About Ethiopia

Location

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ge'ez Ityoya), is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and Sudan to the west.

History

Ethiopia is credited with being the origin of mankind. Bones discovered in eastern Ethiopia date back 3.2 million years. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century B.C. describes ancient Ethiopia in his writings. The Old Testament of the Bible records the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem.

According to legend, Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, founded the Ethiopian Empire. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation on the continent, or indeed in the world and is also known for being one of the founders of the United Nations. Unique among African countries, Ethiopia maintained it's independence during the Scramble for Africa, and continued to do so except for a five-year period (1936-41) when it was under Italian occupation.

But even during this period there was no Italian colonization of Ethiopia as the Italians occupied a few key cities and most of Ethiopia was not affected by their presence; the Italian period is thus considered an "occupation" and not colonial rule.