Eastern Africa · AfricaEthiopia
Discover Ethiopia - never colonized, birthplace of coffee, home to rock-hewn churches, its own alphabet, calendar, and 3.2-million-year-old Lucy.
Where Is Ethiopia?
Ethiopia is a country in Eastern Africa. Its capital is Addis Ababa.
- Capital Addis Ababa
- Population 135M
- Area 1,104,300 km²
Ethiopia does things its own way, and that's not a figure of speech. The country uses its own calendar, which is roughly seven years behind the Gregorian one - so when the rest of the world celebrated the millennium in 2000, Ethiopia waited until 2007. There are 13 months. The clock runs differently too: sunrise is 1 o'clock, not 6 AM. The writing system, Ge'ez, is one of the oldest alphabets still in active use, and it looks like nothing else on Earth. This is a country that was never colonized (a five-year Italian occupation during WWII doesn't count, and Ethiopians will tell you that firmly), and that independence seeps into every aspect of the culture.
The physical country is equally extraordinary. The Simien Mountains, often called "the roof of Africa," rise to 4,550 meters with cliff faces that drop a thousand meters straight down. Lalibela's eleven rock-hewn churches were carved top-down from solid volcanic rock in the 12th century, and they're still active places of worship. The Danakil Depression is the hottest inhabited place on Earth, with sulfur springs, lava lakes, and Afar salt miners working in 50°C heat. And then there's coffee - Ethiopia is where Coffea arabica originated, where a goatherd named Kaldi supposedly noticed his goats dancing after eating the berries, and where the coffee ceremony remains a sacred daily ritual. With more than 130 million people, over 80 languages, and a civilization that stretches back three thousand years, Ethiopia is less a country and more a continent in miniature.
The food alone is worth the trip. Injera, the spongy sourdough flatbread made from teff (a grain that grows almost nowhere else), serves as plate, utensil, and flavor vehicle for dozens of spiced stews and vegetable dishes. Ethiopian cuisine is one of the world's great culinary traditions, and the fact that much of the world hasn't figured this out yet is everyone else's loss.
At a glance
Largest cities in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa
Dire Dawa
Gondar
Adama (Nazret)
Hawassa
Famous people from Ethiopia
Haile Selassie
PoliticsLast Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974), revered as the returned messiah by the Rastafari movement and a founder of the Organisation of African Unity
Abebe Bikila
SportWon the 1960 Olympic marathon barefoot in Rome, the first Black African Olympic gold medalist, then won again in 1964 in Tokyo
Haile Gebrselassie
SportBroke 27 world records over his career, won two Olympic gold medals in the 10,000 meters, and is considered one of the greatest distance runners ever
Lucy (Dinknesh)
Science3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered in 1974, one of the most important fossil finds in the story of human evolution
Abiy Ahmed
PoliticsWon the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending the twenty-year military stalemate with Eritrea, though his legacy has since been complicated by the Tigray conflict
Traditional cuisine of Ethiopia
- Injera with Wot
- The foundation of Ethiopian eating - spongy teff flatbread topped with spiced stews of lentils, chickpeas, beef, or chicken, eaten by hand
- Doro Wot
- Chicken stew slow-cooked in berbere spice and butter for hours, served with hard-boiled eggs, the most celebrated dish for holidays and special occasions
- Kitfo
- Minced raw beef seasoned with mitmita spice and clarified butter, Ethiopian steak tartare that is addictive once you acquire the taste
- Tibs
- Sauteed meat and vegetables, ranging from mild (alicha tibs) to fiery (awaze tibs), served sizzling on a clay plate
- Shiro
- Thick, smooth chickpea or broad bean puree spiced with garlic and berbere, the everyday comfort food eaten during Orthodox fasting periods
- Beyaynetu
- The fasting platter: a colorful spread of vegetable and legume dishes on injera, served on Wednesdays and Fridays when meat is forbidden
Nature and landmarks in Ethiopia
- Simien MountainsMountain
- UNESCO World Heritage Site rising to 4,550 meters with dramatic escarpments, home to the endemic gelada baboon and Ethiopian wolf
- Danakil DepressionDesert
- One of the hottest and lowest places on Earth, with sulfur hot springs, an active lava lake at Erta Ale, and Afar salt miners working in extreme conditions
- Lalibela Rock ChurchesLandmark
- Eleven medieval churches carved top-down from solid rock in the 12th century, still active houses of worship and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Bale MountainsMountain
- Afro-alpine plateau home to the world's rarest canid, the Ethiopian wolf, and the largest population of mountain nyala antelope
- Blue Nile FallsWaterfall
- Known locally as Tis Issat ('smoking water'), a dramatic 45-meter waterfall near Lake Tana where the Blue Nile begins its journey to Sudan and Egypt
Sports in Ethiopia
- Athletics
- One of the world's great distance running nations, producing Olympic champions from Abebe Bikila to Haile Gebrselassie to Tirunesh Dibaba
- Football
- The Walya Antelopes won the first ever African Cup of Nations in 1962 on home soil, and the sport is passionately followed nationwide
- Genna
- Traditional Ethiopian field hockey played at Christmas (Genna), an ancient sport with roots stretching back thousands of years
Did you know?
Ethiopia uses its own calendar with 13 months - it's currently about 7 years behind the Gregorian calendar, so the millennium was celebrated in 2007
Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia, where a goatherd named Kaldi supposedly noticed his goats dancing after eating the berries from a certain bush
Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that was never colonized - the five-year Italian occupation (1936-1941) is not recognized as colonial rule
Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old hominid skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1974, was named after the Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'
Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon running barefoot through the streets of Rome, shocking the sporting world
The Ethiopian clock starts at sunrise (6 AM = 1 o'clock), which means when an Ethiopian says 'meet at 3,' they mean 9 AM
Ethiopia has its own alphabet, Ge'ez, with 231 characters - one of the oldest writing systems still in daily use anywhere in the world
Can you find Ethiopia on a map?
Drop a pin where you think it is and see how close you got. A few rounds and you will place Ethiopia and its neighbours without a second thought.
