Portal:Ethiopia

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
የኢትዮጵያ ፌደራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ (Amharic)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia የኢትዮጵያ ፌደራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ (Amharic)
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	Anthem: ; ወደፊት ገስግሺ ፣ ውድ እናት ኢትዮጵያ; (English: "March Forward, Dear Mother Ethiopia");
ISO 3166 code	ET

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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the Northeast, East and Southeast, Kenya to the South, South Sudan to the West, and Sudan to the Northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of 1,112,000 square kilometres (472,000 sq. miles). , it is home to around 128 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world, the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populated landlocked country on Earth. 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.

Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period. Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasiatic language family. In 980 BC, 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, and Islam arrived by the first Hijra in 615. After the collapse of Aksum in 960, the Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts of Ethiopia 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 had grown 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. (Full article...)

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Territory claimed by both sides of the conflict

The Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict was a violent standoff and a proxy conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia lasting from 1998 to 2018. It consisted of a series of incidents along the then-disputed border; including the Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 1998–2000 and the subsequent Second Afar insurgency. It included multiple clashes with numerous casualties, including the Battle of Tsorona in 2016. Ethiopia stated in 2018 that it would cede Badme to Eritrea. This led to the Eritrea–Ethiopia summit on 9 July 2018, where an agreement was signed which demarcated the border and agreed a resumption of diplomatic relations. (Full article...)

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Haile Selassie in the full ceremonial dress uniform of a field marshal, 1970

Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, romanized: Qädamawi Ḫäylä Śəllase, lit. 'Power of the Trinity'; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) for Empress Zewditu from 1916 until 1930. Haile Selassie is widely considered a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the major figure of Rastafari, a religious movement in Jamaica that emerged shortly after he became emperor in the 1930s. Before he rose to power he defeated Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul (nephew of Empress Taytu Betul) of Begemder at the Battle of Anchem in 1928. He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty, which claims to trace its lineage to Emperor Menelik I, a legendary figure believed by the claimants to be the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who they name as Makeda.

Haile Selassie attempted to modernise the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of the 1931 constitution, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent most of the period of Italian occupation exiled in the United Kingdom. In 1940, he travelled to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to assist in coordinating the anti-fascist struggle in Ethiopia and returned to his home country in 1941 after the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1950, and annexed Eritrea into Ethiopia as one of its provinces, while fighting to prevent secession. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Ethiopia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 (from Ethiopia)
Image 2Emperor Haile Selassie I with U.S. President Roosevelt during the end World War II (from Ethiopia)
Image 3The Empire of Axum at its peak in the 6th century. (from Ethiopia)
Image 4Entrance of Addis Ababa University (from Ethiopia)
Image 5Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) training under AMISOM, 2021 (from Ethiopia)
Image 6The Church of Saint George, Lalibela a pilgrimage site for Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; the site is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela". (from Ethiopia)
Image 7Map of regions and zones of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 8The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation former headquarters in Addis Ababa (from Ethiopia)
Image 9Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia's first Olympic gold medalist (from Ethiopia)
Image 10Mengistu Haile Mariam was sentenced to death in absentia for committing crimes during his rule (from Ethiopia)
Image 11The Ethiopian Empire during the Middle Ages (from Ethiopia)
Image 12Relief map of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 13Ethiopian troops sent by the government under the Emperor Haile Selassie I during the Korean War fighting for South Korean independence (from Ethiopia)
Image 14Giyorgis of Segla, prolific religious author in the Late Middle Ages (from Ethiopia)
Image 15The Blue Nile falls during winter provides over 86 percent of the Nile river's water coming from melted snow in the Simien mountains below 0. (from Ethiopia)
Image 16An Orthodox bible dated at least 1,500 years, being the oldest illustrated bible in the world, depicts Corinthian pillars (from Ethiopia)
Image 17An Ethiopian logistics shipping cargo docked at the Red Sea (from Ethiopia)
Image 18The Addis Ababa Science Museum of Art and Science serves as the country's biggest hub which showcases the country's newest innovations (from Ethiopia)
Image 19A Homo sapiens idaltu hominid skull (from Ethiopia)
Image 20Fasil Ghebbi, one of the key castles of the Gondarine period. (from Ethiopia)
Image 21The African Union Headquarters located in Addis Ababa since its conception, Ethiopia is a founding member to the AU (from Ethiopia)
Image 22Aksumite currency of the Aksumite king Endubis, 227–35, at the British Museum. (from Ethiopia)
Image 23Declining child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia since 1950 (from Ethiopia)
Image 24This meal consisting of injera and several kinds of wat (stew) is typical of Ethiopian cuisine. (from Ethiopia)
Image 25Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (bottom row, fourth from left) in G8 Group meeting in 2007 (from Ethiopia)
Image 26The Axumite stelae in the northern part of Ethiopia, dating well over a thousand years, serve as a remembrance of Ethiopia's past architecture. (from Ethiopia)
Image 27Sheger Park is the largest park in the country, hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors a year since its opening (from Ethiopia)
Image 28Development of GDP per capita (from Ethiopia)
Image 29Ethiopian civil conflict: territorial control as of September 2023 (from Ethiopia)
Image 30Yared in a piece of 15th century Ethiopian sacred art holding a mequamia (prayer stick) (from Ethiopia)
Image 31Cultural performance in Addis Ababa (from Ethiopia)
Image 32Köppen climate classification of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 33Addis Ababa seen at nighttime, the financial epicenter of the country (from Ethiopia)
Image 34A Walia Ibex in Simien Mountains National Park, one of the national symbols of Ethiopia, found only in the north of the country (from Ethiopia)
Image 35House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly (from Ethiopia)
Image 36Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin in 1980s one of Ethiopia's renowned writers (from Ethiopia)

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Selected pictures

Image 1

Haile Selassie I was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. The heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, he is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history. Selassie is revered as the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement, whose name comes from Ras (literally "Head," an Ethiopian title equivalent to Duke), and Tafari Makonnen, Selassie's pre-coronation name.

Photo credit: American Colony, Jerusalem
Image 2

The plains zebra (Equus quagga, subspecies Grant's zebra pictured) is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. It ranges from the south of Ethiopia through East Africa to as far south as Angola and eastern South Africa. The plains zebra is mid-sized, smaller on average than the other two zebra species, and thick-bodied with relatively short legs. Adults of both sexes can stand from 1.1 to 1.47 m (3.6 to 4.8 ft) high at the shoulder, are 2 to 2.5 m (6.6 to 8.2 ft) long (excluding the tail), and weigh 175 to 387 kg (386 to 853 lb), with males slightly heavier than females.

Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Image 3

The black-headed lapwing (Vanellus tectus tectus) is a resident breeder located across sub-Saharan Africa, living in locations ranging from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp
Image 4

The black-chested snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) is a large African bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It resembles other snake eagles and was formerly considered conspecific with the short-toed and Beaudouin's snake eagles, to which it is closely related. As well as feeding on snakes, which may be swallowed while still alive, it feeds on lizards, small mammals, frogs and insects. It typically perches in an elevated position ready to swoop silently to capture its prey, before returning to its perch to eat.

Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp
Image 5

Saint George (died 23 April 303) was a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origin. A member of Roman emperor Diocletian's Praetorian Guard, he was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He is immortalised in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon and his feast day is celebrated on 23 April. Saint George is claimed as their patron saint by England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Catalonia and several other nation states, as well as by various cities, universities, professions and organisations.

Painting credit: Carlo Crivelli

Did you know - load new batch

... that medieval Ethiopian kings claimed to be descended from Solomon?
... that Liberian paramount chief Tamba Taylor worked as a tailor and claimed to have sewn clothes for Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah?
... that Aguil Chut-Deng took 22 child refugees from South Sudan to Ethiopia during civil war so that they could attend school?
... that Tsadkan Gebretensae, one of the top commanders of Tigray forces in the conflict against the Ethiopian government, previously served as chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force?
... that Quintin Johnstone advocated giving control of an American-governed law school to native Ethiopians?
... that the government of Ethiopia's SNNP Region supported local governments calling for a referendum to secede from the region?