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] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: \|bold= (help); (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 east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of 1,104,300 square kilometres (426,400 sq mi). As of 2025^[update], it has around 135 million inhabitants, making it the 14th-most populous country. 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. 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 arrived to the kingdom in 330 AD, while Islam influenced during the first Hijra in 615. After the collapse of Aksum in 960, the Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts of Ethiopia. The Shewan usurper, Yekuno Amlak overthrown the dynasty in 1270 at the Battle of Ansata, inaugurated the Ethiopian Empire and the Solomonic dynasty – asserting its lineage through Aksumite legitimacy by the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba, and Menelik I was the first emperor. 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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Areas in East Africa where Oromo is spoken

Oromo is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Oromo people, native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia and northern Kenya. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and northeastern Kenya. It is officially written in the Latin script, although traditional scripts are also informally used.

With more than 41.7 million speakers making up 33.8% of the total Ethiopian population, Oromo has the largest number of native speakers in Ethiopia and ranks as the second most widely spoken language in Ethiopia by total number of speakers (including second-language speakers), following Amharic. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by an additional half-million people in parts of northern and eastern Kenya. It is also spoken by smaller numbers of emigrants in other African countries such as South Africa, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. Oromo is the most widely spoken Cushitic language and among the five languages of Africa with the largest mother-tongue populations. (Full article...)

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Tewodros II depicted in Histoire de l'Ethiopie d'Axoum à la révolution

Tewodros II (Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, c. 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to the decentralized Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes).

Although Tewodros II's origins were in the Era of the Princes, his ambitions were not those of the regional nobility. He sought to re-establish a cohesive Ethiopian state and to reform its administration and church. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia's first Olympic gold medalist (from Ethiopia)
Image 2Afewerk Tekle's "The Last Judgment" at St. George's Capel (from Ethiopia)
Image 3The Ethiopian New Year or Enkutatash is celebrated with the adey abeba flower symbolising a new beginning, each year across the country. (from Ethiopia)
Image 4A Homo sapiens idaltu hominid skull (from Ethiopia)
Image 5A group of men gather in a rural village for health training. (from Ethiopia)
Image 6A 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 7An Ethiopian logistics shipping cargo docked at the Red Sea (from Ethiopia)
Image 8The Aksumite Steles served as official markers for the Emperors of Ethiopia during the time of the Aksumite Empire. (from Ethiopia)
Image 9The 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 10Emperor Haile Selassie I with U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt during the end of World War II (from Ethiopia)
Image 11Declining child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia since 1950 (from Ethiopia)
Image 12The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, former headquarters in Addis Ababa (from Ethiopia)
Image 13House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. (from Ethiopia)
Image 14The African Union Headquarters located in Addis Ababa. Since its conception, Ethiopia is a founding member to the AU. (from Ethiopia)
Image 15The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam constructed between 2011 and 2023, set to be the largest dam in Africa (from Ethiopia)
Image 16Aksumite currency of the Aksumite king Endybis, 227–35, at the British Museum (from Ethiopia)
Image 17Yared in a piece of 15th century Ethiopian sacred art holding a mequamia (prayer stick) (from Ethiopia)
Image 18Köppen climate classification of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 19A copy of 17th century philosophical and ethical treatise by Ethiopian philosopher Zara Yaqob (from Ethiopia)
Image 20Relief map of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 21Over 6 million residents live in Addis Ababa, the financial epicenter of the country. (from Ethiopia)
Image 22Meles Zenawi, a panelist at World Economic Forum on Africa 2012 (from Ethiopia)
Image 23Mengistu Haile Mariam was sentenced to death in absentia for committing crimes during his rule. (from Ethiopia)
Image 24Sheger Park is the largest park in the country, hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors a year since its opening. (from Ethiopia)
Image 25Cultural performance in Addis Ababa (from Ethiopia)
Image 26The Empire of Axum at its peak in the 6th century (from Ethiopia)
Image 27Fasil Ghebbi, one of the key castles of the Gondarine period (from Ethiopia)
Image 28Ethiopian troops sent by the government under the Emperor Haile Selassie I during the Korean War fighting for South Korean independence (from Ethiopia)
Image 29Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 (from Ethiopia)
Image 30This meal consisting of injera and several kinds of wat (stew) is typical of Ethiopian cuisine. (from Ethiopia)
Image 31Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi (bottom row, fourth from left) in G8 Group meeting in 2007 (from Ethiopia)
Image 32Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) training under AMISOM, 2021 (from Ethiopia)
Image 33Development of GDP per capita (from Ethiopia)
Image 34Map of regions and zones of Ethiopia (from Ethiopia)
Image 35The Federal Supreme Court is the highest court determining constitutionality of ordeals in the nation. (from Ethiopia)
Image 36The 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 37Entrance of Addis Ababa University (from Ethiopia)
Image 38Biete Medhane Alem, built during Zagwe dynasty in the Middle Ages (from Ethiopia)

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Image 1

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
Image 2

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 3

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 4

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 5

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

Did you know - load new batch

... that Eritrea's abortion law was based on Ethiopia's, which was based on Switzerland's, which was based on France's?
... that Quintin Johnstone advocated giving control of an American-governed law school to native Ethiopians?
... that a volcano in Ethiopia had its first recorded explosive eruption in 2025?
... 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 the government of Ethiopia's SNNP Region supported local governments calling for a referendum to secede from the region?