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Ethiopia

Country Name Ethiopian Flag History of Ethiopia

Languages Literacy

Geography Links: Maps Regions of Ethiopia

Medical Ethnic Groups Population Religions

Time Zones Links: World Heritage Links: Ethiopia

Links: Images & Personal Stories

Links: African/Australian Links: Traditional Stories

Links: Meanings of Ethiopian Names What do you know?

Please note: currently Ethiopia is the only African country for which Australia has an adoption program.

However, there are a number of children adopted into Australian families whose heritage is from other African countries.

The Website Editor would be very happy to develop additional webpages for other African countries if there are children who have heritages from those African countries. If their parents have information and/or photos for these countries please forward them to me: Web Editor.

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Country Name

Conventional long form: "Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia".

Short form: "Ethiopia".

Local long form: "Ityop'iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik".

Nationality - noun: Ethiopian(s)

adjective: Ethiopian

Ethiopian Flag

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa, and the colours of her flag were so often adopted by other African countries upon independence that they became known as the pan-African colours.

The Ethiopian Flag has three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk centred on the three bands.

If you want an electronic image of the flag, this website is legal for anyone to copy images from.

History

References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

A basic overview of history important to Ethiopia is given below. Please note that many dates are disputed by historians, and the dates given should often be considered as only approximate.

Date	Historical events	Notes
10000 BC	Glacier’s retreated, the nomadic Stone age hunters gradually gathered in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates and took up farming.	The Nile runs through Egypt, whereas the Tigris and Euphrate rivers are in Turkey/Iraq and they define Mesopotamia.
6000 BC	Sahara Desert formed when Africa got hotter and drier.	The Sahara Desert is over 9,000,000 sq km, which is larger than the whole of Australia whose area is 7,682,300 sq km.
3000 BC	The first Kingdoms were formed. There were some Kingdoms in Egypt, the Kush Kingdom, the Babylonians and some kingdoms in India.	Babylon was an ancient city in Mesopotamia.
approx 2400's BC	The land of Punt is recorded in ancient Egyptian records.	Punt was called Ta Netjer by the Egyptians. Many historians believe Punt to be the areas of northern Ethiopia/Eritrea and parts of Sudan.
approx 1400's BC	The Bible (Numbers 12:1) records that Moses' wife was a 'Cushite'.	Cush and Kush both appear in differing historical references, although Cush is mostly used for the very early period - much later Kush became known as Nubia.
1550-1100 BC	Egyptians ruled Kush.
900's BC	Queen Sheba travelled to Israel (Jerusalem), she had a son to Solomon named Menelik.	Queen Sheba also called: Sheeba or Saba or Makeda
900's BC	Menelik as a young man travelled to Israel (Jerusalem) to live with his father, he stayed for 3 years. When he returned he was accompanied by the son of a High Priest who (supposedly) stole the Ark of the Covenant and took it to Ethiopia.
900's BC	Menelik (Emporer of Abyssinia) founded the Solomonic Dynasty at Axum, which followed Judaism and the laws of Moses.	Classical historians and geographers called the whole region from India to Egypt, by the name of Ethiopia. Abyssinia was the area that is currently Ethiopia.
700's BC	Homer wrote of two Kushites, one in Africa and one in Asia. The Kushites/Ethiopians peopled Arabia, India and Palestine until they were overthrown by Aryans (Caucasians speaking Indo-European languages) and Semites.	The Greeks introduced the word "Ethiops", meaning "burnt-faces".
715 BC	Painkhy, King of Kush, conquered Egypt. The Kushites ruled Egypt for about 100 years.
800's BC	Phoenicians conquored part of north Africa and established Carthage.
600's-700's BC	The D'mt (or Da'amot) Kingdom arose - these people were possibly indigenous or Sabean immigrants.	The capital of D'mt, Yeha, is near current Aksum.
664 BC	Assyrians conquered Egypt. The Kushites learnt to make iron from the Assyrians.	Assyria later became Mesopotamia.
539 BC	Persians conquered the Phoenicians. Carthage became an independent kingdom and ruled most of the western Mediterranean.
200's BC	Romans attacked northern Africa, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, terrified the Romans. But in the end northern Africa submitted to Roman rule.	The spellings Axum & Aksum are used in different historical references, although Axum seems to be the most ancient version.
approx 1 AD	The Kingdom of Kush was overtaken by the new kingdom Axum.	note that when the Gregorian Calendar was devised the number '0' did not exist as it does today, and the calendar went from 1BC to 1AD with no "year 0" in between
303 AD	Ezana, Axum King, converted to Christianity.	The Kushites called themselves Kushi or Kasu
300's AD	The Felashas refused to convert to Christianity.	The Felashas being Ethiopian Jews, descended from Menelik
500's AD	Axum King, Kaled, fought into Arabia for the Christians against the Jews. The Ethiopian navy had total control of all commerce in the Red Sea at the time.
572 AD	The Persians invaded Arabia and pushed the Ethiopians back into Africa
600's AD	Some Muslims found refuge in Axum, which slowly led to Muslims spreading into Ethiopia
800's - 900's AD	Axum lost its economic and political importance
900's AD	A Queen from the south came with her army and attacked the Axumite kingdom
1000-1100's AD	A new dynasty, the Zagoue appeared.
1100's - 1200's AD	Lalibela, the most powerful Zagouen King, was the master craftsman of the 11 monolithic churches dug into the rock.	In 1978 the Lalibela churches were made a World Heritage site.
1270 AD	Yekouno Amlak, the Amharan lord, over threw the Zagouen dynasty. He claimed to be a direct descendant of Menelik I.
1314-1344 AD	Amda Syon reigned. He successfully fought against the Muslims.
1300's AD	The first monastic foundations of Lake Tana came into being.
1350-1450 AD	The first Dominican missions to Ethiopia attempt to reconvert the Muslims.
1434-1468 AD	Zara Yakob, reigned in Axum; he corresponded with Pope Eugene IV. Monks from the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem took part in the Council of Florence.
1527-1543 AD	The Gragn organised a Muslim offensive using guns and canons supplied by the Ottaman pasha based in Yemen. This was a holy war that lasted 16 years.
1530's AD	Axum fell and its cathedral burnt down. The Emperor appealed to Portugal who sent troops. In a battle near Lake Ashangui the Portugese troops were wiped out.	The Aksum ruins including monolithic obelisks, giant, stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of the ancient castle were made a World Heritage site in 1980.
1540 AD	The symbols used in Ethiopian Coptic chants was developed by two priests during the reign of King Claudius.
1543 AD	The Gragn was killed in a battle near Lake Tana, the Abyssinian troops pushed the beaten army back to Harar.
1557 AD	[Ottoman] under construction
1606	[Gondar Dynasty] under construction
1755	[Zemene Mesafint] under construction
1855	[Emperor Téwodros] under construction
1872	[Yohannes IV] under construction
1889	[Menelik II] under construction
1902	[railway to Dire Dawa] under construction
1917	[Empress Zauditu] under construction
1930	[Haile Selassie I] under construction
1932	[League of Nations] under construction	The League of Nations is now called the United Nations
1935	[Italy] under construction
1977	[Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam] under construction
1993	24 May 1993 Independence of Eritrea under construction
1998	[Eritrea] under construction

Languages

Reference

The main languages are...

Amharic,
Tigrinya,
Oromigna,
Guaragigna,
Somali,
Arabic,
other local languages,
English (major foreign language taught in schools)

Literacy

Reference

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population	42.7%
male	50.3%
female	35.1%

(2003 est.)

Geography

Reference

Border countries

Djibouti	349 km
Eritrea	912 km
Kenya	861 km
Somalia	1,600 km
Sudan	1,606 km

Land use

arable land	10.01%
permanent crops	0.65%
other	89.34%

Irrigated land

1,900 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards

geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts

Natural resources

small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

Current environment issues

deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive farming and poor management

Environment

international agreements - party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified - Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea

Geography note

landlocked - entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993;
the Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia;
three major crops are believed to have originated in Ethiopia: coffee, grain sorghum, and castor bean

Elevation extremes

Place	Height	Description	Compare to Australia
Denakil Depression	125 metres below sea level	lowest point	Lake Eyre is 15 metres below sea level
Ras Dejen	4 620 metres	highest point	about twice as high as Mt Kosciuszko which is about 2,200 m high
Addis Ababa	2 400 metres	capital city	a little higher than Mt Kosciuszko

web links - Maps

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

Addis Ababa Map

Website

Ethiopian Map

Recommend for people looking for hard to find villages. You can either use the list of towns or just click through the world map to zoom onto Ethiopia. Website.

Click here for an on-line map of Ethiopia with information about many individual towns and cities.

Regions & their area

Reference

Ethiopia has been divided into 9 ethnically-based administrative regions (called kililoch; singular: kilil), and subdivided into 68 zones. The two chartered cities (astedader akababiwoch, singular: astedader akababi) have the status of each being both a city and a state.

The regions are:

Region/District	Capital City	Other main cities/towns

Afar	Asayita	-

Amhara	Bahir Dar	Gonder Debre Tabor Weldiya Debre Birhan Debre Markos

Benishangul-Gumaz	Asosa	Guba

Gambela	Gambela	-

Harari	Harar	-

Oromia (also spelt Oromiya)	Adama	Dembi Dolo Gore Nek’emte Gimbi Jima Nazret Goba Kibre Mengist

Somali	Jijiga	Bircot Denan Erer Gota Geladi Kabri Dar K-elafo Weder

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region	Awasa	Arba Minch Sodo Bonga Mizan Teferi

Tigray	Mek’ele	Adwa Aksum Adigrat Maychew

Addis Ababa (Chartered City)

Dire Dawa (Chartered City)

Notice the following comparisons between Ethiopia and Australia…

The population of Ethiopia is almost 4 times that of the whole of Australia.
Comparing the size of Ethiopia to Australian States/Territories, Ethiopia is: slightly smaller than the NT, much smaller than Qld, less than 1/2 the size of WA, nearly 1.5 times the size of NSW, almost 5 times the size of Vic, nearly 500 times the size of the ACT, bigger than SA, 17 times bigger than Tas.
Addis Ababa and Harari are smaller than a 1/4 and 1/6 the size of the ACT, although Addis Ababa has a population almost equal to all of Queensland
Amhara, a region smaller than Victoria, has a population size that is almost equal to the whole of Australia

Region/District	Population	Area (sq km)	Compare to Australia	Australian Population	Australian Area (sq km)
All of Africa	915 000 000	30 348 110	Australia	20 600 000	7 682 300
All of Ethiopia	74 000 000	1 127 127

Afar	1 389 000	96 700	ACT	360 000	2 358
Amhara	19 120 000	159 000	NSW	6 370 000	800 628
Benishangul-Gumaz	625 000	49 000	NT	210 000	1 335 742
Gambela	247 000	25 800	Qld	3 500 000	1 723 936
Harari	196 000	311	SA	1 400 000	978 810
Oromia	26 553 000	353 000	Tas	456 000	64 519
Somali	4 329 000	279 000	Vic	4 640 000	227 010
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region	14 901 000	112 000	WA	1 800 000	2 526 786
Tigray	4 334 000	50 000
Addis Ababa (Chartered City)	2 973 000	530
Dire Dawa (Chartered City)	398 000	1213

Medical

Reference

HIV/AIDS

adult prevalence rate - 4.4% (2003 est.)
people living with HIV/AIDS - 1.5 million (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS – deaths - 120,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and hepatitis E
vectorborne diseases: malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis are high risks in some locations
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis
animal contact disease: rabies
water contact disease: schistosomiasis

(2005)

Ethnic groups

Reference

Oromo	40%
Amhara and Tigre	32%
Sidamo	9%
Shankella	6%
Somali	6%
Afar	4%
Gurage	2%
other	1%

Population

Reference

Ethiopian population

74,777,981

note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

Compare this to these population statistics (Reference)

ACT	360 000
NSW	6 370 000	Sydney	4 000 000
NT	210 000	Darwin	109 000
Qld	3 500 000	Brisbane	1 600 000
SA	1 400 000	Adelaide	1 000 000
Tas	456 000	Hobart	191 000
Vic	4 640 000	Melbourne	3 360 000
WA	1 800 000	Perth	1 300 000

Age structure

0-14 years:                       43.7%                (male 16,373,718           female 16,280,766)
15-64 years:                     53.6%                (male 19,999,482           female 20,077,014)
65 years and over:          2.7%                  (male 929,349                female 1,117,652)

(2006 est.)

Median age

total: 17.8 years male: 17.7 years female: 17.9 years

(2006 est.)

Population growth rate

2.31% (2006 est.)

Birth rate

37.98 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate

14.86 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population

note: repatriation of Ethiopian refugees residing in Sudan is expected to continue for several years; some Sudanese, Somali, and Eritrean refugees, who fled to Ethiopia from the fighting or famine in their own countries, continue to return to their homes (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female

(2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 93.62 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 103.43 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 83.51 deaths/1,000 live births

(2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 49.03 years
male: 47.86 years
female: 50.24 years

(2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

5.22 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Religions

Reference

Muslim 45%-50%,
Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%,
Animist 12%,
other 3%-8%

Time Zones

The World Clock will allow you to set up your Personal selection of times around the world.

For example select:

- Addis Ababa.

- you capital city (e.g. if you live in Sydney, select Sydney).

- other cities... if you have relatives/friends in London, Brisbane and Darwin, you might also select these.

Any time that you go to the World Clock you will have the current time for each of your Personal selections.

The following is a guide only for time differences between Australian capital cities and Ethiopia (these are NOT for Day Light Saving times)...

Australian City	If it is 12 mid-day in Addis Ababa, then the local time in these Australian cities is...
Adelaide	6:30pm
Brisbane	7:00pm
Canberra	7:00pm
Darwin	6:30pm
Hobart	7:00pm
Melbourne	7:00pm
Perth	5:00pm
Sydney	7:00pm

World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia

Websites - general info on Africa

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

Wonders of the African World

For over 3,000 years Ethiopia has been a land of mystery and fascination. The Greek poet Homer thought that the Ethiopians had been blessed by the gods, while the historians and dramatists who came after him described a people of immense piety who lived beside the fountain of the sun - http://www.pbs.org/wonders/fr_e4.htm

All Africa

A multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. Registered in Mauritius, with offices in Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos and Washington, D.C., AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users - http://allafrica.com/ethiopia/

Websites - general info on Ethiopia

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

About Addis Ababa

Information on Tourist attractions, accommodations, includes a map of Addis Ababa, places to visit, monuments, exhibitions etc. Website.

All things Ethiopian

For anyone who loves browsing all things Ethiopian on the net, try this web site - www.EthiopianOrthodoxChurch.org
There is so much there to entertain you! Send Ethiopian e-cards, set the Ethiopian calendar as your background, learn the Amharic alphabet, and so much more!

Ethiopian Flavour

This web page, about Ethiopia, is made by people who love Ethiopia, for people who likewise love Ethiopia.
In the following page you will find all kinds of information, history, facts, places to go, etc, obviously this is not a complete guide, it is not our intention, but we hope that it may be helpful to anyone who intends to visit Ethiopia and even for people who already know the country - http://www.ethiopia.htmlplanet.com/

Our Ethiopia

A collection of films made by students in Ethiopia - http://www.cafesociety.org/imagegallery/categories.php?cat_id=111&sessionid=a092270dc2a3504b32705c96c53f05a2

Gondar

Gondar was formerly the capital of Ethiopia - http://www.galenfrysinger.com/gondar_ethiopia.htm

Land of Faith

Photos and information on Ethiopia. http://www.peace-on-earth.org/Ethiopia/

The Ethiopian American

Reports and analyses news, social and historical issues as well as literary works - http://www.theethiopianamerican.com/index1.php

Websites - images & stories of individuals

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

The Ethiopian Issue

A website of personal experiences, poetry and accounts of Ethiopians - website.

Ethiopian Lives

Nineteen Ethiopians turn their cameras onto their own lives and invite you to share their very personal perspectives. From diverse backgrounds and different parts of the country, their photographs give a rare insight into life in Ethiopia now - http://www.ethiopialives.net/

Ethiopians

Information on famous Ethiopians in areas such as sport, literature etc - http://www.ethiopians.com/

Ethiopia's 'Underground Children'

An article on the 'Underground Children' - website

Fahne Stock Images

Images of Ethiopian people and places - http://www.fahnestockimages.com/stock_photo/index.php?pageId=0&start=0

Websites - for African-Australians

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

African Australian online resource

African Australian online resource, with links and info on events, news, music, travel & more. This site is for everyone: whether you're of African heritage, have an interest in Africa, or you're simply browsing the web. http://www.africanoz.com.au/index.html

Websites - traditional African stories

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor

African Fables and Stories. Website

Websites - meanings of Ethiopian names

If the following is incomplete, inaccurate or if you have a suggestion, please contact me at Website Editor.

A comprehensive list of meanings of Ethiopian Names, compiled by an AACASA members who is a waiting-mum.

A list of Ethiopian names and their meanings -http://www.myethiopianame.bravehost.com

A list of African names - website.