LEARN ABOUT ETHIOPIA

The land of Ethiopia is located in East Africa. Its neighbouring countries are Eritrea, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan.

Ethiopia has a population of almost 120,000,000 and is a hugely diverse nation, with people from over 80 different tribes living there. Just over half of the population are either Amhara or Oromo. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia.

The coffee plant has its origin in Ethiopia, so Ethiopians were the first people in the world to cultivate and consume coffee beans.

There have been people living in and around the Ethiopian lands for all of human history and even prehistory, making it one of the oldest civilisations on earth.

Ethiopia was ruled under different kingdoms for nearly three thousand years, from 1000 BC to the late 20th century. The last monarch of Ethiopia was Haile Selasse, who ruled the Empire of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Since then, it has been a republic.

Unlike most other countries in the African continent, Ethiopia has never been colonized by a foreign country.

Ethiopia is one of the sources of the Nile river. The river Abay (known as the Blue Nile in English) flows from Lake Tana, the biggest lake in Ethiopia.