to the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba a claim that Menelik I was their firstborn inaugurated the dynasty and the first Emperor of Ethiopia in the 10th century BCE According to the medieval Ethiopian chronicle Kebra Nagast which was translated to Ge ez in 1321 his name was Bayna Leḥkem from Arabic ابن الحكيم Ibn Al Hakim Son of the Wise 80 In the early 15th century Ethiopia sought to make diplomatic contact with European kingdoms for the first time since the Aksumite era A letter from Henry IV of England to the Ethiopian emperor survives 81 In 1428 Yeshaq I sent two emissaries to Alfonso V of Aragon who sent his own emissaries that failed to complete the return trip home to Aragon 82 The first continuous relations Europeans began in 1508 with Portugal under Dawit II 83 Abyssinian Adal War 1529 1543 Main article Ethiopian Adal War The Sultan of Adal right and his troops battling Emperor Yagbea Sion and his men The Ethiopian Empire embarked on territorial expansion starting with Amda Seyon I who conquered the first Muslim state in the region Ifat Sultanate in the 14th century after seizing the Kingdom of Damot around 1317 and expansion efforts were sustained by Emperor Zara Yaqob who conquered Massawa and Dahlak Archipelago around 1465 84 85 86 Ifat s successor the Adal Sultanate emerged in 1415 with its capital at Zelia situated in the present day Somaliland 87 Emperor Dawit II Lebna Dengel contemporary portrait by Cristofano dell Altissimo The Adals supported by Ottoman Turks initially tried to encroach the Ethiopian Empire under Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al Ghazi in 1529 launching the Ethiopian Adal War After several campaigns Al Ghazi overwhelmed the Ethiopian troops at the Battle of Amba Sel in 1531 Cristovao da Gama played a prominent role in the war helping the Ethiopian Empire with 400 musketeers at Massawa His vital efforts eventually led to his death at Battle of Wofla in 1542 In 1543 the Abyssinian troops led by Emperor Gelawdewos decisively defeated the Adal forces at the Battle of Wayna Daga the Imam was fatally wounded where tradition states that Ahmad was wounded by a Portuguese musketeer who had charged alone into the Muslim lines and died The wounded Imam was then chased and beheaded by an Ethiopian cavalry commander named Azmach Calite Upon learning of his death the Adal troops immediately withdrew the area 88 Gelawdewos was beheaded at the Battle of Fatagar in 1559 89 90 In response Abyssinian Ras Hamalmal sacked the Adal capital of Harar and killed the Sultan Barakat ibn Umar Din 91 92 These series of conflicts paved the way for 16th century Oromo migrations to the northern highlands 93 Oromo migrations 16th century Main article Oromo migrations By the 16th century an influx of migration by ethnic Oromo into northern parts of the region fragmented the empire s power referred to as the Great Oromo Expansions Embarking from present day Guji and Borena Zone the Oromos were largely motivated by several folkloric conceptions beginning with Moggaasaa 94 and Liqimssa 95 many of whom related to their raids Early expansion was marked by rapid raids as the raiders captured most cattle and booty and then returned to their homeland This technique persisted until gada of Mesle 96 97 According to Abba Bahrey the earliest expansion occurred under Emperor Dawit II luba Melbah when they encroached to Bale before invading Adal Sultanate 98 Emperor Sarsa Dengel unsuccessfully attempted to suppress the invasion in the south after they had taken Wej in 1572 99 Jesuit influence 1555 1632 Emperor Susenyos I was the first emperor converted to Roman Catholic in 1622 stressing the populace attitude of Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity Ethiopia saw major diplomatic contact with Portugal from the 17th century mainly related to religion Beginning in 1555 100 the Portuguese Jesuits attempted to develop Roman Catholicism as the state religion After several failures they sent several missionaries in 1603 including the most influential Spanish Jesuit Pedro Paez Paez s enthusiastic relation had huge favorable effects on the political sphere The Jesuits including Manoel de Almeida Manoel Barradas and Jeronimo Lobo wrote a half dozen histories regarding the first interaction with Ethiopians Their book however was unknown until the 20th century when it was fully published 101 Under Emperor Susenyos I Roman Catholicism became the state religion of the Ethiopian Empire in 1622 102 This unprecedented decision immediately caused an uprising by the Orthodox populace 103 Gondarine period 1632 1769 Main article Gondarine period Emperor Fasilides r 1632 1667 was a major figure of Gondarine period In 1632 Emperor Fasilides successfully halted Roman Catholic state administration and restored Orthodox Tewahedo as the state religion 102 Fasilides reign sparked solidification of imperial power and moved the capital to Gondar in 1636 commencing a period of transition known as Gondarine period 104 He expelled Jesuits by reclaiming possessed lands and relegating them to Fremona During his reign he built one of the most iconic royal fortress Fasil Ghebbi forty four churches were built 105 and Ethiopian art was revived He also credited with constructing seven stone bridges over Blue Nile River 106 Rebellion of the Agaw population in Lasta endured the reformation Fasilides conducted punitive expeditions to Lasta and successfully suppress it which was described by the Scottish traveler James Bruce almost the whole army perished amidst the mountains great part from famine but a greater still from cold a very remarkable circumstance in these latitudes 107 Fasilides tried to establish firm relations with Yemeni Imam Al Mutawakkil Isma il between 1642 and 1647 to discuss a trade route through Ottoman held Massawa which was unsuccessful 108 Emperor Iyoas I r 1755 1769 prematurely murdered at his reign by Ras Mikael Sehul in 1769 Gondar s power and reputation decayed following the death of Iyasu I in 1706 because most emperors preferred to enjoy luxurious life rather than spending in politics After Iyasu II death in 1755 Empress Mentewab brought her brother Ras Wolde Leul to Gondar and made him Ras Bitwaded resulted in regnal conflict between Mentewab s Quaregnoch and Wollo group led by Wubit In 1767 Ras Mikael Sehul a regent in Tigray Province seized Gondar and murdered the child Iyoas I in 1769 who was emperor at the time and installed 70 year old Yohannes II marking the beginning of the decentralized Zemene Mesafint era 109 Zemene Mesafint 1769 1889 Main article Zemene Mesafint Between 1769 and 1855 Ethiopia experienced a period of isolation referred to as the Zemene Mesafint or Age of Princes The emperors became figureheads controlled by regional lords and noblemen like Ras Mikael Sehul Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray and by the Yejju Oromo dynasty of the Wara Sheh such as Ras Gugsa of Yejju Prior to the Zemene Mesafint Emperor Iyoas I had introduced the Oromo language Afaan Oromo at court instead of Amharic 110 111 Emperor Tewodros II r 1855 1868 brought an end of Zemene Mesafint Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that concluded with an alliance between the two nations but it was not until 1855 that the Amhara kingdoms of northern Ethiopia Gondar Gojjam and Shewa were briefly united after the power of the emperor was restored beginning with the reign of Tewodros II 112 113 Tewodros II began a process of consolidation centralisation and state building that would be continued by succeeding emperors This process reduced the power of regional rulers restructured the empire s administration and created a professional army These changes created the basis for establishing the effective sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ethiopian state 114 Conversely Tewodros suffered several rebellions inside his empire Northern Oromo militias Tigrayan rebellions and the constant incursion of the Ottoman Empire and Egyptian forces near the Red Sea brought the weakening and the final downfall of Tewodros II He killed himself in 1868 during his last fight with the British expedition to Abyssinia at the Battle of Magdala After Tewodros death Tekle Giyorgis II was proclaimed emperor but was defeated in the Battles of Zulawu 21 June 1871 and Adwa 11 July 1871 The victorious Mercha Kassai was subsequently declared Yohannes IV on 21 January 1872 In 1875 and 1876 Ottoman Egyptian forces accompanied by many European and American advisors twice invaded Abyssinia but were initially defeated once at the Battle of Gundit losing 800 men and then in the second invasion they were decisively defeated at the Battle of Gura on 7 March 1875 where the invading forces lost at least 3 000 men by death or capture 115 At the council of Boru Meda in 1878 Yohannes came out with a decree that Ethiopian Muslims must accept Christianity or be banned Those that refused were executed on the spot Tens of thousands were killed and more left their land and belongings to flee to Harar Bale Arsi Jimma and even to Sudan 116 From 1885 to 1889 Ethiopia joined the Mahdist War allied to Britain Turkey and Egypt against the Sudanese Mahdist State In 1887 Menelik II king of Shewa invaded the Emirate of Harar after his victory at the Battle of Chelenqo 117 On 10 March 1889 Yohannes IV was killed by the Sudanese Khalifah Abdullah s army whilst leading his army in the Battle of Gallabat 118 From Menelik II to Adwa 1889 1913 Main articles First Italo Ethiopian War and Menelik s Expansions The conquests of Emperor Yohannes IV Negus Menelik and general Ras Alula in 1879 1889 Ethiopia in roughly its current form began under the reign of Menelik II who was Emperor from 1889 until his death in 1913 From his base in the central province of Shewa Menelik set out to annex territories to the south east and west 119 areas inhabited by the Oromo Sidama Gurage Welayta and other peoples 120 He achieved this with the help of Ras Gobana Dacche s Shewan Oromo militia which occupied lands that had not been held since Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al Ghazi s war as well as other areas that had never been under Ethiopian rule 121 During the conquest of the Oromo the Ethiopian Army carried out atrocities against the Oromo population including mass mutilation mass killings and large scale slavery 122 123 Some estimates of the number of people killed as a result of the conquest are in the millions 124 122 125 Large scale atrocities were also committed against the Dizi people and the people of the Kingdom of Kaffa 125 126 Menelik s campaign against Oromos outside his army was largely in retaliation for centuries of Oromo expansionism and the Zemene Mesafint a period during which a succession of Oromo feudal rulers dominated the highlanders 127 Chief among these was the Yejju dynasty which included Aligaz of Yejju and his brother Ali I of Yejju The latter founded the town of Debre Tabor in the Amhara Region which became the dynasty s capital 128 Menelik II was the son of Haile Melekot Negus of Shewa and Ejegayehu Lema Adeyamo a palace servant 129 He was born at Angolala in an Oromo area and lived his first twelve years with Shewan Oromos with whom he thus had much in common 130 During Menelik s reign road construction electricity and education advanced and a central taxation system was developed The city of Finfinne was rebuilt and renamed Addis Ababa in 1889 1891 it became the new capital of the Ethiopian Empire Menelik II at the Battle of Adwa For his leadership despite opposition from more traditional elements of society Menelik II was heralded as a national hero He had signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Italy in May 1889 by which Italy would recognize Ethiopia s sovereignty so long as Italy could control an area north of Ethiopia now part of modern Eritrea In return Italy was to provide Menelik with weapons and support him as emperor The Italians used the time between the signing of the treaty and its ratification by the Italian government to expand their territorial claims This First Italo Ethiopian War culminated in the Battle of Adwa on 1 March 1896 in which Italy s colonial forces were defeated by the Ethiopians 120 131 In 1896 the Treaty of Addis Ababa was signed replacing the Treaty of Wuchale with conditions more favorable to Ethiopia About a third of the population died in the Great Ethiopian Famine 1888 to 1892 132 133 Haile Selassie I era 1916 1974 Main articles Haile Selassie and Modernization under Haile Selassie Emperor Haile Selassie I at his study in Jubilee Palace 1942 The early 20th century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I was born to parents with ethnic links to three Afroasiatic speaking populations of Ethiopia the Oromo and Amhara the country s two largest ethnic groups as well as the Gurage He came to power after Lij Iyasu was deposed and undertook a nationwide modernization campaign from 1916 when he was made a Ras and Regent Inderase for the Empress Regnant Zewditu and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire Following Zewditu s death on 2 November 1930 he succeeded her as emperor 134 In 1931 Haile Selassie endowed Ethiopia with its first ever Constitution in emulation of Imperial Japan s 1890 Constitution through which the Central Europe a model of unitary and homogenous ethnolinguistic nation state was adopted for the Ethiopian Empire 135 Fascist Italy occupation 1936 1941 Main articles Second Italo Ethiopian War Italian Ethiopia Italian East Africa Arbegnoch and Black Lions Ethiopian cavalry during the Second Italo Ethiopian War in 1936 The independence of Ethiopia was interrupted by the Second Italo Ethiopian War beginning when it was invaded by Fascist Italy in early October 1935 and by subsequent Italian rule of the country 1936 1941 after Italian victory in the war 136 During this time Haile Selassie exiled and appealed to the League of Nations in 1935 delivering an address that made him a worldwide figure and the 1935 Time Man of the Year 137 As the majority of the Ethiopian population lived in rural towns Italy faced continued resistance and ambushes in urban centers throughout its rule over Ethiopia Haile Selassie fled into exile in Fairfield House Bath England Mussolini was able to proclaim Italian Ethiopia and the assumption of the imperial title by the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III 138 In 1937 the Italian massacre of Yekatit 12 took place in which between 1 400 and 30 000 civilians were killed and many others imprisoned 139 140 141 This massacre was a reprisal for the attempted assassination of Rodolfo Graziani the viceroy of Italian East Africa 142 The Italians employed the use of asphyxiating chemical weapons in their Ethiopian invasion The Italians regularly dropped bombs throughout Ethiopia that carried mustard gas and debilitated the Ethiopian forces On the whole the Italians dropped about 300 tons of mustard gas as well as thousands of other artillery This use of chemical weapons amounted to egregious war crimes 143 Ras Seyoum Mengesha Ras Getachew Abate and Ras Kebede Gubret with Benito Mussolini on 6 February 1937 in Rome Italy after the Italian occupation of Ethiopia The Italians made investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their rule over Ethiopia They created the so called imperial road between Addis Ababa and Massaua 144 More than 900 km of railways were reconstructed dams and hydroelectric plants were built and many public and private companies were established The Italian government abolished slavery a practice that existed in the country for centuries 145 Following the entry of Italy into World War II British Empire forces together with the Arbegnoch literally patriots referring to armed resistance soldiers liberated Ethiopia in the course of the East African Campaign in 1941 An Italian guerrilla warfare campaign continued until 1943 The country was placed under British military administration This was followed by British recognition of Ethiopia s full sovereignty without any special British privileges when the Anglo Ethiopian Agreement was signed in December 1944 146 although some regions remained under British control for more years Under the peace treaty of 1947 Italy recognized the sovereignty and independence of Ethiopia On 26 August 1942 Haile Selassie issued a proclamation that removed legal basis for slavery 147 Ethiopia had between two and four million slaves in the early 20th century out of a total population of about eleven million 148 Post World War II 1941 1974 Main articles 1960 Ethiopian coup d etat attempt Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea and Eritrean War of Independence In 1952 Haile Selassie orchestrated a federation with Eritrea He dissolved this in 1962 and annexed Eritrea resulting in the Eritrean War of Independence General Mengistu left and Germame Neway right were the two perpetrators of the failed 1960 coup d etat attempt against Emperor Haile Selassie Haile Selassie was nearly deposed in the 1960 coup d etat in a conspiracy by the chiefly progressive opposition group led by brothers Germame and Mengistu Neway whilst Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil On the evening of Tuesday 13 December a group deceived the Ministers of the Imperial Crown and important personages to enter the National Palace taking them hostage 149 Fighting began on the next day primarily between the Loyalist imperial army Kebur Zebegna and rebels led by General Tsege and Colonel Warqenah At its start Germame and his fellow combatants killed 15 of the hostages held in Genetta Leul Palace Central of these were officials such as then Prime Minister Ras Abebe Aregai Makonnen Habte Wolde and Major General Mulugeta 150 Heavily subdued by the imperial army General Tsege was killed in fighting Colonel Warqenah committed suicide 151 and the brothers Mengistu and Germame Neway was near Mojo on 24 December who would soon executed by hanging at church square in Addis Ababa but Germame evaded by committing suicide 152 The coup considered one of serious threat to Haile Selassie until 1974 Ethiopian Revolution In 1963 Haile Selassie played a leading role in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity OAU 153 Opinion within Ethiopia turned against Haile Selassie owing to the worldwide 1973 oil crisis causing a sharp increase in gasoline prices starting on 13 February 1974 The high gasoline prices motivated taxi drivers and teachers to go on strike on 18 February 1974 and students and workers in Addis Ababa began demonstrating against the government on 20 February 1974 154 There were resulting food shortages uncertainty regarding the succession border wars and discontent in the middle class created through modernization 155 The feudal oligarchical cabinet of Aklilu Habte Wold was toppled and a new government was formed with Endelkachew Makonnen serving as Prime Minister 156 The Derg era 1974 1991 See also Ethiopian Revolution Derg People s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ethiopian Civil War Eritrean War of Independence and 1983 85 famine in Ethiopia The Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Party EPRP clashed with the Derg during the Red Terror Haile Selassie s rule ended on 12 September 1974 when he was deposed by the Derg a non ideological committee made up of military and police officers led by Aman Andom 157 After the execution of 60 former government and military officials including Aman in November 1974 158 the new Provisional Military Administrative Council now led by General Tafari Benti abolished the monarchy in March 1975 and established Ethiopia as a Marxist Leninist state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional government 159 The abolition of feudalism increased literacy nationalization and sweeping land reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands became priorities 160 After internal conflicts that resulted in the execution of chairman Tafari Benti and several of his supporters in February 1977 and the execution of vice chairman Atnafu Abate in November 1977 Mengistu Halie Mariam gained undisputed leadership of the Derg 161 The Derg suffered several coups uprisings wide scale drought and a huge refugee problem In 1977 Somalia which had previously been receiving assistance and arms from the USSR invaded Ethiopia in the Ogaden War capturing part of the Ogaden region Ethiopia recovered it after it began receiving massive military aid from the Soviet bloc countries of the USSR Cuba South Yemen East Germany 162 and North Korea This included around 15 000 Cuban combat troops 163 164 Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam left with fellow Derg members Tafari Benti middle and Atnafu Abate right Mengistu was sentenced to death in Ethiopia for crimes committed during his government which killed up to 500 000 people 165 he lived in exile in Zimbabwe as of 2018 In 1976 78 up to 500 000 were killed as a result of the Red Terror 165 a violent political repression campaign by the Derg against various opposition groups most notably the Marxist Leninist Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Party EPRP 155 The Red Terror was carried out in response to what the Derg termed the White Terror a chain of violent events assassinations and killings carried out by what it called petty bourgeois reactionaries who desired a reversal of the 1974 revolution 166 167 In 1987 the Derg dissolved itself and established the People s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia PDRE upon the adoption of the 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia modeled on the 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union with modified provisions 168 The 1983 85 famine in Ethiopia affected around eight million people resulting in one million dead Insurrections against authoritarian rule sprang up particularly in the northern regions of Eritrea and Tigray The Tigray People s Liberation Front TPLF merged with other ethnically based opposition movements in 1989 to form the coalition known as the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF 169 Concurrently under Mikhail Gorbachev the Soviet Union began to retreat from building world communism towards glasnost and perestroika policies marking a dramatic reduction in aid to Ethiopia from Socialist Bloc countries This resulted in more economic hardship and the collapse of the military in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in the north The collapse of Marxism Leninism in general and in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989 coincided with the Soviet Union stopping aid to Ethiopia altogether in 1990 To garner international support Mengistu embraced a mixed economy and an end to one party rule but it was too late to save his regime 170 171 172 EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa in May 1991 and the Soviet Union did not intervene to save the government side Mengistu fled the country and was granted asylum in Zimbabwe where he still resides 173 174 In 2006 after a trial that lasted 12 years Ethiopia s Federal High Court in Addis Ababa found Mengistu guilty of genocide in absentia 175 Numerous other top leaders of his government were also found guilty of war crimes Mengistu and others who had fled the country were tried and sentenced in absentia Numerous former officials received the death sentence and tens of others spent the next 20 years in jail before being pardoned from life sentences 176 177 178 179 Federal Democratic Republic 1991 present Main article Ethiopia under federal republic See also Eritrean independence referendum 1993In July 1991 the EPRDF convened a National Conference to establish the Transitional Government of Ethiopia composed of an 87 member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution 180 In June 1992 the Oromo Liberation Front withdrew from the government in March 1993 members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Coalition also left the government 181 182 In April 1993 Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia after a national referendum 183 In 1994 a new constitution was written that established a parliamentary republic with a bicameral legislature and a judicial system 184 Former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the 2012 World Economic Forum annual meeting The first multiparty election took place in May 1995 which was won by the EPRDF 185 The president of the transitional government EPRDF leader Meles Zenawi became the first Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Negasso Gidada was elected its president 186 In post Derg Ethiopia s Constitution promulgated in 1995 the EPRDF not only took over the Derg s Soviet inspired promise of cultural and administrative autonomy for the country s over 80 ethnic groups but also borrowed the right to independence secession from the Soviet Constitution In this manner an ethnoterritorial federal model of statehood was adopted for Ethiopia as originally developed in the Central European empire of Austria Hungary and in the interwar Soviet Union 187 In May 1998 a border dispute with Eritrea led to the Eritrean Ethiopian War which lasted until June 2000 and cost both countries an estimated 1 million a day 188 This had a negative effect on Ethiopia s economy 189 but strengthened the ruling coalition citation needed Ethiopia s 3rd multiparty election on 15 May 2005 was highly disputed with many opposition groups claiming fraud Though the Carter Center approved the pre election conditions it expressed its dissatisfaction with post election events European Union election observers cited state support for the EPRDF campaign as well as irregularities in ballot counting and results publishing 190 The opposition parties gained more than 200 parliamentary seats compared with just 12 in the 2000 elections While most of the opposition representatives joined the parliament some leaders of the CUD party who refused to take up their parliamentary seats were accused of inciting the post election violence and were imprisoned Amnesty International considered them prisoners of conscience and they were subsequently released 191 A coalition of opposition parties and some individuals were established in 2009 to oust the government of the EPRDF in legislative elections of 2010 Meles party which has been in power since 1991 published its 65 page manifesto in Addis Ababa on 10 October 2009 The opposition won most votes in Addis Ababa but the EPRDF halted the counting of votes for several days After it ensued it claimed the election amidst charges of fraud and intimidation 192 In mid 2011 two consecutively missed rainy seasons precipitated the worst drought in East Africa seen in 60 years Full recovery from the drought s effects did not occur until 2012 with long term strategies by the national government in conjunction with development agencies believed to offer the most sustainable results 193 Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn meeting with former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in Addis Ababa Meles died on 20 August 2012 in Brussels where he was being treated for an unspecified illness 194 Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was appointed as a new prime minister until the 2015 elections 195 and remained so afterwards with his party in control of every parliamentary seat 196 Protests broke out across the country on 5 August 2016 and hundreds of protesters were subsequently shot and killed by police The protesters demanded an end to human rights abuses the release of political prisoners a fairer redistribution of the wealth generated by over a decade of economic growth and a return of Wolqayt District to the Amhara Region 197 198 199 The events were the most violent crackdown against protesters in Sub Saharan Africa since the Ethiopian government killed at least 75 people during protests in the Oromia Region in November and December 2015 200 201 Following these protests Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on 6 October 2016 202 The state of emergency was lifted in August 2017 203 On 16 February 2018 the government of Ethiopia declared a six month nationwide state of emergency following the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn 204 Hailemariam is the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history to step down previous leaders have died in office or been overthrown 205 He said that he wanted to clear the way for reforms Abiy Ahmed and the Prosperity Party 2018 present See also Ethiopian civil conflict and Tigray War Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2019 The new Prime Minister was Abiy Ahmed who made an historic visit to Eritrea in 2018 ending the state of conflict between the two countries 206 For his efforts in ending the 20 year long war between Ethiopia and Eritrea Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel prize for peace in 2019 207 After taking office in April 2018 46 year old Abiy released political prisoners promised fair elections for 2019 and announced sweeping economic reforms 208 As of 6 June 2019 update all the previously censored websites were made accessible again over 13 000 political prisoners were released and hundreds of administrative staff were fired as part of the reforms 209 210 211 212 Ethnic violence rose with the political unrest There were Oromo Somali clashes between the Oromo who make up the largest ethnic group in the country and the ethnic Somalis leading to up to 400 000 have been displaced in 2017 213 Gedeo Oromo clashes between the Oromo and the Gedeo people in the south of the country led to Ethiopia having the largest number of people to flee their homes in the world in 2018 with 1 4 million newly displaced people 214 Starting in 2019 in the Metekel conflict fighting in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz people against Amharas and Agaws 215 In March 2020 the leader of an Amhara militia called Fano Solomon Atanaw stated that they would not disarm until Metekel Zone and the Tigray Region districts of Welkait and Raya were returned to the control of Amhara Region 216 In September 2018 23 people were killed in acts of ethnic violence against minorities in the Special Zone of Oromia near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa 217 35 people were later killed in Addis Ababa and in the surrounding Oromia Special Zone during protests against what many regarded as a lack of a response from the government to the violence Some were killed by police 218 On 22 June 2019 factions of the security forces of the region attempted a coup d etat against the regional government during which the President of the Amhara Region Ambachew Mekonnen was assassinated 219 A bodyguard siding with the nationalist factions assassinated General Se are Mekonnen the Chief of the General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force as well as his aide Major General Gizae Aberra 219 The Prime Minister s Office accused Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige head of the Amhara region security forces of leading the plot 220 and Tsige was shot dead by police near Bahir Dar on 24 June 221 Ethiopian civil conflict 2018 present Territorial control as of November 2022 For a more detailed up to date interactive map see here Pro federal government troops Ethiopian federal government and regional allies Eritrean Defence Forces Anti federal government rebels Tigray Defense Forces Oromo Liberation Army The Fano militia is an Amhara youth group in Ethiopia perceived as either a protest group or an armed militia 222 An alliance between Fano and Qeerroo its Oromo counterpart played a crucial role in the bringing about the political and administrative changes associated with the premiership of Abiy Ahmed 223 224 During the Tigray War Fano supported federal and regional security forces against rebels aligned with the Tigray People s Liberation Front or TPLF 225 Fano units are accused of participating in ethnic massacres including that of 58 Qemant people in Metemma during 10 11 January 2019 226 and of armed actions in Humera in November 2020 227 Protests broke out across Ethiopia following the assassination of Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa 228 on 29 June 2020 leading to the deaths of at least 239 people 229 The federal government under the Prosperity Party requested that the National Election Board of Ethiopia cancel elections for 2020 due to health and safety concerns about COVID 19 No official date was set for the next election at that time but the government promised that once a vaccine was developed for COVID 19 that elections would move forward 230 The Tigrayan ruling party TPLF opposed canceling the elections and when their request to the federal government to hold elections was rejected the TPLF proceeded to hold elections anyway on 9 September 2020 They worked with regional opposition parties and included international observers in the election process 231 It was estimated that 2 7 million people participated in the election 232 Relations between the federal government and the Tigray regional government deteriorated after the election 233 and on 4 November 2020 Abiy began a military offensive in the Tigray Region in response to attacks on army units stationed there causing thousands of refugees to flee to neighbouring Sudan and triggering the Tigray War 234 235 More than 600 civilians were killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra on 9 November 2020 236 237 In April 2021 Eritrea confirmed its troops are fighting in Ethiopia 238 As of March 2022 as many as 500 000 people had died as a result of violence and famine in the Tigray War 239 240 After a number of peace and mediation proposals in the intervening years Ethiopia and the Tigrayan rebel forces agreed to a cessation of hostilities on 2 November 2022 as Eritrea was not a party to the agreement however their status remained unclear 241 Government and politicsMain articles Politics of Ethiopia Law of Ethiopia and Judiciary of Ethiopia See also Rulers and Heads of State of Ethiopia House of People s Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly Ethiopia is a federal parliamentary republic wherein the Prime Minister is the head of government and the President is the head of state but with largely ceremonial powers Executive power is exercised by the government and federal legislative power vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament The House of Federation is the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature with 108 seats and the lower chamber is the House of Peoples Representatives HoPR with 547 seats The House of Federation is chosen by the regional councils whereas MPs of the HoPR are elected directly in turn they elect the president for a six year term and the prime minister for a 5 year term The Ethiopian judiciary consists of dual system with two court structures the federal and state courts The FDRE Constitution vested federal judicial authority to the Federal Supreme Court which can overturn and review decisions of subordinate federal courts itself has regular division assigned for fundamental errors of law In addition the Supreme Court can perform circuit hearings in established five states at any states of federal levels or area designated for its jurisdiction if deemed necessary for the efficient rendering of justice 242 243 The Federal Supreme Proclamation granted three subject matter principles laws parties and place to federal court jurisdiction first cases arising under the Constitution federal laws and international treaties second over parties specified by federal laws 244 On the basis of Article 78 of the 1994 Ethiopian Constitution the judiciary is completely independent of the executive and the legislature 245 To ensure this the vice president and President of the Supreme Court appointed by Parliament on the nomination of Prime Minister Once elected the executive power has no authority to remove from office Other judges are nominated by the Federal Judicial Administration Council FJAC on the basis of transparent criteria and the Prime Minister s recommendation for appointment in the HoPR In all cases judges cannot be removed from their duty unless they retired violated disciplinary rules gross incompatibility or inefficiency to unfit due to ill health Contrary the majority vote of HoPR have the right to sanction removal in federal judiciary level or state council in cases of state judges 246 In 2015 the realities of this provision were questioned in a report prepared by Freedom House 247 According to the Democracy Index published by the United Kingdom based Economist Intelligence Unit in late 2010 Ethiopia was an authoritarian regime ranking as the 118th most democratic out of 167 countries 248 Ethiopia had dropped 13 places on the list since 2008 and the 2010 report attributed the drop to the government s crackdown on opposition activities media and civil society before the 2010 parliamentary election which the report argued had made Ethiopia a de facto one party state 249 Governance Main article Government of Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed President Sahle Work Zewde In post 1995 regime Ethiopia s politics has been liberalized which promotes all encompassing reforms to the country Today its economy is based on mixed market oriented principles 246 The first election of 547 member constituent assembly was held in June 1994 This assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994 The elections for Ethiopia s first popularly chosen national parliament and regional legislatures were held in May and June 1995 Most opposition parties chose to boycott these elections There was a landslide victory for the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF International and non governmental observers concluded that opposition parties would have been able to participate had they chosen to do so citation needed The first government of Ethiopia under the new constitution was installed in August 1995 with Negasso Gidada as president The EPRDF led government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promoted a policy of ethnic federalism devolving significant powers to regional ethnically based authorities Ethiopia today has eleven semi autonomous administrative regions that have the power to raise and spend their own revenues Under past governments some fundamental freedoms including freedom of the press were circumscribed 250 Citizens had little access to media other than the state owned networks and most private newspapers struggled to remain open and suffered periodic harassment from the government 250 Starting from the 2005 elections at least 18 journalists who had written articles critical of the government were arrested on genocide and treason charges The government used press laws governing libel to intimidate journalists who were critical of its policies 251 Meles government was elected in 2000 in the first ever multiparty elections however the results were heavily criticized by international observers and denounced by the opposition as fraudulent The EPRDF also won the 2005 election returning Meles to power Although the opposition vote increased in the election both the opposition and observers from the European Union and elsewhere stated that the vote did not meet international standards for fair and free elections 250 Ethiopian police are said to have massacred 193 protesters mostly in the capital Addis Ababa in the violence following the May 2005 elections in the Ethiopian police massacre 252 Former Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Tedros Adhanom with former U S Secretary of State John Kerry The government initiated a crackdown in the provinces as well in Oromia Region the authorities used concerns over insurgency and terrorism to use torture imprisonment and other repressive methods to silence critics following the election particularly people sympathetic to the registered opposition party Oromo National Congress ONC 251 The government has been engaged in a conflict with rebels in the Ogaden region since 2007 The biggest opposition party in 2005 was the Coalition for Unity and Democracy CUD After various internal divisions most of the CUD party leaders have established the new Unity for Democracy and Justice party led by Judge Birtukan Mideksa A member of the country s Oromo ethnic group Birtukan Mideksa is the first woman to lead a political party in Ethiopia In 2008 the top five opposition parties were the Unity for Democracy and Justice led by Judge Birtukan Mideksa United Ethiopian Democratic Forces led by Beyene Petros Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement led by Bulcha Demeksa Oromo People s Congress led by Merera Gudina and United Ethiopian Democratic Party Medhin Party led by Lidetu Ayalew After the 2015 elections Ethiopia lost its single remaining opposition MP 253 by 2015 there were no opposition MPs in the Ethiopian parliament 254 Foreign relations Main article Foreign relations of Ethiopia Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May 2018 Starting from the Land of Punt Ethiopia has been a trading nation that mainly exported goods such as gold ivory exotic animals and incense 255 Many historians concluded that modern diplomatic relationship of Ethiopia began under Emperor Tewodros II whose reign was sought to establish Ethiopian border and later unsuccessfully diminished in British expedition of 1868 256 Since then the country was seen redundant by world powers until the opening of Suez Canal due to an influence of Mahdist War 257 Today Ethiopia maintains strong relations with China Israel Mexico Turkey and India as well as neighboring countries The relationship with Sudan and Egypt is somewhat in dispute situation owing to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project which was escalated in 2020 258 259 Despite six upstream countries Ethiopia Kenya Uganda Rwanda Burundi and Tanzania signed Nile Basin Initiative in 2010 Egypt and Sudan rejected water sharing treaty citing the reduction of amount of water to the Nile Basin challenges their historic connection of water rights 260 261 In 2020 Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned that No force can stop Ethiopia from building a dam If there is need to go to war we could get millions readied 262 Ethiopia is a strategic partner of Global War on Terrorism and African Growth and Opportunity Act AGOA 263 US Former President Barack Obama was the first incumbent to visit Ethiopia in July 2015 while delivering speech in the Africa Union he highlighted combatting the Islamic terrorism 264 265 Ethiopia has concentrated emigrant to countries in Europe mainly in Italy Saudi Arabia United Kingdom Canada Sweden and Australia Ethiopia has Jewish emigrant in Israel about 155 300 as of 2019 They are collectively known as Beta Israel Ethiopia is founding member of the Group of 24 G 24 the Non Aligned Movement and the G77 In 1963 the Organization of African Unity later renamed itself the African Union was founded in Addis Ababa serving the political center of the Union In addition it is also a member of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa the African Standby Force and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa Ethiopia is one of African countries and founding member of League of Nations now United Nations since at least end of colonial era in 1923 The UN tasks in Ethiopia is primarily of humanitarian issues and development For example UN Country Team UNCT in Ethiopia has representative of 28 UN funds and programmes and specialized agencies Some of its agencies mandate regional ligature with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union The UN focuses all encompassing affairs in Ethiopia providing two goals Sustainable Development Goals SDGs and National Development priority This includes fighting against poverty sustainable economic growth climate change policy educational and healthcare provision increasing job employment and environmental protection 266 Military Main articles Military history of Ethiopia and Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force soldiers during ceremony in Baidoa Somalia to mark the inclusion of Ethiopia into the African Union peace keeping mission in the country on 22 January 2014 Historically Ethiopia was heavily built on military and saw decisive invasions against external powers Despite modern weapons equipped with assistance of European countries such as Portugal Russia France and Britain the Ethiopian army largely relied on feudal system so its army nearly consisted of peasant militia Under Amda Seyon I a legion named Chewa regiments was formed in the 14th century became dominant military force in medieval times It was normally composed up to several thousand men The modern military dates back in 1917 created by Tafari Makonnen which was called Kebur Zabagna The Ethiopian Army under Kagnew Battalion unit involved in the Korean War from 1950 fought as part of United Nations Command Some publications stated that Ethiopian troops remained for 15 years though other stated they left until 1975 as part of the UN Command 267 The battalion sized 6 037 troops at the time of the war 268 ENDF soldiers marching in 2019 parade The Ethiopian National Defense Force is the largest military in Africa 269 and is directed by Ministry of Defense Other military branches include ground forces air force and formerly naval force Since 1996 landlocked Ethiopia has had no navy but in 2018 Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on state TV We built one of the strongest ground and air forces in Africa we should build our naval force capacity in the future 270 Law enforcement Main articles Law enforcement in Ethiopia and Crime in Ethiopia See also Police brutality in Ethiopia The constitution guarantees law enforcement duty to the Ethiopian Federal Police EFP The EFP is responsible for safeguarding and public welfare in federal level Founded in 1995 the federal police surveyed by Federal Police Commissioner since October 2000 the Federal Police Commissioner then reports task to the Ministry of Peace however it was overrode after political reforms in 2018 and directed to the parliament In previous years the federal police reports the Ministry s tasks directly In addition the federal police have ability to disclose regional police commissions in order for assistance Independently the local militias uphold security citation needed Nowadays bribery is a basic concern especially observed by traffic police Police brutality appeared as severe in recent years On 26 August 2019 a video of handcuffed man beaten by two police officers as an elderly woman intervened the scene in Addis Ababa went viral Recent police misconduct is said to be a failure of Federal Police Commissioner to abide Article 52 of the constitution which states investigation of unlawful use of force and dismissal of those misconducted officer The African Union s Luanda and Robben Island Guidelines or the United Nations Declaration on Justice for Victims of Abuse of Power and their Basic Principles on the Use of Force amp Firearms are once obligated to the Ethiopian government disciplinary committee to combat police brutality in both individual and systemic level 271 Human rights Main article Human rights in Ethiopia Further information War crimes in the Tigray War Human rights violations often accompany endured ethnic and communal violence in the country 272 In a 2016 demonstration 100 peaceful protestors were killed by direct government gunfire in the Oromia and Amhara regions 273 The UN has called for UN observers on the ground in Ethiopia to investigate this incident 274 however the EPRDF dominated Ethiopian government has refused this call 275 The protestors are protesting land grabs and lack of basic human rights such as the freedom to elect their representatives The TPLF dominated EPRDF won 100 in an election marked by fraud which has resulted in Ethiopian civilians protesting on scale unseen in prior post election protests 276 Merera Gudina leader of the Oromo People s Congress said the East African country was at a crossroads He added in the interview with Reuters People are demanding their rights he said People are fed up with what the regime has been doing for a quarter of a century They re protesting against land grabs reparations stolen elections the rising cost of living many things If the government continue to repress while the people are demanding their rights in the millions that civil war is one of the likely scenarios 276 According to surveys in 2003 by the National Committee on Traditional Practices in Ethiopia marriage by abduction accounts for 69 of the nation s marriages with around 80 in the largest region Oromia and as high as 92 in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region 277 278 Journalists and activists have been threatened or arrested for their coverage of the COVID 19 pandemic in Ethiopia 279 Among the Omotic Karo speaking and Hamer peoples in southern Ethiopia adults and children with physical abnormalities are considered to be mingi ritually impure The latter are believed to exert an evil influence upon others disabled infants have traditionally been murdered without a proper burial 280 The Karo officially banned the practice in July 2012 281 In 2013 the Oakland Institute released a report accusing the Ethiopian government of forcing the relocation of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people from their lands in the Gambela Region 282 According to several reports by the organization those who refused were the subject of a variety of intimidation techniques including physical and sexual abuse which sometimes led to deaths 283 284 285 A similar 2012 report by Human Rights Watch also describes the Ethiopian government s 2010 2011 villagization program in Gambela with plans to carry out similar resettlements in other regions 286 The Ethiopian government has denied the accusations of land grabbing and instead pointed to the positive trajectory of the country s economy as evidence of the development program s benefits 285 A nationwide series of violent protests concentrated in the Oromia Region broke out starting on 23 October 2019 sparked by activist and media owner Jawar Mohammed s allegation that security forces had attempted to detain him According to official reports 86 people were killed 287 On 29 May 2020 Amnesty International released a report accusing the security forces of Ethiopia of mass detentions and extrajudicial killings The report stated that in 2019 at least 25 people suspected of supporting the Oromo Liberation Army were killed by the forces in parts the Oromia Region Besides between January and September 2019 at least 10 000 people were detained under suspicion where most were subjected to brutal beatings 288 LGBT rights Main article LGBT rights in Ethiopia Homosexual acts are illegal in Ethiopia According to Criminal Code Article 629 same sex activity is punished up to 15 years to life in prison 289 Ethiopia has been a socially conservative country The majority of people are hostile towards LGBT people and persecution is commonplace on the grounds of religious and societal norms Homosexuality came to light in the country since the failed 2008 appeal to the Council of Ministers and the LGBT scene began to thrive slightly in major metropolitan locations such as Addis Ababa Some notable hotels like Sheraton Addis and Hilton Hotel became hotbeds of accusations for alleged lobbying 290 The Ethiopian Orthodox church plays a frontal role in opposition some of its members formed anti gay organizations For example Dereje Negash one prominent activist founded Zim Anlem in 2014 which is a traditionalism and anti gender movement 291 According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project 97 percent 292 of Ethiopians believe homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept This was the second highest rate of non acceptance in the 45 countries surveyed 293 Administrative divisions Main articles Subdivisions of Ethiopia Regions of Ethiopia List of zones of Ethiopia and Districts of Ethiopia Map of regions and zones of Ethiopia Before 1996 Ethiopia was divided into thirteen provinces many derived from historical regions The nation now has a tiered governmental system consisting of a federal government overseeing regional states zones districts woreda and kebeles neighbourhoods citation needed Ethiopia is divided into eleven ethnically based and politically autonomous regional states kililoch singular kilil and two chartered cities astedader akababiwoch singular astedader akababi the latter being Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa The kililoch are subdivided into sixty eight zones and then further into 550 woredas and several special woredas citation needed The constitution assigns extensive power to regional states which can establish their own government and democracy as long as it is in line with the federal government s constitution Each region has at its apex a regional council where members are directly elected to represent the districts and the council has legislative and executive power to direct internal affairs of the regions citation needed Furthermore Article 39 of the Ethiopian Constitution gives every regional state the right to secede from Ethiopia There is debate however as to how much of the power guaranteed in the constitution is actually given to the states The councils implement their mandate through an executive committee and regional sectoral bureaus Such an elaborate structure of council executive and sectoral public institutions is replicated at the next level woreda citation needed GeographyMain article Geography of Ethiopia Wonchi Lake at the crossroads between Ambo and Waliso in Oromia Region At 1 104 300 square kilometres 426 372 61 sq mi 9 Ethiopia is the world s 28th largest country comparable in size to Bolivia It lies between the 3rd parallel north and the 15th parallel north and longitudes 33rd meridian east and 48th meridian east The major portion of Ethiopia lies in the Horn of Africa which is the easternmost part of the African landmass The territories that have frontiers with Ethiopia are Eritrea to the north and then moving in a clockwise direction Djibouti Somaliland Somalia Kenya South Sudan and Sudan Within Ethiopia is a vast highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley which runs generally southwest to northeast and is surrounded by lowlands steppes or semi desert There is a great diversity of terrain with wide variations in climate soils natural vegetation and settlement patterns Ethiopia is an ecologically diverse country ranging from the deserts along the eastern border to the tropical forests in the south to extensive Afromontane in the northern and southwestern parts Lake Tana in the north is the source of the Blue Nile It also has many endemic species notably the gelada the walia ibex and the Ethiopian wolf Simien fox The wide range of altitude has given the country a variety of ecologically distinct areas and this has helped to encourage the evolution of endemic species in ecological isolation The nation is a land of geographical contrasts ranging from the vast fertile west with its forests and numerous rivers to the world s hottest settlement of Dallol in its north The Ethiopian Highlands are the largest continuous mountain ranges in Africa and the Sof Omar Caves contains the largest cave on the continent Ethiopia also has the second largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa 294 Climate Main articles Climate of Ethiopia and Climate change in Ethiopia See also Beautifying Sheger Koppen climate classification of Ethiopia The predominant climate type is tropical monsoon with wide topographic induced variation The Ethiopian Highlands cover most of the country and have a climate which is generally considerably cooler than other regions at similar proximity to the Equator Most of the country s major cities are located at elevations of around 2 000 2 500 m 6 562 8 202 ft above sea level including historic capitals such as Gondar and Axum The modern capital Addis Ababa is situated on the foothills of Mount Entoto at an elevation of around 2 400 metres 7 900 ft It experiences a mild climate year round With temperatures fairly uniform year round the seasons in Addis Ababa are largely defined by rainfall a dry season from October to February a light rainy season from March to May and a heavy rainy season from June to September The average annual rainfall is approximately 1 200 millimetres 47 in There are on average seven hours of sunshine per day The dry season is the sunniest time of the year though even at the height of the rainy season in July and August there are still usually several hours per day of bright sunshine The average annual temperature in Addis Ababa is 16 C 60 8 F with daily maximum temperatures averaging 20 25 C 68 0 77 0 F throughout the year and overnight lows averaging 5 10 C 41 0 50 0 F Most major cities and tourist sites in Ethiopia lie at a similar elevation to Addis Ababa and have a comparable climate In less elevated regions particularly the lower lying Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublands in the east of Ethiopia the climate can be significantly hotter and drier Dallol in the Danakil Depression in this eastern zone has the world s highest average annual temperature of 34 C 93 2 F Ethiopia is vulnerable to many of the effects of climate change These include increases in temperature and changes in precipitation Climate change in these forms threatens food security and the economy which is agriculture based 295 Many Ethiopians have been forced to leave their homes and travel as far as the Gulf Southern Africa and Europe 296 Since April 2019 the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has promoted Beautifying Sheger a development project that aims to reduce the negative effects of climate change among other things in the capital city Addis Ababa 297 In the following May the government held Dine for Sheger a fundraising event in order to cover some of the 1 billion needed through the public 298 25 million was raised through the expensive event both through the cost of attending and donations 299 Two Chinese railway companies under the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Ethiopia had supplied funds to develop 12 of the total 56 kilometres 300 Biodiversity Main article Wildlife of EthiopiaSee also Environmental issues in Ethiopia and Deforestation in Ethiopia Mountain nyalas in Bale Mountains National Park one of several wildlife reserves in Ethiopia Ethiopia has 31 endemic species of mammals 301 The African wild dog prehistorically had widespread distribution in the territory However with last sightings at Finicha a this canid is thought to be potentially locally extinct The Ethiopian wolf is perhaps the most researched of all the endangered species within Ethiopia Ethiopia is a global centre of avian diversity To date more than 856 bird species have been recorded in Ethiopia twenty of which are endemic to the country 302 Sixteen species are endangered or critically endangered Many of these birds feed on butterflies like the Bicyclus anynana 303 full citation needed Historically throughout the African continent wildlife populations have been rapidly declining due to logging civil wars pollution poaching and other human factors 304 A 17 year long civil war along with severe drought negatively affected Ethiopia s environmental conditions leading to even greater habitat degradation 305 Habitat destruction is a factor that leads to endangerment When changes to a habitat occur rapidly animals do not have time to adjust Human impact threatens many species with greater threats expected as a result of climate change induced by greenhouse gases 306 With carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 of 6 494 000 tonnes Ethiopia contributes just 0 02 to the annual human caused release of greenhouse gases 307 Ethiopia has many species listed as critically endangered and vulnerable to global extinction The threatened species in Ethiopia can be broken down into three categories based on IUCN ratings critically endangered endangered and vulnerable 301 Ethiopia is one of the eight fundamental and independent centres of origin for cultivated plants in the world 308 However deforestation is a major concern for Ethiopia as studies suggest loss of forest contributes to soil erosion loss of nutrients in the soil loss of animal habitats and reduction in biodiversity At the beginning of the 20th century around 420 000 km2 or 35 of Ethiopia s land was covered by trees but recent research indicates that forest cover is now approximately 11 9 of the area 309 The country had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7 16 10 ranking it 50th globally out of 172 countries 310 Ethiopia loses an estimated 1 410 km2 of natural forests each year due to firewood collection conversion to farmland overgrazing and use of forest wood for building material Between 1990 and 2005 the country lost approximately 21 000 km2 of forests 311 Current government programs to control deforestation consist of education promoting reforestation programs and providing raw materials which are alternatives to timber In rural areas the government also provides non timber fuel sources and access to non forested land to promote agriculture without destroying forest habitat citation needed 312 Organizations such as SOS and Farm Africa are working with the federal government and local governments to create a system of forest management 313 Working with a grant of approximately 2 3 million Euros the Ethiopian government recently began training people on reducing erosion and using proper irrigation techniques that do not contribute to deforestation This project is assisting more than 80 communities citation needed EconomyMain articles Economy of Ethiopia and Industrial sector in Ethiopia See also Foreign aid to Ethiopia Development of GDP per capita A proportional representation of Ethiopia exports 2019 Ethiopia registered the fastest economic growth under Meles Zenawi s administration 314 According to the IMF Ethiopia was one of the fastest growing economies in the world registering over 10 economic growth from 2004 through 2009 315 It was the fastest growing non oil dependent African economy in the years 2007 and 2008 316 In 2015 the World Bank highlighted that Ethiopia had witnessed rapid economic growth with real domestic product GDP growth averaging 10 9 between 2004 and 2014 317 In 2008 and 2011 Ethiopia s growth performance and considerable development gains were challenged by high inflation and a difficult balance of payments situation Inflation surged to 40 in August 2011 because of loose monetary policy large civil service wage increase in early 2011 and high food prices 318 For 2011 12 end year inflation was projected to be about 22 and single digit inflation is projected in 2012 13 with the implementation of tight monetary and fiscal policies 319 In spite of fast growth in recent years GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world and the economy faces a number of serious structural problems However with a focused investment in public infrastructure and industrial parks Ethiopia s economy is addressing its structural problems to become a hub for light manufacturing in Africa 320 In 2019 a law was passed allowing expatriate Ethiopians to invest in Ethiopia s financial service industry 321 The Ethiopian constitution specifies that rights to own land belong only to the state and the people but citizens may lease land for up to 99 years but are unable to mortgage or sell Renting out land for a maximum of twenty years is allowed and this is expected to ensure that land goes to the most productive user Land distribution and administration is considered an area where corruption is institutionalized and facilitation payments as well as bribes are often demanded when dealing with land related issues 322 As there is no land ownership infrastructural projects are most often simply done without asking the land users which then end up being displaced and without a home or land A lot of anger and distrust sometimes results in public protests In addition agricultural productivity remains low and frequent droughts still beset the country also leading to internal displacement 323 Energy and hydropower See also Energy in Ethiopia and List of power stations in Ethiopia Layout of the Grand Renaissance Dam Ethiopia has 14 major rivers flowing from its highlands including the Nile It has the largest water reserves in Africa As of 2012 update hydroelectric plants represented around 88 2 of the total installed electricity generating capacity The remaining electrical power was generated from fossil fuels 8 3 and renewable sources 3 6 The electrification rate for the total population in 2016 was 42 with 85 coverage in urban areas and 26 coverage in rural areas As of 2016 update total electricity production was 11 15 TW h and consumption was 9 062 TW h There were 0 166 TW h of electricity exported 0 kW h imported and 2 784 GW of installed generating capacity 17 Ethiopia delivers roughly 81 of water volume to the Nile through the river basins of the Blue Nile Sobat River and Atbara In 1959 Egypt and Sudan signed a bilateral treaty the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement which gave both countries exclusive maritime rights over the Nile waters Ever since Egypt has discouraged almost all projects in Ethiopia that sought to use the local Nile tributaries This had the effect of discouraging external financing of hydropower and irrigation projects in western Ethiopia thereby impeding water resource based economic development projects However Ethiopia is in the process of constructing a large 6 450 MW hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile river When completed this Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is slated to be the largest hydroelectric power station in Africa 324 The Gibe III hydroelectric project is so far the largest in the country with an installed capacity of 1 870 MW For the year 2017 18 2010 E C this hydroelectric dam generated 4 900 GW h 325 Agriculture Main article Agriculture in Ethiopia Tef field near Mojo Agriculture constitutes around 85 of the labour force However the service sector represents the largest portion of the GDP 17 Many other economic activities depend on agriculture including marketing processing and export of agricultural products Production is overwhelmingly by small scale farmers and enterprises and a large part of commodity exports are provided by the small agricultural cash crop sector Principal crops include coffee legumes oilseeds cereals potatoes sugarcane and vegetables Ethiopia is also a Vavilov centre of diversity for domesticated crops including enset 326 coffee and teff Exports are almost entirely agricultural commodities with the exception of Gold exports and coffee is the largest foreign exchange earner Ethiopia is Africa s second biggest maize producer 327 According to UN estimations the per capita GDP of Ethiopia has reached 357 as of 2011 update 328 Exports Main article Coffee production in Ethiopia Ethiopia Export Treemap from MIT Harvard Economic Complexity Observatory 2014 update Ethiopia is often considered as the birthplace of coffee since cultivation began in the 9th century 329 Exports from Ethiopia in the 2009 2010 financial year totalled US 1 4 billion 330 Ethiopia produces more coffee than any other nation on the continent 331 Coffee provides a livelihood for close to 15 million Ethiopians 16 of the population Farmers in the eastern part of the country where a warming climate is already impacting production have struggled in recent years and many are currently reporting largely failed harvests as a result of a prolonged drought 332 Ethiopia also has the 5th largest inventory of cattle 333 Other main export commodities are khat gold leather products and oilseeds Recent development of the floriculture sector means Ethiopia is poised to become one of the top flower and plant exporters in the world 334 Ethiopian Blessed Coffee branded bags in the United States Coffee is one of main exports of Ethiopia Cross border trade by pastoralists is often informal and beyond state control and regulation In East Africa over 95 of cross border trade is through unofficial channels The unofficial trade of live cattle camels sheep and goats from Ethiopia sold to Somalia Djibouti and Kenya generates an estimated total value of between 250 and US 300 million annually 100 times more than the official figure 335 This trade helps lower food prices increase food security relieve border tensions and promote regional integration 335 However the unregulated and undocumented nature of this trade runs risks such as allowing disease to spread more easily across national borders Furthermore the government of Ethiopia is purportedly unhappy with lost tax revenue and foreign exchange revenues 335 Recent initiatives have sought to document and regulate this trade 335 With the private sector growing slowly designer leather products like bags are becoming a big export business with Taytu becoming the first luxury designer label in the country 336 Additional small scale export products include cereals pulses cotton sugarcane potatoes and hides With the construction of various new dams and growing hydroelectric power projects around the country Ethiopia also plans to export electric power to its neighbours 337 338 Most regard Ethiopia s large water resources and potential as its white oil and its coffee resources as black gold 339 340 Ethiopia also has large mineral resources and oil potential in some of the less inhabited regions Political instability in those regions however has inhibited development Ethiopian geologists were implicated in a major gold swindle in 2008 Four chemists and geologists from the Ethiopian Geological Survey were arrested in connection with a fake gold scandal following complaints from buyers in South Africa Gold bars from the National Bank of Ethiopia were found by police to be gilded metal costing the state around US 17 million according to the Science and Development Network website 341 In 2011 the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project was commenced When completed it will provide surplus energy in Ethiopia which will be available for export to neighbouring countries Transport Main article Transport in Ethiopia Light rail in Addis Ababa Ethiopia Ethiopia has 926 km of electrified 1 435 mm 4 ft 8 1 2 in standard gauge railways 656 km for the Addis Ababa Djibouti Railway between Addis Ababa and the Port of Djibouti via Awash 342 and 270 km for the Awash Hara Gebeya Railway between Addis Ababa and the twin cities of Dessie Kombolcha 343 also via Awash Both railways are either in trial service or still under construction as of August 2017 update Once commissioned and fully operational in 2018 2019 both railways will allow passenger transport with a designated speed of 120 km hour and freight transport with a speed of 80 km hour Expected travel time from Addis Ababa to Djibouti City for passengers would be less than twelve hours and travel time from Addis Ababa to Dessie Kombolcha would be around six hours Beyond the first 270 km of the Awash Hara Gebeya Railway a second construction phase over 120 km foresees the extension of this railway from Dessie Kombolcha to Hara Gebeya Woldiya It is not clear when this section will be built and opened 344 A third northern 216 km long railway is also under construction between Mek ele and Woldiya but it is also not clear when this railway will be commissioned and opened 345 All railways are part of a future railway network of more than 5 000 km of railways the National Railway Network of Ethiopia A Boeing 787 8 of Ethiopian Airlines As the first part of a ten year Road Sector Development Program between 1997 and 2002 the Ethiopian government began a sustained effort to improve its infrastructure of roads As a result as of 2015 update Ethiopia has a total Federal and Regional of 100 000 km of roads both paved and gravel 346 Ethiopia had 58 airports as of 2012 update 17 and 61 as of 2016 update 347 Among these the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa and the Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport in Dire Dawa accommodate international flights Ethiopian Airlines a member of the Star Alliance is the country s flag carrier and is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia 348 From its hub at the Bole International Airport the airline serves a network of 102 international passenger 20 domestic passenger and 44 cargo destinations 349 350 It is also one of the fastest growing carriers in the industry and continent 351 Tourism Main article Tourism in Ethiopia Semien Mountains landscape 2009 Tourism is the most popular economic sector in Ethiopia accounting 5 5 of GDP growth in 2006 In 2015 the European Council named Ethiopia World s Best Tourism Destination 352 In 2020 alone Ethiopia registered 518 000 tourists ranked 126th in the world 353 There are nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia 354 Ruins of Aksum Rock Hewn Churches Lalibela Fasil Ghebbi Gondar Region Harar Jugol the Fortified Historic Town Konso Cultural Landscape Lower Valley of the Awash Lower Valley of the Omo Tiya Simien Mountains National ParkDemographicsMain article Demographics of Ethiopia See also Ethiopians and List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world 355 Its total population has grown from 38 1 million in 1983 to 109 5 million in 2018 356 The population was only about nine million in the 19th century 357 The 2007 Population and Housing Census results show that the population of Ethiopia grew at an average annual rate of 2 6 between 1994 and 2007 down from 2 8 during the period 1983 1994 Currently the population growth rate is among the top ten countries in the world The population is forecast to grow to over 210 million by 2060 which would be an increase from 2011 estimates by a factor of about 2 5 358 According to UN estimations life expectancy had improved substantially in recent years with male life expectancy reported to be 56 years and for women 60 years 328 Ethnic groups in EthiopiaEthnic group PopulationOromo 25 4 34 4 Amhara 19 9 27 0 Somali 4 59 6 2 Tigrayans 4 49 6 1 Sidama 2 95 4 0 Gurage 1 86 2 5 Welayta 1 68 2 3 Afar 1 28 1 7 Hadiya 1 27 1 7 Gamo 1 10 1 5 Others 9 30 12 6 Population in millions according to 2007 Census 6 Ethiopia s population is highly diverse containing over 80 different ethnic groups the four largest of which are the Oromo Amhara Somali and Tigrayans According to the Ethiopian national census of 2007 the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia at 34 4 of the nation s population The Amhara represent 27 0 of the country s inhabitants while Somalis and Tigrayans represent 6 2 and 6 1 of the population respectively Other prominent ethnic groups are as follows Sidama 4 0 Gurage 2 5 Welayta 2 3 Afar 1 7 Hadiya 1 7 Gamo 1 5 and Others 12 6 6 Afroasiatic speaking communities make up the majority of the population Among these Semitic speakers often collectively refer to themselves as the Habesha people The Arabic form of this term al Ḥabasha is the etymological basis of Abyssinia the former name of Ethiopia in English and other European languages 359 Additionally Nilo Saharan speaking ethnic minorities inhabit the southern regions of the country particularly in areas of the Gambela Region which borders South Sudan The largest ethnic groups among these include the Nuer and Anuak In addition Ethiopia had over 75 000 Italian settlers during the Italian occupation of the country 360 After independence many Italians remained for decades after receiving full pardons from Emperor Selassie as he saw the opportunity to continue modernization efforts 361 However due to the Ethiopian Civil War in 1974 nearly 22 000 Italo Ethiopians left the country 361 In the 2000s some Italian companies returned to operate in Ethiopia and many Italian technicians and managers arrived with their families residing mainly in the metropolitan area of the capital 362 In 2009 Ethiopia hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 135 200 The majority of this population came from Somalia approximately 64 300 persons Eritrea 41 700 and Sudan 25 900 The Ethiopian government required nearly all refugees to live in refugee camps 363 Languages Main article Languages of Ethiopia Languages of Ethiopia as of 2007 update Census 6 Oromo 33 8 Amharic 29 3 Somali 6 2 Tigrinya 5 9 Sidamo 4 0 Wolaytta 2 2 Gurage 2 0 Afar 1 7 Hadiyya 1 7 Gamo 1 5 others 11 6 According to Ethnologue there are 90 individual languages spoken in Ethiopia 364 Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches The former includes Oromo language spoken by the Oromo and Somali spoken by the Somalis the latter includes Amharic spoken by the Amhara and Tigrinya spoken by the Tigrayans Together these four groups make up about three quarters of Ethiopia s population Other Afroasiatic languages with a significant number of speakers include the Cushitic Sidamo Afar Hadiyya and Agaw languages as well as the Semitic Gurage languages Harari Silt e and Argobba languages 6 Arabic which also belongs to the Afroasiatic family is likewise spoken in some areas 365 Additionally Omotic languages are spoken by Omotic ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions Among these idioms are Aari Bench Dime Dizin Gamo Gofa Dawro Maale Hamer and Wolaytta 6 Languages from the Nilo Saharan family are also spoken by ethnic minorities concentrated in the southwestern parts of the country These languages include Nuer Anuak Nyangatom Majang Suri Me en and Mursi 6 English is the most widely spoken foreign language the medium of instruction in secondary schools and all tertiary education federal laws are also published in British English in the Federal Negarit Gazeta including the 1995 constitution 366 Amharic was the language of primary school instruction but has been replaced in many areas by regional languages such as Oromo Somali or Tigrinya 367 While all languages enjoy equal state recognition in the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia and Oromo is the most populous language by native speakers Amharic is the most populous by number of total speakers 184 The various regions of Ethiopia and chartered cities are free to determine their own working languages 367 Amharic is recognised as the official working language of Amhara Region Benishangul Gumuz Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region Gambela Region Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa 368 Oromo language serves as the official working language and the primary language of education in the Oromia 17 Harar and Dire Dawa and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region Somali is the official working language of Somali Region and Dire Dawa while Afar 369 Harari 370 and Tigrinya 371 are recognized as official working languages in their respective regions Recently the Ethiopian Government announced that Afar Amharic Oromo Somali and Tigrinya are adopted as official federal working languages of Ethiopia 1 2 Italian is still spoken by some parts of the population mostly among the older generation and is taught in some schools most notably the Istituto Statale Italiano Omnicomprensivo di Addis Abeba Amharic and Tigrinya have both borrowed some words from the Italian language 372 373 Script Ethiopia s principal orthography is the Ge ez script Employed as an abugida for several of the country s languages it first came into usage in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE as an abjad to transcribe the Semitic Ge ez language 374 Ge ez now serves as the liturgical language of both the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches During the 1980s the Ethiopic character set was computerized It is today part of the Unicode standard as Ethiopic Ethiopic Extended Ethiopic Supplement and Ethiopic Extended A Other writing systems have also been used over the years by different Ethiopian communities The latter include Bakri Sapalo s script for Oromo 375 Religion Main article Religion in Ethiopia Religion in Ethiopia 2016 estimate 376 Ethiopian Orthodoxy 43 8 P ent ay 22 8 Other Christian 0 7 Islam 31 3 Traditional faiths 0 6 Other 0 8 Ethiopia has close historical ties with all three of the world s major Abrahamic religions In the 4th century the Ethiopian empire was one of the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion As a result of the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the Miaphysites 377 which included the vast majority of Christians in Egypt and Ethiopia were accused of monophysitism and designated as heretics under the common name of Coptic Christianity see Oriental Orthodoxy While no longer distinguished as a state religion the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church remains the majority Christian denomination There is also a substantial Muslim demographic representing around a third of the population Ethiopia was the destination of the First Hijrah a major emigration in Islamic history A town in the Tigray Region Negash is the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa The subterranean rock hewn Church of Saint George in Lalibela is a UNESCO World Heritage Site According to the 2007 National Census Christians make up 62 8 of the country s population 43 5 Ethiopian Orthodox 19 3 other denominations Muslims 33 9 practitioners of traditional faiths 2 6 and other religions 0 6 6 The ratio of the Christian to Muslim population has largely remained stable when compared to previous censuses conducted decades ago 378 Sunnis form the majority of Muslims with non denominational Muslims being the second largest group of Muslims and the Shia and Ahmadiyyas are a minority Sunnis are largely Shafi is or Salafis and there are also many Sufi Muslims there 379 The large Muslim population in the northern Afar region has resulted in a Muslim separatist movement called the Islamic State of Afaria seeking a sharia compliant constitution 380 Some critics asserted that the Haile Selassie regime had been fabricating the census to present Ethiopia as a Christian country to the outside world stating that Islam made up 50 of the total population in 1991 based on the 1984 census commissioned by the Derg regime 381 Several Muslim observers and bloggers claim that Muslims are in the majority and disagree with the above census numbers without providing factual data supporting their claims 382 The Kingdom of Axum was one of the first polities to officially embrace Christianity when Frumentius of Tyre called Fremnatos or Abba Selama Father of Peace in Ethiopia converted Emperor Ezana during the 4th century 73 383 According to the New Testament Christianity had entered Ethiopia even earlier when an official in the Ethiopian royal treasury was baptized by Philip the Evangelist 384 Orthodox priests dancing during the celebration of Timkat source source source source source source source source Emperor Haile Selassie I seen celebrating the finding of the cross at Meskel Sqaure 1971 The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is part of Oriental Orthodoxy It is by far the largest Christian denomination although a number of P ent ay Protestant churches have recently gained ground Since 1930 a relatively small Ethiopian Catholic Church has existed in full communion with Rome with adherents making up less than 1 of the total population 378 385 A mosque in Bahir Dar Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion in 622 when a group of Muslims were counselled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca The disciples subsequently migrated to Abyssinia via modern day Eritrea which was at the time ruled by Ashama ibn Abjar a pious Christian emperor 383 Also the largest single ethnic group of non Arab Sahabah was that of the Ethiopians citation needed According to the 2007 Population and Housing Census around 1 957 944 people in Ethiopia are adherents of traditional religions An additional 471 861 residents practice other creeds 6 While followers of all religions can be found in each region they tend to be concentrated in certain parts of the country Christians predominantly live in the northern Amhara and Tigray regions and are largely members of the non Chalcedonian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Those belonging to P ent ay predominate in the regions of Oromia and the SNNP Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region Muslims in Ethiopia predominantly adhere to Sunni Islam and generally inhabit eastern and northeastern areas particularly the Somali Afar Dire Dawa and Harari regions Practitioners of traditional religions mainly reside in the nation s far southwestern and western rural borderlands in the SNNP Benishangul Gumuz and Gambela regions 6 383 Until the 1980s a substantial population of Beta Israel ቤተ እስራኤል ביתא ישראל Ethiopian Jews resided in Ethiopia 383 386 About 4 000 Jews who claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel are estimated to still live in Ethiopia along with many more members of two related ethno religious groups the Falash Mura and the Beta Abraham The Falash Mura are Beta Israel who while identifying as Jews adopted elements of Christianity due to missionary efforts and now practice a syncretic form of Ethiopian Judaism mixed with Christianity they number about 150 000 people The Beta Abraham are regarded as a medieval offshoot of the Beta Israel having incorporated elements of traditional African religion and number about 8 000 While both still identify as Beta Israel they exist outside the main community The official Beta Israel community leaders tentatively accept the Falash Mura and have requested they be allowed to migrate to Israel The Beta Abraham have historically been shunned by most other communities having had a reputation of being sorcerers In certain Ethiopian towns and villages such as Wolleka near the Ethiopian city of Gondar the concentration of Ethiopian Jews is still significant but the US now has a significantly greater numbers of Ethiopian Jews than that of Ethiopia Human rights groups have regularly accused the government of arresting activists journalists and bloggers to stamp out dissent among some religious communities Lengthy prison terms were handed to 17 Muslim activists on 3 August 2015 ranging from seven to 22 years They were charged with trying to create an Islamic state in the majority Christian country All the defendants denied the charges and claimed that they were merely protesting in defence of their rights 387 388 389 Urbanization Main article List of cities and towns in Ethiopia Street in Addis Ababa Population growth migration and urbanization are all straining both governments and ecosystems capacity to provide people with basic services 390 Urbanization has steadily been increasing in Ethiopia with two periods of significantly rapid growth First in 1936 1941 during the Italian occupation under Mussolini s fascist government and then from 1967 to 1975 when the populations of urban areas tripled 391 In 1936 Italy annexed Ethiopia building infrastructure to connect major cities and a dam providing power and water 145 This along with the influx of Italians and labourers was the major cause of rapid growth during this period The second period of growth was from 1967 to 1975 when rural populations migrated to towns seeking work and better living conditions 391 This pattern slowed due to the 1975 Land Reform program instituted by the government which provided incentives for people to stay in rural areas As people moved from rural areas to the cities there were fewer people to grow food for the population The Land Reform Act was meant to increase agriculture since food production was not keeping up with population growth over the period of 1970 1983 This program encouraged the formation of peasant associations large villages based on agriculture The legislation did lead to an increase in food production although there is debate over the cause it may be related to weather conditions more than the reform 392 Urban populations have continued to grow with an 8 1 increase from 1975 to 2000 393 vte Largest cities or towns in Ethiopia CSA Urban population projection values of 2016 394 Rank Name Region Pop Rank Name Region Pop Addis Ababa Gondar 1 Addis Ababa Addis Ababa 3 352 000 11 Shashamane Oromia 154 587 Mek ele Adama2 Gondar Amhara 341 991 12 Bishoftu Oromia 153 8473 Mek ele Tigray 340 858 13 Sodo SNNPR 253 3224 Adama Oromia 338 940 14 Arba Minch SNNPR 151 0135 Hawassa SNNPR 318 618 15 Hosaena SNNPR 141 3526 Bahir Dar Amhara 297 794 16 Harar Harari 133 0007 Dire Dawa Dire Dawa 285 000 17 Dila SNNPR 119 2768 Dessie Amhara 198 428 18 Nekemte Oromia 115 7419 Jimma Oromia 186 148 19 Debre Birhan Amhara 107 82710 Jijiga Somali 164 321 20 Asella Oromia 103 522 Rural and urban life Main article Rural flight in Ethiopia Gondar skyline Migration to urban areas is usually motivated by the hope of better lives In peasant associations daily life is a struggle to survive About 16 of the population in Ethiopia lives on less than one dollar per day 2008 Only 65 of rural households in Ethiopia consume the World Health Organization s WHO s minimum standard of food per day 2 200 kilocalories with 42 of children under 5 years old being underweight 395 Most poor families 75 share their sleeping quarters with livestock and 40 of children sleep on the floor where nighttime temperatures average 5 degrees Celsius in the cold season 395 The average family size is six or seven living in a 30 square metre mud and thatch hut with less than two hectares of land to cultivate 395 Rural area in the Simien Mountains National Park The peasant associations face a cycle of poverty Since the landholdings are so small farmers cannot allow the land to lie fallow which reduces soil fertility 395 This land degradation reduces the production of fodder for livestock which causes low milk yields 395 Since the community burns livestock manure as fuel rather than plowing the nutrients back into the land the crop production is reduced 395 The low productivity of agriculture leads to inadequate incomes for farmers hunger malnutrition and disease These unhealthy farmers have difficulty working the land and the productivity drops further 395 Although conditions are drastically better in cities all of Ethiopia suffers from poverty and poor sanitation However poverty in Ethiopia fell from 44 to 29 6 during 2000 2011 according to the World Bank 396 In the capital city of Addis Ababa 55 of the population used to live in slums 145 Now however a construction boom in both the private and the public sector has led to a dramatic improvement in living standards in major cities particularly in Addis Ababa Notably government built condominium housing complexes have sprung up throughout the city benefiting close to 600 000 individuals 397 Sanitation is the most pressing need in the city with most of the population lacking access to waste treatment facilities This contributes to the spread of illness through unhealthy water 145 Street scene in Adigrat Despite the living conditions in the cities the people of Addis Ababa are much better off than people living in the peasant associations owing to their educational opportunities Unlike rural children 69 of urban children are enrolled in primary school and 35 of those are eligible to attend secondary school clarification needed 145 Addis Ababa has its own university as well as many other secondary schools The literacy rate is 82 145 Many NGOs Non Governmental Organizations are working to solve this problem however most are far apart uncoordinated and working in isolation 393 The Sub Saharan Africa NGO Consortium is attempting to coordinate efforts 393 Health Main article Health in EthiopiaFurther information Child marriage in Ethiopia and Polygamy in Ethiopia Declining child mortality in Sub Saharan Africa and Ethiopia since 1950 The World Health Organization s 2006 World Health Report gives a figure of 1 936 physicians for 2003 398 which comes to about 2 6 per 100 000 A brain drain associated with globalization is said to affect the country with many educated professionals leaving Ethiopia for better economic opportunities in the West Ethiopia s main health problems are said to be communicable contagious diseases worsened by poor sanitation and malnutrition Over 44 million people nearly half the population do not have access to clean water 399 These problems are exacerbated by the shortage of trained doctors and nurses and health facilities 400 The state of public health is considerably better in the cities Birth rates infant mortality rates and death rates are lower in cities than in rural areas due to better access to education medicines and hospitals 145 Life expectancy is better in cities compared to rural areas but there have been significant improvements witnessed throughout the country in recent years the average Ethiopian living to be 62 2 years old according to a UNDP report 401 Despite sanitation being a problem use of improved water sources is also on the rise 81 in cities compared to 11 in rural areas 393 As in other parts of Africa there has been a steady migration of people towards the cities in hopes of better living conditions In early 2005 update the WHO reported that Ethiopia had 119 hospitals 12 in Addis Ababa and 412 health centres 402 Infant mortality rates are relatively high as 41 infants die per 1 000 live births 403 Ethiopia has been able to reduce under five mortality by two thirds one of the Millennium Development Goals since 1990 402 failed verification Although this is a dramatic decrease birth related complications such as obstetric fistula affect many of the nation s women 404 HIV AIDS in Ethiopia stood at 1 1 in 2014 a dramatic decrease from 4 5 15 years ago citation needed The most affected are poor communities and women due to lack of health education empowerment awareness and lack of social well being The government of Ethiopia and many international organizations like World Health Organization WHO and the United Nations are launching campaigns and are working aggressively to improve Ethiopia s health conditions and promote health awareness on AIDS and other communicable diseases 405 An Ethiopian girl about to receive her measles vaccine Ethiopia has a relatively high infant and maternal mortality rate Although Ethiopia did not meet the MDG target of reducing maternal mortality rate by two thirds in 2015 there are improvements nonetheless For instance the contraception prevalence rate increased from 8 1 in 2000 to 41 8 in 2014 and Antenatal care service coverage increase from 29 to an astounding 98 1 in the same period citation needed Currently the maternal mortality rate stands at 420 per 100 000 live births citation needed Only a minority of Ethiopians are born in hospitals while most are born in rural households Those who are expected to give birth at home have elderly women serve as midwives who assist with the delivery 406 The WHO estimates that a majority of maternal fatalities and disabilities could be prevented if deliveries were to take place at well equipped health centres with adequately trained staff 407 Community health care workers The low availability of health care professionals with modern medical training together with lack of funds for medical services leads to the preponderance of less reliable traditional healers that use home based therapies to heal common ailments One common cultural practice irrespective of religion or economic status is female genital mutilation FGM also known as female genital cutting FGC a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non medical reasons 408 The practice was made illegal in Ethiopia in 2004 409 FGM is a pre marital custom mainly endemic to Northeast Africa and parts of the Near East that has its ultimate origins in Ancient Egypt 410 411 Encouraged by women in the community it is primarily intended to deter promiscuity and to offer protection from assault 412 Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital Ethiopia has a high prevalence of FGM but prevalence is lower among young girls Ethiopia s 2005 Demographic and Health Survey EDHS noted that the national prevalence rate is 74 among women ages 15 49 413 The practice is almost universal in the regions of Dire Dawa Somali and Afar In the Oromo and Harari regions more than 80 of girls and women undergo the procedure FGC is least prevalent in the regions of Tigray and Gambela where 29 and 27 of girls and women respectively are affected 414 According to a 2010 study performed by the Population Reference Bureau Ethiopia has a prevalence rate of 81 among women ages 35 to 39 and 62 among women ages 15 19 415 A 2014 UNICEF report found that only 24 of girls under 14 had undergone FGM 416 Male circumcision is also practised in the country and about 76 of Ethiopia s male population is reportedly circumcised 417 The Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia is signatory to various international conventions and treaties that protect the rights of women and children Its constitution provides for the fundamental rights and freedoms for women There is an attempt being made to raise the social and economic status of women through eliminating all legal and customary practices which hinder women s equal participation in society and undermine their social status The National Mental Health Strategy published in 2012 introduced the development of policy designed to improve mental health care in Ethiopia This strategy mandated that mental health be integrated into the primary health care system 418 However the success of the National Mental Health Strategy has been limited For example the burden of depression is estimated to have increased 34 2 from 2007 to 2017 419 Furthermore the prevalence of stigmatizing attitudes inadequate leadership and co ordination of efforts as well as a lack of mental health awareness in the general population all remain as obstacles to successful mental health care 420 Education Main article Education in Ethiopia See also Higher education in Ethiopia Entrance of Addis Ababa University Educational system of Ethiopia was dominated by the Orthodox Tewahedo Church since the Axumite Christian era in 330 CE An ancient form of Ethiopian Christian education was conducted by clergymen with highly emphasized its dogma Graduation of students leads to earning priesthood and intellectual elite known as debtera 421 Modern education was introduced in 1908 when Emperor Menelik II opened the first school in Addis Ababa Menelik II School 422 In addition Emperor Haile Selassie also contributed to open the first university Addis Ababa University founded in 1950 after it was renamed Haile Selassie I University until 1975 More recently the government is improving numerous regional universities and facilities 423 Plants in a laboratory of Ethio Parents School in Addis Ababa The current system follows school expansion schemes which are very similar to the system in the rural areas during the 1980s with an addition of deeper regionalization providing rural education in students own languages starting at the elementary level and with more budgetary financing allocated to the education sector Public education is free at primary levels and usually offers between age 7 and 12 The sequence of general education in Ethiopia is six years of primary school then four years of lower secondary school followed by two years of higher secondary school 424 The Ethiopian education is governed by Ministry of Education and its cycle consists 4 4 2 2 system elementary education consists of eight years divided into two cycles of four years and four years of secondary education divided into two stages of two years 425 National exams are conducted by the National Education Assessment and Examination Agency NEAEA Since 2018 there are two national exams the Ethiopian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination EGSECE also known as Grade 10 national exam and Grade 12 national exam 426 Today there are 30 public universities Prior to 1991 Ethiopia did not have tertiary institution but now there are 61 accredited private HEIs The overall number of tertiary students in both public and private institutions exploded by more than 2 000 percent from 34 000 in 1991 to 757 000 in 2014 per UIS data 352 Access to education in Ethiopia has improved significantly Approximately three million people were in primary school in 1994 95 but by 2008 09 primary enrolment had risen to 15 5 million an increase of over 500 427 In 2013 14 Ethiopia had witnessed a significant boost in gross enrolment across all regions 428 The national GER was 104 8 for boys 97 8 for girls and 101 3 across both sexes 429 The literacy rate has increased in recent years according to the 1994 census the literacy rate in Ethiopia was 23 4 364 In 2007 it was estimated to be 39 male 49 1 and female 28 9 430 A report by UNDP in 2011 showed that the literacy rate in Ethiopia was 46 7 The same report also indicated that the female literacy rate had increased from 27 to 39 per cent from 2004 to 2011 and the male literacy rate had increased from 49 to 59 per cent over the same period for persons 10 years and older 431 By 2015 the literacy rate had further increased to 49 1 57 2 male and 41 1 female 432 CultureMain article Culture of Ethiopia An Ethiopian woman roasting coffee beans in a coffee house The coffee serving ceremony is the most important course in Ethiopia 433 Ethiopia s rich and diverse culture heavily influenced by the local population an interaction of Semitic Cushitic and less populous Nilo Saharan speaking people which evolved from first millennium BCE Semitic Tigrayans and Amharas who dominated the politics in the past distinguished from other population by hierarchical structure and agrarian life derived partly from South Arabia as a result of back migration while the southern Cushitic Oromo and Somali are strong adherents to egalitarianism and pastoral life Others including Kaffa Sidamo and Afar tradition derived from the latter people 434 The most common recognized culture observed in coffee ceremony Unlike most countries coffee is served in presence of social gathering in family friend or neighborhood level There are three rounds of coffee drinking the first one called awol Tigrinya ኣዎል the second tona ቶና and the third baraka ባርካ The tradition of coffee legend goes back to Kaldi a goat herder from Keffa Zone who noticed his goat was caught up with hysteria after they eat shrub that stimulate them to dance uncontrollably with rampant After holding berries he was advised exhibit to priests in nearby monastery One monk called the generosity of Kaldi the Devil work and tossed to the fire generating aromatic odor The legend told that Kaldi lived in 850 CE commonly associated with belief of starting coffee cultivation in Ethiopia in the 9th century 329 Arts Main article Ethiopian art Alwan Codex 27 Ethiopian biblical manuscript Illustration showing two Aksumite scribes Arts of Ethiopia were largely influenced by Christian iconography throughout much of its history This consisted of illuminated manuscripts painting crosses icons and other metalwork such as crowns Most historical arts were commissioned by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church the state religion for a millennium The earlier Aksumite period arts were stone carvings as evidenced in their stelae though there is no surviving Christian art from this era As Christianity was introduced its iconography was partly influenced by Byzantine art Most remaining arts beyond the early modern period were ruined as a result of invasion of the Adal Sultanate in the Ethiopian Highlands but were revived by Catholic emissaries The Western intervention in Ethiopian art began in the 20th century with also maintaining traditional Ethiopian character citation needed Architecture Main article Architecture of Ethiopia The Royal Enclosure at Fasil Ghebbi Gondar Perhaps the most impressive architecture in antiquity was founded during Dʿmt period Ashlar masonry was an archetype of South Arabian architecture with most architectural structure similarity 435 The Aksumite continued to flourish its architecture around the 4th century CE Aksumite stelae commonly used single block and rocks The Tomb of the False Door built for Aksumite emperors used monolithic style 436 The Lalibela civilization was largely of Aksumite influence but the layer of stones or wood is quite different for some dwelling 437 In Gondarine period the architecture of Ethiopia was infused by Baroque Arab Turkish and Gujarati Indian styles independently taught by Portuguese emissaries in the 16th and 17th centuries Example includes the imperial fortress Fasil Ghebbi which is influenced by either of these styles The medieval architecture also forborne the later 19th and 20th century era of designations 438 Philosophy Main article Ethiopian philosophy Ethiopian philosophy has been superlatively prolific since ancient times in Africa though offset of Greek and Patristic philosophy The best known philosophical revival was in the early modern period figures such as Zera Yacob 1599 1692 and his student Walda Heywat who wrote Hatata Inquiry in 1667 as an argument for the existence of God Literature Main article Ethiopian literature Giyorgis of Segla prolific religious author in the Late Middle Ages The Ethiopian literature traced back to the Aksumite period in the 4th century most of them are merely religious motifs In royal inscription they employed both Ge ez and Greek language but the latter was dismissed in 350 Unlike most Sub Saharan African countries Ethiopia has ancient distinct language the Ge ez which dominated political and educational aspects In spite of the current political instability in the country instigates endangering cultural heritage of these works some improvements are made for preservation in recent years 439 The Ethiopian literary works mostly consisted of handwritten codex branna or ብራና in Amharic It is prepared by gathering parchment leaves and sewing to stick together The codex size is considerably varies depending on volumes and preparation For example pocket size codex lengthens 45 cm which is heavier in weight Historians speculated that archaic codex is existed in Ethiopia Today manuscripts resembling primitive codex are still evident for existence where parchment leaves are convenient for writing 439 Another notable writing book is protective or magic scroll serving as written amulet Some of these were intended for magical purpose for example ketab is used for magical defence Scrolls typically produced by debtera non ordained clergy expertise on exorcism and healings About 30 cm scroll is portable whereas 2 cm is often unrolled and hanged to the wall of house Scrolls emulating original medium of Ethiopia literature is highly disputed where there is overwhelming evidence that Ge ez language books were written in codex In lesser Ethiopia used accordion books called sensul which was dated to late 15th or 16th century made up of folded parchment paper with or without cover Those book usually contain pictorial representation of life and death of religious figures or significant texts have also juxtaposed 439 Poetry Tsegaye Gebre Medhin in 1980s Ethiopia is highly popularized in poetry Most poets recount past events social unrests poverty and famine Qene is the most used element of Ethiopian poetry regarded as a form of Amharic poetry though the term generally refers to any poems True qene requires advanced ingenious mindset By providing two metaphorical words i e one with obvious clues and the other is too convoluted conundrum one must answer parallel meanings Thus this is called sem ena work gold and wax 440 The most notable poets are Tsegaye Gebre Medhin Kebede Michael and Mengistu Lemma Calendar Main articles Ethiopian calendar and Oromo calendar Model commemorating the Obelisk of Aksum s return to Ethiopia from Italy showing the date of its departure and return according to the Ethiopian calendar Ethiopia has several local calendars The most widely known is the Ethiopian calendar also known as the Ge ez calendar and written with the ancient Ge ez script one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world 441 It is based on the older Alexandrian or Coptic calendar which in turn derives from the Egyptian calendar Like the Coptic calendar the Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of exactly 30 days each plus five or six epagomenal days which form a thirteenth month The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar but their names are in Ge ez citation needed Like the Julian calendar the sixth epagomenal day which in essence is a leap day is added every four years without exception on 29 August of the Julian calendar six months before the Julian leap day Thus the first day of the Ethiopian year 1 Maskaram for years between 1901 and 2099 inclusive is usually 11 September Gregorian but falls on 12 September in years before the Gregorian leap year It is approximately seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar because of an alternate calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation of Jesus citation needed Another calendrical system was developed around 300 BCE by the Oromo people A lunar stellar calendar this Oromo calendar relies on astronomical observations of the moon in conjunction with seven particular stars or constellations Oromo months stars lunar phases are Bittottessa Iangulum Camsa Pleiades Bufa Aldebarran Waxabajjii Belletrix Obora Gudda Central Orion Saiph Obora Dikka Sirius Birra full moon Cikawa gibbous moon Sadasaa quarter moon Abrasa large crescent Ammaji medium crescent and Gurrandala small crescent 442 Cuisine Main article Ethiopian cuisine See also List of Ethiopian dishes and foods Typical Ethiopian cuisine injera pancake like bread and several kinds of wat stew The best known Ethiopian cuisine consists of various types of thick meat stews known as wat in Ethiopian culture and vegetable side dishes served on top of injera a large sourdough flatbread made of teff flour This is not eaten with utensils but instead the injera is used to scoop up the entrees and side dishes Almost universally in Ethiopia it is common to eat from the same dish in the middle of the table with a group of people It is also a common custom to feed others within a group or own hands a tradition referred to as gursha 443 Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork or shellfish of any kind as both are forbidden in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Islamic and Jewish faiths Chechebsa Marqa Chukko Michirra and Dhanga are the most popular dishes from the Oromo Kitfo which originated among the Gurage is one of the country s most popular delicacies In addition Doro Wot ዶሮ ወጥ in Amharic and Tsebehi Derho ጽብሒ ድርሆ in Tigrinya are other popular dishes originating from northwestern Ethiopia citation needed Tihlo ጥሕሎ which is a type of dumpling is prepared from roasted barley flour and originated in the Tigray Region Tihlo is now very popular in Amhara and spreading further south 444 Holidays Main article Public holidays in Ethiopia Meskel commemorates the discovery of True Cross by Roman queen Helena in 326 CE Most holidays are belonged to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and secondly of Islam Secular holidays espouse national or historical chronicles Secular holidays are follows with date of celebration Adwa Victory Day 2 March International Workers Day 1 May Ethiopian Patriots Victory Day 5 May Downfall of the Derg 28 May Enkutatash 11 September or 12 September leap year Nations Nationalities and Peoples Day 8 December Ethiopian Orthodox holidays are Ethiopian Christmas 7 January Timkat 19 January Good Friday Easter Meskel 27 September or 28 September leap year Islamic holidays are Ramadan Mawlid Eid al Fitr Eid al AdhaMedia Main articles Communications in Ethiopia and Media in Ethiopia The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation headquarter in Addis Ababa The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation EBC formerly known as ETV is the state media Radio broadcasting was commenced earlier in 1935 before the television service began in 1962 with assistance of British firm Thomson and Emperor Haile Selassie 3 Since 2015 EBC has upgraded its studios with modernized transmission Kana TV is the most popular TV channel in Ethiopia 445 It is mainly known for dubbing foreign content into Amharic Over several decades the state television has served as the major mass media until in the late 2000s when EBS TV launched as the first private television channel Moreover numerous private channels were commenced in 2016 culminating in the growth of privately owned media companies in the country As an example Fana TV has been the largest TV network since its launch in 2017 The most widely circulated newspapers in Ethiopia are Addis Fortune Capital Ethiopia Ethiopian Reporter Addis Zemen citation needed Amharic and Ethiopian Herald citation needed The sole internet service provider is the national telecommunications firm Ethio telecom A large portion of users in the country access the internet through mobile devices 446 As of July 2016 update there are around 4 29 million people who have internet access at their home as compared to a quarter of a million users a decade before that 447 The Ethiopian government has at times intentionally shut down internet service in the country or restricted access to certain social media sites during periods of political unrest In August 2016 following protest and demonstration in the Oromia Region all access to the internet was shut down for a period of two days 448 In June 2017 the government shut down access to the internet for mobile users during a period that coincided with the administration of university entrance examination Although the reason for the restriction was not confirmed by the government 446 the move was similar to a measure taken during the same period in 2016 after a leak of test questions 449 450 Science and technology Main article Science and technology in Ethiopia See also List of Ethiopian scientists Pathobiologist Aklilu Lemma In 1964 he discovered an alternative treatment for schistosomiasis known as snail fever 451 Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged in 2013 He was best known for discovering fossilized hominin called Selam or Lucy s baby in December 2000 452 Science and technology in Ethiopia emerging as progressive due to lack of organized institutions Manufacturing and service providers often place themselves in competitive programming in order to advance innovative and technological solutions through in house arenas The Ethiopian Space Science and Technology is responsible for conducting multifaceted tasks regarding space and technology In addition Ethiopia also launched 70 kg ET RSS1 multi spectral remote sensing satellite in December 2019 The President Sahle Work Zewde told prior in October 2019 that the satellite will provide all the necessary data on changes in climate and weather related phenomena that would be used for the country s key targets in agriculture forestry as well as natural resources protection initiatives By January 2020 satellite manufacturing assembling integrating and testing began This would also incremented facility built by French company funded by European Investment Bank EIB The main observatory Entoto Observatory and Space Science Research Center EORC allocated space programmes The Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute is a part of Scientific Research amp Development Services Industry responsible for environmental and climate conservation 453 Numerous profound scientists have contributed degree of honours and reputations Some are Kitaw Ejigu Mulugeta Bekele Aklilu Lemma Gebisa Ejeta and Melaku Worede Ethiopia is known for use of traditional medicine since millennia The first epidemic occurred in Ethiopia was in 849 causing the Aksumite Emperor Abba Yohannes evicted from place due to God s punishment for misdeeds The first traditional medicine was claimed to be derived from this catastrophe but the exact source is debated Though differ from ethnic groups traditional medicine often implements herbs spiritual healing bone setting and minor surgical procedures in treating disease 454 Others fields include conventional mathematics used to measure astrology calendar and unit of measurement Ethiopia was ranked 126th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021 455 Music Main article Music of Ethiopia See also Ethiopian Golden Age of music Aksumite composer Yared credited as forebear of traditional music for both Ethiopia and Eritrea The music of Ethiopia is extremely diverse with each of the country s 80 ethnic groups being associated with unique sounds Ethiopian music uses a distinct modal system that is pentatonic with characteristically long intervals between some notes As with many other aspects of Ethiopian culture and tradition tastes in music and lyrics are strongly linked with those in neighbouring Eritrea Somalia Djibouti and Sudan 456 457 Traditional singing in Ethiopia presents diverse styles of polyphony heterophony drone imitation and counterpoint Traditionally lyricism in Ethiopian song writing is strongly associated with views of patriotism or national pride romance friendship and a unique type of memoire known as tizita Saint Yared a 6th century Aksumite composer is widely regarded as the forerunner of traditional music of Eritrea and Ethiopia creating liturgical music of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church He also composed Zema subdivided into three chants Ge ez Ezel and Araray Yared life thought to have been failure and success where his was poor performance in education Yared then fired from the school and went to his uncle birthplace Murade Qal There his saw caterpillar endeavours to reach a tree s peak He epitomized to his real life and returned to the school with good spirit later became prominent to political sphere During the remaining of his lifetime he was a friend of Aksumite Emperor Gebre Meskel and the exiled Nine Saints 458 Modern music traced back to the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie where 40 Armenian orphans called Arba Lijoch arrived from Jerusalem to Addis Ababa By 1924 the band was almost established as orchestral but after World War II several similar bands emerged such as Imperial Bodyguard Band Army Band and Police Band 459 Mahmoud Ahmed performing in 2005 In the 1960s and 1970s traditional infused modern Ethiopian music was revived in what is known as the Golden Age Several notable musical artists emerged thereafter for example Tilahun Gessesse Alemayehu Eshete Bizunesh Bekele Muluken Melesse and Mahmoud Ahmed It also employed tradition style called tizita During the Derg regime these artists were prohibited to perform in the country and often forced into exile in North America and Europe mixing with jazz and funk influences For example Roha Band Walias Band and Ethio Stars By this time Neway Debebe was critical of the Derg government 440 Modern music became developed shortly in the 1990s and 2000s In this period the most popular artists were Aster Aweke Gigi and Teddy Afro Ethiopian music further modernized in the next decade employing electronic type and more popular DJ Rophnan was renowned for pioneering EDM after releasing his debut album Reflection in 2018 440 Cinema Main article Cinema of Ethiopia Hager Fikir Theatre in April 2006 The first cinema was introduced in 1898 three years after the first world film was projected Cinematic artifacts ascribed by Italian minister Federico Ciccodicola it which then offered to Emperor Menelik II The early 20th century appearance with spectacle was around 1909 and embraced by documentary or biographical films Au de Menilek was the first film directed by Charles Martel The first 16mm black and white film dedicated to coronation of Emperor Zewditu then coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie was filmed The 1990s saw international booming of Ethiopian films The most influential people in this era were Haile Gerima Salem Mekuria Yemane Demissie and Teshome Gabriel Films began modernized in the 2000s and implemented Amharic language The most internationally grossed films are Selanchi Difret Lamb Prince of Love and Lambadina The modern era saw several reoccurring actors including Selam Tesfaye Fryat Yemane Hanan Tarik Mahder Assefa Amleset Muchie and Ruth Negga One of the most prestigious film award is Gumma Film Awards held in Addis Ababa The award which was started in 2014 broadcast on live television in some stations 460 Festivals including Addis International Film Festival and the Ethiopian International Film Festival showcase amateur and professional filmmakers works the latter being voted by judges They were established in 2007 461 and 2005 respectively 462 Sport Main article Sport in Ethiopia Genzebe Dibaba middle and long distance runner A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist she won a gold medal in this event and a bronze in the 5000 metres at the 2015 World Championships The main sports in Ethiopia are track and field particularly long distance running and football Ethiopian athletes have won many Olympic gold medals in track and field most of them in long distance running 463 Abebe Bikila became the first athlete from a Sub Saharan country to win an Olympic gold medal when he won the Marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games in a world record time of 2 15 16 464 465 Haile Gebrselassie Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba are all world renowned long distance runners each with multiple Olympic and World Championship gold medals Letesenbet Gidey holds the world records in both the women s 5 000 metre and 10 000 metre run Other notable Ethiopian runners are Mamo Wolde Miruts Yifter Derartu Tulu Meseret Defar Birhane Adere Tiki Gelana Genzebe Dibaba Tariku Bekele Gelete Burka and Yomif Kejelcha As of 2012 update and going into 2013 the current national Ethiopian national football team nicknamed the Walayia Antelopes made history by qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and reached the last 10 African football teams in the last stage of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Noted players include captain Adane Girma and top scorer Saladin Said Ethiopia has Sub Saharan Africa s longest basketball tradition as it established a national basketball team in 1949 See alsoIndex of Ethiopia related articles Outline of Ethiopia Music and politics in EthiopiaNotes Amharic ኢትዮጵያ romanized ityōṗṗya pronounced i tjo p ja Oromo Itiyoophiyaa Somali Itoobiya Tigrinya ኢትዮጵያ romanized Itiyop iya Afar ItiyoppiyaReferencesCitations a b Ethiopia to Add 4 more Official Languages to 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World Quarterly 19 2 191 204 doi 10 1080 01436599814415 JSTOR 3993156 a b International Crisis Group Ethnic Federalism and its Discontents Issue 153 of ICG Africa report 4 September 2009 p 2 Italy lost over 4 600 nationals in this battle Keefer Edward C 1973 Great Britain and Ethiopia 1897 1910 Competition for Empire International Journal of African Studies 6 3 468 74 doi 10 2307 216612 JSTOR 216612 a b Conquest Tyranny and Ethnocide against the Oromo A Historical Assessment of Human Rights Conditions in Ethiopia ca 1880s 2002 by Mohammed Hassen Northeast African Studies Volume 9 Number 3 2002 New Series Genocidal violence in the making of nation and state in Ethiopia by Mekuria Bulcha African Sociological Review A K Bulatovich Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes Country in Transition 1896 1898 translated by Richard Seltzer 2000 a b Power and Powerlessness in Contemporary Ethiopia by Alemayehu Kumsa Charles University in Prague Haberland Amharic Manuscript pp 241f Martial de Salviac pere Ayalew Kanno 2005 An Ancient People in the State of Menelik The Oromo said to be of Gallic Origin Great African Nation Ayalew Kanno p 8 ISBN 978 1 59975 189 4 Abir p 30 Ethiopia s Personalities Of The Millennium Emperor Menelik II highbeam com Publis, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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