Ethiopia

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea and Djibouti to the north, Somalia to the east and northeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia has a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi). It is home to 117 million inhabitants and is the 12th-most populous country in the world and the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period. Ethiopia has a long history, tracing back to the first millennium BC. Two kingdoms were established during antiquity: the Kingdom of Dʿmt and Kingdom of Aksum; the latter's civilization was considered a great power by the third century AD. Christianity reached Aksum in the 4th century and has been the state religion since; Islam was introduced in Ethiopia in the seventh century. After the collapse of Aksum in the 10th century, a variety of kingdoms existed in the area that would later be known as Ethiopia. The Zagwe dynasty ruled the northern-central part of Ethiopia and Eritrea for over three centuries until being overthrown by Yekuno Amlak, who inaugurated the Ethiopian Empire and its Solomonic line dynasty in 1270, a dynasty claimed descent from Biblical Solomon and the Queen of Sheba under their son Menelik I. By the 14th century, the empire grew its prestige through territorial expansion. In the mid-18th century, Ethiopia experienced decentralization known as Zemene Mesafint. It was lasted at the reign of Emperor Tewodros II in 1855; bringing Ethiopia to reunification and modernization. During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country to secure its sovereignty from European colonial powers; defeating Italy in the Battle of Adwa, resulted in armistice Treaty of Addis Ababa. From 1878 to 1904, Emperor Menelik II launched a series of conquests, consolidating Ethiopia's modern borders. Ethiopia was occupied by Fascist Italy in 1935 and was merged with Italian possessed Eritrea and Somaliland to become Italian East Africa. In 1941, it was liberated by the British army and an Arbegnoch guerrilla unit during the Second World War. The Derg, a Soviet-backed communist military junta, took power in 1974 after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, ruling nearly 17 years with a civil war embraced by bloody repression, famine, and insurgency of Tigray-Eritrean separatist rebels, and Ethiopian–Somali conflict. After defeating the Derg, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) dominated the country with a new constitution and ethnic-based federalism. Thereafter, Ethiopia endured prolonged and unsolved inter-ethnic tensions and clashes and political instability marked by democratic backsliding. Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic state with over 80 different ethnic groups. Christianity and Islam are the main faith traditions observed in Ethiopia. This sovereign state is a founding member of the UN, the Group of 24 (G-24), the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77 and the Organisation of African Unity. Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the African Union, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Standby Force and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa. Ethiopia is considered emerging power and developing country, experienced 9.4% economic growth from 2010 to 2020. The country is regarded as poor in terms of per capita income and the Human Development Index, with high rates of poverty, poor respect for human rights, and a literacy rate of only 49%. Agriculture is the largest sector in Ethiopia; accounted for nearly half of the national GDP and over 80% of the nation's workforce as of 2015.