Ethiopia

Situated in the Horn of Africa, is the second-most populous African nation, and one of the oldest nations in the world, and the only African nation to have enjoyed continuous sovereignty throughout and beyond the Scramble for Africa along with Liberia, excepting a brief occupation in World War II. Often regarded as the "Cradle of Humanity" for the peerlessly ancient traces of humanity unearthed there, Ethiopia is also the second oldest officially Christian nation, having converted in the 4th century AD.

Historically an intersection of African and Middle Eastern civilizations, Ethiopia has more recently become a crossroads of global international cooperation: it became a member of the League of Nations in 1923 and signed the Declaration by United Nations in 1942, founded the UN headquarters in Africa, was one of the 51 original members of the United Nations, and is currently the headquarters for and the main founder of the former Organisation of African Unity and current African Union.

Early history

Human settlement in Ethiopia is very ancient. Fossilized remains of the earliest ancestors to the human species, discovered in Ethiopia, have been assigned dates as long ago as 5.9 million years. Together with Eritrea and the southeastern part of the Red Sea coast of Sudan, it is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru," meaning land of the Gods), whose first mention dates to the twenty-fifth century BC.

Escaping the scramble for Africa

The 1880s were marked by the Scramble for Africa and modernization in Ethiopia, when the Italians began to vie with the British for influence in bordering regions. Asseb, a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea, was bought in March 1870 from the local Afar sultan, vassal to the Ethiopian Emperor, by an Italian company, which by 1890 led to the Italian colony of Eritrea. Conflicts between the two countries resulted in the Battle of Adowa in 1896, whereby the Ethiopians surprised the world by defeating the colonial power and remaining independent, under the rule of Menelik II. Italy and Ethiopia signed a provisional treaty of peace on October 26, 1896.

The early twentieth century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I, who undertook the rapid modernization of Ethiopia — interrupted only by the brief Italian occupation (1936–1941). British Empire forces together with patriot Ethiopian fighters liberated Ethiopia in the course of the East African Campaign (World War II) in 1941, which was followed by sovereignty on January 31, 1941 and British recognition of full sovereignty (i.e. without any special British privileges) with the signing of the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement in December 1944.

Emperor Haile Selassie's years

In 1962, Haile Selassie's government annexed Eritrea, a state that had already been federated with the Ethiopian Crown; this act led to the Eritrean War of Independence. Furthermore, Ethiopia suffered from various economic issues that led to the 1972–74 drought in Wallo, killing 200,000 Ethiopians. Although Haile Selassie was seen as a national and African hero, opinion turned against him as nobility filled their pockets while millions of landless peasants went hungry. In 1974 students, workers, peasants and the army rose against him.[26] Haile Selassie's reign came to an end in 1974, mostly due to economic hardship, when a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg" led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, deposed him and established a one-party communist state. Haile Selassie was imprisoned and probably tortured to death by the junta, who demanded that he turn over Ethiopia's 25-million-dollar deposits in Switzerland to the junta.

Demographics

Ethiopia's population has grown dramatically in the last several decades, from 33.5 million in 1983 to 75.1 million in 2006. The country's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigray and Somali make up more than three-quarters of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members.

Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially Semitic-speaking ones, collectively refer to themselves as Habesha or Abesha, though others reject these names on the basis that they refer only to certain ethnicities. The Arabic form of this term (Al-Habesh) is the etymological basis of "Abyssinia," the former name of Ethiopia in English and other European languages.

Religion

Orthodox Christianity has a dominant presence in central and northern Ethiopia, while both Orthodox & Protestant Christianity has large representations in the South and Western Ethiopia. A small ancient group of Jews, the Beta Israel, live in northwestern Ethiopia, though most have emigrated to Israel in the last decades of the twentieth century as part of the rescue missions undertaken by the Israeli government, Operation Moses and Operation Solomon. Some Israeli and Jewish scholars consider these Ethiopian Jews as the historical "Lost Tribe of Israel."

Sometimes Christianity in Africa is thought of as a European import that arrived with colonialism, but this is not the case with Ethiopia. The Kingdom of Aksum was one of the first nations to officially adopt Christianity, when St. Frumentius of Tyre, called Fremnatos or Abba Selama ("Father of Peace") in Ethiopia, converted King Ezana during the fourth century AD. Many believe that the Gospel had entered Ethiopia even earlier, with the royal official described as being baptised by Philip the Evangelist in chapter nine of the Acts of the Apostles. Today, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, part of Oriental Orthodoxy, is by far the largest denomination, though a number of Protestant (Pentay) churches and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso Church have recently gained ground. Since the eighteenth century there has existed a relatively small Uniate Ethiopian Catholic Church in full communion with Rome, with adherents making up less than 1% of the total population.

The name "Ethiopia" (Hebrew Kush) is mentioned in the Bible numerous times (thirty-seven times in the King James version). Abyssinia is also mentioned in the Qu'ran and Hadith. While many Ethiopians claim that the Bible references of Kush apply to their own ancient civilization, pointing out that the Gihon river, a name for the Nile, is said to flow through the land.

Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion; in 615, when a band of Muslims were counseled by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia, which was ruled by a pious Christian king. Moreover, Bilal, the first muezzin, the person chosen to call to prayer, and one of the foremost companions of the Prophet Muhammad, was from Ethiopia.

There are numerous indigenous African religions in Ethiopia, mainly located in the far southwest and western borderlands. In general, most of the (largely members of the non-Chalcedonian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church) Christians generally live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents of traditional African religions tend to inhabit more lowland regions in the east and south of the country.

Ethiopia is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, whose adherents believe Ethiopia is Zion. The Rastafari view Emperor Haile Selassie I as Jesus, the human incarnation of God, a view apparently not shared by Haile Selassie I himself, who was staunchly Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. The concept of Zion is also prevalent among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, though it represents a separate and complex concept, referring figuratively to St. Mary, but also to Ethiopia as a bastion of Christianity surrounded by Muslims and other religions, much like Mount Zion in the Bible.

Sources: Wikipedia, US Congress Library, CIA Fact Book