Ethiopia
The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located in the north-eastern part of Africa commonly known as the Horn of Africa. It is strategically proximate to the Middle East and Europe, together with its easy access to the major ports of the region, enhances its international trade. It is bordered by the Sudan in the west, Somalia and Djibouti in the east, Eritrea in the north and Kenya in the south. The country covers 1,112,000 square kilometres (472,000 sq. miles) making it roughly as large as France and Spain combined and is five times the size of the UK.
Historical Facts
The name “Ethiopia” originates from the Greek words aitho (I burn) and ops (face), which together signify “scorched faces.” Ethiopia is among the oldest countries on the planet, having been established in 980 B.C. The oldest fossil skeleton of a human was found in Ethiopia. It is over three million years old. Ethiopia and Russia are the two countries in the world to have never been occupied.
Basic Facts
New year: Ethiopians celebrate new year on September 11. we call it Enkutatash. It is also the tenth-largest country in Africa. Coffee was accidentally discovered in Ethiopia when a goat herder found his flock running restlessly after eating the coffee plant. On your visit to Ethiopia, you can also experience the great taste of their homemade wine made from honey and a shrub – gesho.
of Ethiopian women have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting
Food
Ethiopia’s national dish is called “wat.” Ethiopians like to eat this fiery stew with injera, a level, light bread. Suppers are delighted in by detaching a bit of injera and utilizing it to gather up a bit of wat. Wat can be made with chicken (doro wat), meat (sega wat), sheep, vegetables and prepared with berbere, a blend of flavors, and niter kibbeh, a cleared-up spread. It might likewise be finished off with hard boiled eggs!
Religion
Ethiopia is home to the well-known sacred city of Lalibela. About the greater part of the city’s occupants are of Ethiopian Orthodox confidence, and its populace tops amid times of religious journey. More than two-fifths of Ethiopians follow the teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Islam was introduced in the 7th century and is now practiced by about one-third of Ethiopians.
Geography
Ethiopia is the tenth largest country in Africa, covering 439,580 square miles (1,138,512 square kilometers) and is the major constituent of the landmass known as the Horn of Africa. It is bordered on the north and northeast by Eritrea, on the east by Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on the west and southwest by Sudan.
The central plateau, known as the highlands, is surrounded on three sides by desert with a significantly lower elevation. The plateau is between six thousand and ten thousand feet above sea level, with the highest peak being Ras Deshan, the fourth-tallest mountain in Africa. Addis Ababa is the third-highest capital city in the world.
Language
There are eighty-six known indigenous languages in Ethiopia: eighty-two spoken and four extinct. The vast majority of the languages spoken in the country can be classified within three families of the Afro-Asiatic super language family: the Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic. Semitic-language speakers predominantly live in the highlands in the center and north. Cushitic-language speakers live in the highlands and lowlands of the south-central region as well as in the north-central area. Omotic speakers live predominantly in the south. The Nilo-Saharan super language family accounts for about 2 percent of the population, and these languages are spoken near the Sudanese border.
Do you know !!
- Ethiopia additionally claims that the last resting place of the Ark of the Covenant is at a house of prayer in the sacred city of Aksum, which was previously the capital of Ethiopia.
- Ethiopia is one of the nations that has not been defeated in an attack. Italy was vanquished twice in its attempts to do so. The nation was the first to join the League of Nations, which soon ended up being detrimental. The countries fitting in with this class would be given backing known as “aggregate backing.” At the point when mass murders and ethnic purging happened in Ethiopia, the others simply didn’t help out.
Ethiopia is also sometimes referred to as “the roof of Africa” as more than 70% of Africa’s mountains are found in Ethiopia.
The largest lake in Ethiopia–Lake Tana–is also the source of the Blue Nile River.
Ethiopia is also known as the “Horn of Africa.”
Italy was defeated twice when it attempted to invade Ethiopia.
People
- Most people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language.
- The Tigray, Oromo, Somali and Amhara people make up more than three-quarters of Ethiopia’s human population but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups represented.
- Some of these ethnicities have as few as 10,000 people. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools.
- The Ethiopians love to celebrate, whether important events in their history, major landmarks in the religious calendar or simply special family days. Best clothes are worn, food and drink are plentiful, musicians play and people dance and sing.
Omo Valley Tribes
Tribes: The Lower Omo is home to a remarkable mix of small, contrasting ethnic groups not only the Ari and Konso, but also the Tsemai, the Darashi, the Mursi, the Bana, and the Hamer, to name but a few. Due to the various reality TV shows & the publication of art photography books, the representations of body painting amongst the tribes has been somewhat blown out of proportion. However body painting as a form of personal adornment, along with elaborate hairstyles, is a part of many of these people’s cultural practices both for wedding ceremonies and in their daily life.
For example Hamer women wear mud and clarified butter and topped off with a headdress featuring oblongs of extravagant shapes, with special ochre caps’ of hair usually containing several ostrich feathers. Jewellery tends to be simple but striking colourful necklaces, chunky metal wrestlers and armlets, shiny nails appended to skirts, multiple earrings, and soon. The insertion of wooden and terra-cotta discs into the ear lobes is a widespread custom, and Mursi women also progressively split and stretch their lower lips to make room for similar discs there too. Though these ‘lip plates’ may appear bizarre to outsiders, the Mursi regard them as signifiers of their cultural self and as elements of beauty. At certain times, a visitor may be lucky to chance on a Hamer coming of age ‘bull-jumping ceremony’ made famous to the western world in Bruce Parry’s “Tribe” series.Lip Plates: The custom of wearing lip plates is one of the distinct features of the women of the Suri and Mursi tribes in southern Ethiopia. As a young teenager, a small incision is made into the girl’s bottom lip, using a small knife, the front teeth of the lower jaw are removed, and a disc of locally derived baked clay is inserted into the incision.
As the girl ages, and the bottom lip stretches with the weight of the plate, the smaller discs are removed and replaced with ever-larger discs, further stretching the lip. The discs are not worn all of the time. Various anthropological studies have been made to determine the cultural significance of the lip plates, and while several suggestions have been made, including the idea that the lip plate prevents the entry of evil spirits into the body via the mouth, and the idea that the practice was instituted to mar the appearance and hence put off slave traders looking for unblemished girls. However, the popular belief in tourist literature is that the size of the lip plate is representative of the wearer’s family’s wealth, and thus is indicative of her bride price; often those girls with particularly large plates bring in bride prices of over fifty head of cattle.
