HISTORICAL FACTS YOU MAY NEED TO NOW ABOUT ETHIOPIA

  Facts about Ethiopia

1. It may be the original homeland of the Ancient Egyptians.

2. One of the world's most famous fossils was discovered here.

3. It's home to the hottest place on Earth.

4. It's the second oldest Christian country in the world (after Armenia).

5. A tribe of Ethiopian Jews lived here for at least 2000 years.

6. It was the location of a mighty civilization known as Aksum.

7. It may be the birthplace of coffee.

8. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa with its own alphabet, letters, and numbers.

9. It has never been colonized by Europeans.

10. It has around 80 languages.

11. It has 13 months in a year.

12. It has its own 12-hour clock based on the rising and setting of the sun.

13. Its calendar is a few years behind the Gregorian Calendar due to different interpretations of Jesus' time of death.

14. An Ethiopian named Abebe Bikila was the first black African to win gold at the Olympics when he won the marathon in 1960 (he ran barefoot as the shoes were giving him blisters)

GEOGRAPHY

(1) An East African country in which one of the four Biblical Rivers, the world's longest river, know as the River Nile /Ghion/ originates. Watch the following videos:  (1)  (2)  (3).

(2) Ethiopian is the home to the hottest place on Earth.

ETHIOPIAN FLAG

(3) Ethiopia has traditionally identified its green-yellow-red national flag with the rainbow that, according to the book of Genesis in the Bible, God set in the heavens after the Flood. (Ethiopian Flag).

HISTORICITY

(4) The original cradle of the human being in which the globally known Australopithecus Africa (Lucy) was first found in Ethiopia.

(5) Ethiopia is an old kingdom founded 3000 years ago. It may be the original homeland of the Ancient Egyptians. It was the location of a mighty civilization known as Aksum.

(6) Ethiopia remains as the only African country never colonized by any colonizer. Remember the Queen of Sheba.

CIVILIZATION

(7) Ethiopia was one of the leading civilized nations know for its prosperity and architectures. There was a time when coins were minted of pure gold.

RELIGION - JUDAISM

(A) JUDAISM:  The Name "Ethiopia" has been mentioned 42 times in the Holy Bible. Ethiopia also remains as a blessed land where the Garden of Aden /the Paradise/ is located. The Ethiopian Queen, the Queen of Sheba, visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, and has got a son named Menilik from him. Menilik returned back to Jerusalem to visit his father at the age of 22. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia with other Judaic worshiping objects and religious books including the book of Eunuch, a book never found in any part of the world. This make the country the treasurer of the Biblical mysteries.

RELIGION - CHRISTIANITY

(B) CHRISTIANITY: Having the treasures of Judaic religion such as worshiping the One God of Abraham and possessing the Ark of the Covenant for centuries, Ethiopia was able to receive Christianity in advance in 34 AD from the Ethiopian Eunuch (Act 8:26). It was never thought about Christian faith by later missionaries. (1)  (2).  

CULTURE

Ethiopian culture is dominantly Christian. You can see the celebration of epiphany and Meskel national holidays. Epiphany known as Timket and which is the annual commemoration of the finding of the True Cross Christ have been registered by United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNISCO) on the list of representatives of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

COFFEE

About 1,000 years ago, coffee was a goatherd in Ethiopia southwestern highlands. It was discovered in Kaffa area where it first blossom gave its name to coffee. It believed that coffee cultivation and drinking began as early as the 9th century in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony is an important part of Ethiopian culture.

EDUCATION

Ethiopia is unique in Africa for having its own language, alphabet, numerical systems, calendar, classical music and other endogenous cultural heritages.

WILD LIFE

As in the case of other countries, Ethiopia has endemic animals that are rare in other part of the world. Among these endemic animals are Black Lion, Red Fox, Niyala, Walia Ibex, Gelada Baboon, Hartebeest, and Menilek's Bushbuck.