Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Name

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It is not certain how old the name Ethiopia is; its earliest attested use is in the Iliad , where it appears twice, and in the Odyssey, where it appears three times. The earliest attested use in the region is as a Christianized name for the Kingdom of Aksum in the 4th century, in stone inscriptions of King Ezana. The Ge'ez name ʾĪtyōṗṗyā and its English cognate are thought by some recent scholars to be derived from the Greek word Αἰθιοπία Aithiopia, from Αἰθίοψ Aithiops ‘an Ethiopian’, derived in turn from Greek words meaning "of burned face". However, the Book of Aksum, a Ge'ez chronicle compiled in the 15th century, states that the name is derived from "'Ityopp'is" — a son (unmentioned in the Bible) of Cush, son of Ham, who according to legend founded the city of Axum. Pliny the Elder similarly states the tradition that the nation took its name from someone named Aethiops. A third etymology, suggested by the late Ethiopian scholar and poet laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, traces the name to the "old black Egyptian [sic]" words Et (Truth or Peace) Op (high or upper) and Bia (land, country), or "land of higher peace".

In English and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was also once historically known as Abyssinia, derived from Habesh, an early Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name "Ḥabaśāt" (unvocalized "ḤBŚT"), modern Habesha, the native name for the country's inhabitants (while the country was called "Ityopp'ya"). In a few languages, Ethiopia is still called by names cognate with "Abyssinia," e.g., and modern Arabic Al Habeshah, meaning land of the Habesha people. The term Habesha, strictly speaking, refers only to the Amhara and Tigray-Tigrinya people who have historically dominated the country politically, and which combined comprise about 36% of Ethiopia's population. However, in contemporary Ethiopian politics, the word Habesha is often used to describe all Ethiopians and Eritreans. Abyssinia can strictly refer to just the North-Western Ethiopian provinces of Amhara and Tigray as well as central Eritrea, while it was historically used as another name for Ethiopia.

History

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Early history

Human settlement in Ethiopia dates back to prehistoric times. 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 (Beja lands), 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.

The Twenty Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (roughly 743-656 B.C.) was actually an Ethiopian Dynasty. During this period Ethiopia ruled Egypt. Their most accomplished pharoah during this time was Taharqa who wore two snakes on his crown signifying sovereignty of both Egypt and Ethiopia.

After the fall of Dʿmt in the fourth century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller successor kingdoms, until the rise of one of these kingdoms during the first century BC, the Aksumite Kingdom, ancestor of medieval and modern Ethiopia, which was able to reunite the area. They established bases on the northern highlands of the Ethiopian Plateau and from there expanded southward. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Aksum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time.

In 316 AD, a Christian philosopher from Tyre, Meropius, embarked on a voyage of exploration along the coast of Africa. He was accompanied by, among others, two Syro-Greeks, Frumentius and his brother Aedesius. The vessel was stranded on the coast, and the natives killed all the travelers except the two brothers, who were taken to the court and given positions of trust by the monarch. They both practiced the Christian faith in private, and soon converted the queen and several other members of the royal court. Upon the king's death, Frumentius was appointed regent of the realm by the queen, and instructor of her young son, Prince Ezana. A few years later, upon Ezana's coming of age, Aedesius and Frumentius left the kingdom, the former returning to Tyre where he was ordained, and the latter journeying to Alexandria. Here, he consulted Athanasius, who ordained him and appointed him Bishop of Aksum. He returned to the court and baptized the King Ezana, together with many of his subjects, and in short order Christianity was proclaimed the official state religion again. For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama" ("Father of peace").

Restored contact with Europe

In the early fifteenth century Ethiopia sought to make diplomatic contact with European kingdoms for the first time since Aksumite times. A letter from King Henry IV of England to the Emperor of Abyssinia survives. In 1428, the Emperor Yeshaq sent two emissaries to Alfons V of Aragon, who sent return emissaries that failed to complete the return trip. The first continuous relations with a European country began in 1508 with Portugal under Emperor Lebna Dengel, who had just inherited the throne from his father.

Zemene Mesafint

All of this contributed to Ethiopia's isolation from 1755 to 1855, called the Zemene Mesafint or "Age of Princes." The Emperors became figureheads, controlled by warlords like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray, and by the Oromo Yejju dynasty, which later led to 17th century Oromo rule of Gondar, changing the language of the court from Amharic to Afaan Oromo. Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that concluded an alliance between the two nations; however, it was not until 1855 that Ethiopia was completely reunited and the power in the Emperor restored, beginning with the reign of Emperor Tewodros II. Upon his ascent, despite still large centrifugal forces, he began modernizing Ethiopia and recentralizing power in the Emperor, and Ethiopia began to take part in world affairs once again.
 

European 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 Adwa in 1896, whereby the Ethiopians surprised the world by defeating Italy and remaining independent, under the rule of Menelik II. Italy and Ethiopia signed a provisional treaty of peace on 26 October 1896.

Selassie years

Haile Selassie's reign came to an end in 1974, when a Soviet backed Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg" led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, deposed him, and established a one-party communist state.

Communism

The ensuing regime suffered several coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and a massive refugee problem. In 1977, there was the Ogaden War, but Ethiopia quickly defeated Somalia with a massive influx of Soviet military hardware and a Cuban military presence coupled with East Germany and South Yemen the following year.

Hundreds of thousands were killed due to the red terror, forced deportations, or from using hunger as a weapon. In 2006, after a long trial, Mengistu was found guilty of genocide.

In the beginning of 1980s, a series of famine hit Ethiopia that affected around 8 million people, leaving 1 million dead. Insurrections against Communist rule sprang up particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In 1989, the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically-based opposition movements to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Concurrently the Soviet Union began to retreat from building World Communism under Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika policies, marked a dramatic reduction in aid to Ethiopia from Socialist bloc countries. This resulted in even more economic hardship and the collapse of the military in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in the north. The Collapse of Communism in general in Eastern Europe in the Revolutions of 1989, coincided with the Soviet Union stopping aid to Ethiopia altogether in 1990, and the strategic outlook for Mengistu quickly detoriated.

In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa and the Soviet Union did not intervene to save the government side. Mengistu fled the country to asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides. The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), composed of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution, was set up. In June 1992, the OLF withdrew from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition also left the government. In 1994, a new constitution was written that formed a bicameral legislature and a judicial system. The first free and democratic election took place in May 1995 in which Meles Zenawi was elected the Prime Minister and Negasso Gidada was elected President.

Recent

In 1993 a referendum was held & supervised by the UN mission UNOVER, with universal suffrage and conducted both in and outside Eritrea (among Eritrean communities in the diaspora), on whether Eritreans wanted independence or unity with Ethiopia. Over 99% of the Eritrean people voted for independence which was declared on 24 May 1993. In 1994, a constitution was adopted that led to Ethiopia's first multi-party elections in the following year. In May 1998, a border dispute with Eritrea led to the Eritrean-Ethiopian War that lasted until June 2000. This has hurt the nation's economy, but strengthened the ruling coalition. On 15 May 2005, Ethiopia held another multiparty election, which was a highly disputed one with some opposition groups claiming fraud. Though the Carter Center appreciated the preelection conditions, it has expressed its dissatisfaction with postelection matters. The 2005 EU election observers continued to accuse the ruling party of vote rigging. Many from the international community are divided about the issue with Irish officials accusing the 2005 EU election observers of corruption for the "inaccurate leaks from the 2005 EU election monitoring body which led the opposition to wrongly believe they had been cheated of victory." In general, the opposition parties gained more than 200 parliament seats compared to the just 12 in the 2000 elections. Despite most opposition representatives joining the parliament, some leaders of the CUD party are in jail following the post-election violence. Amnesty International considers them "prisoners of conscience".

Deforestation

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Deforestation is a major concern for Ethiopia as studies suggest loss of forest contributes to soil erosion, loss of nutrients in the soil, loss of animal habitats and reduction in biodiversity. At the beginning of the Twentieth century around 420,000 km² or 35% of Ethiopia’s land was covered by trees but recent research indicates that forest cover is now approximately 11.9% of the area.  Ethiopia is one of the seven fundamental and independent centers of origin of cultivated plants of the world.

Ethiopia loses an estimated 1,410 km² of natural forests each year. Between 1990 and 2005 the country lost approximately 21,000 km².

Current government programs to control deforestation consist of education, promoting reforestation programs and providing alternate raw material to timber. In rural areas the government also provides non-timber fuel sources and access to non-forested land to promote agriculture without destroying forest habitat.

Organizations such as SOS and Farm Africa are working with the federal government and local governments to create a system of forest management.  Working with a grant of approximately 2.3 million Euros the Ethiopian government recently began training people on reducing erosion and using proper irrigation techniques that do not contribute to deforestation. This project is assisting more than 80 communities.

Urbanization

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Population growth, migration, and urbanization are all straining both governments and ecosystems’ capacity to provide people basic services.  Urbanization has steadily been increasing in Ethiopia, with two periods of significantly rapid growth. First, in 1936-1941 during the Italian occupation of Mussolini’s fascist regime, and from 1967-1975 when the populations of urban centers tripled.  In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia, building infrastructure to connect major cities, and a dam providing power and water.  This along with the influx of Italians and laborers was the major cause of rapid growth during this period. The second period of growth was from 1967-1975 when rural populations migrated to urban centers seeking work and better living conditions.  This pattern slowed after to the 1975 Land Reform program instituted by the government provided incentives for people to stay in rural areas. As people moved from rural areas to the cities, there were fewer people to grow food for the population. The Land Reform Act was meant to increase agriculture since food production was not keeping up with population growth over the period of 1970-1983.  This program proliferated the formation of peasant associations, large villages based on agriculture.  The act did lead to an increase in food production, although there is debate over the cause; it may be related to weather conditions more than the reform act.  Urban populations have continued to grow with an 8.1% increase from 1975-2000.

Rural Vs. Urban Life Migration to urban areas is usually motivated by the hope of better living conditions. In peasant associations daily life is a struggle to survive. Only 45% of rural households in Ethiopia consume the World Health Organization’s minimum standard of food per day, (2,200 kilocalories), with 42% of children under 5 years old being underweight.  Most poor families (75%) share their sleeping quarters with livestock, and 40% of children sleep on the floor, where night time temperatures average 5 degrees Celsius in the cold season.  The average family size is six or seven, living in a 30 square meter mud and thatch hut, with less than two hectares of land to cultivate.  These living conditions are deplorable, but are the daily lives of peasant associations.

The peasant associations face a cycle of poverty. Since the land holdings are so small, farmers cannot allow the land to lie fallow, which reduces soil fertility.  This land degradation reduces the production of fodder for livestock, which causes low amounts of milk production.  Since the community burns livestock manure as fuel, rather than plowing the nutrients back into the land, the crop production is reduced.  The low productivity of agriculture leads to inadequate incomes for farmers, hunger, malnutrition and disease. These unhealthy farmers have a hard time working the land and the productivity drops further.

Although conditions are drastically better in cities, all of Ethiopia suffers from poverty, and poor sanitation. In the capital city of Addis Ababa, 85% of the population lives in slums.  Although there are some wealthy neighborhoods with mansions, most people make their houses using whatever materials are available, with walls made of mud or wood. Only 12% of homes have cement tiles or floors.  Sanitation is the most pressing need in the city, with most of the population lacking access to waste treatment facilities. This contributes to the spread of illness through unhealthy water.

Despite the living conditions in the cities, the people of Addis Ababa are much better off than people living in the peasant associations due to their educational opportunities. Unlike rural children, 69% of urban children are enrolled in primary school, and 35% of those eligible for secondary school attend.  Addis Ababa has its own university as well as many other secondary schools. The literacy rate is 82%.

Health is also much greater in the cities. Birth rates, infant mortality rates, and death rates are lower in the city than in rural areas, due to better access to education and hospitals.  Life expectancy is higher at 53, compared to 48 in rural areas.  Despite sanitation being a problem, use of improved water sources is also greater; 81% in cities compared to 11% in rural areas.  This encourages more people to migrate to the cities in hopes of better living conditions.

The continued urbanization and migration poses a threat to environmental sustainability in Ethiopia. As more migration occurs, there will be decreased food production to sustain the population. Rather than fixing the problems of degraded land and water resources, people move to cities in hopes of a better life. If nothing is done about the problem, the capacity to grow food will decrease as populations continue to increase, while poverty and health conditions get worse.

This is a problem many NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) are working on fixing. But there is clear evidence that most are far apart, less coordinated, and working in isolation, with no effective mechanisms for them to relate with other NGOs.  This is why a consortium is required to solve the problem. The good news is that the Sub-Saharan Africa NGO Consortium is already coordinating efforts among NGOs in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Sudan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria.  By sharing information, techniques, and resources, NGOs are better equipped to help the rural farmers of Ethiopia.

Health

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According to the head of the World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Program, Ethiopia has only 1 medical doctor per 100,000 people. However, the World Health Organization in its 2006 World Health Report gives a figure of 1936 physicians (for 2003), which comes to about 2.6 per 100,000. Globalization is said to affect the country, with many educated professionals leaving Ethiopia for a better economic opportunity in the West.

Ethiopia's main health problems are said to be communicable diseases caused by poor sanitation and malnutrition. These problems are exacerbated by the shortage of trained manpower and health facilities.

There are 119 hospitals (12 in Addis Ababa alone) and 412 health centers in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has an incredibly low life expectancy at birth with the current average age being 45 years old.  In the U.S.A. the average life expectancy is over three decades longer at the age of 77.   In addition to the life expectancy rate being so low, there is also a very high infant mortality rate with over 10 percent of babies dying after or shortly after birth. Currently Ethiopia only has 3 doctors per 100,000 people. These numbers are dangerously low compared to the U.S.A., which has 550 available for every one hundred thousand Americans. Currently Ethiopia, as a whole is fighting a losing battle against the AIDS epidemic.

The low proportion of doctors with western medical expertise leaves the door wide open for potentially less reliable traditional healers that use home-based therapies to heal common ailments. High rates of unemployment leave many Ethiopian citizens unable to support their families. In Ethiopia an increasing number of “false healers” using home based medicines have grown with the rising population.  The differences between real and false healers are almost impossible to distinguish. However, only about ten percent of practicing healers are true Ethiopian healers.  Much of the false practice can be attributed to commercialization of medicine and the high demand for healing.  Both men and women are known to practice medicine from their homes.  It is most commonly the men that dispense herbal medicine similar to an out of home pharmacy.

Ethiopian healers are more commonly known as traditional medical practitioners. Before the onset of Christian missionaries and westernized medicine, traditional medicine was the only form of treatment available.  Traditional healers extract healing ingredients from wild plants, animals and rare minerals.  Among the leading number of disease that leads to death include aids, malaria, tuberculosis and dysentery.  Largely because of the costs, traditional medicine continues to be the most common form of medicine practiced. Many Ethiopians are unemployed which makes it difficult to pay for most medicinal treatments.  Ethiopian medicine is heavily reliant on magical and supernatural beliefs that have little or no relation to the actual disease itself.  Many physical ailments are believed to be caused by the spiritual realm which is the reason healers are most likely to integrate spiritual and magical healing techniques.  Traditional medicinal practice is strongly related to the rich cultural beliefs of Ethiopia, which explains the emphasis of its use.

In Ethiopian culture there are two main theories of the cause of disease. The first is attributed to God or other supernatural forces, while the other is attributed to external factors such as unclean drinking water and unsanitary food. Most genetic diseases or deaths are viewed as the will of God. Miscarriages are thought to be the result of demonic spirits.

One medical practice that is commonly practiced irrespective of religion or economic status is female genital mutilation.  Nearly four out of five Ethiopian women are circumcised.  There are three levels of circumcision that involve different degrees of cutting the clitoris and vaginal area.  Many of these practices are done with an unsanitary blade with little or no anesthetics.  It can result in heavy bleeding, high pain, and sometimes death.

It was not until Christian missionaries traveled to Ethiopia bringing new religious beliefs and education that westernized medicine was infused into Ethiopian medicine.  Today there are three medical schools in Ethiopia that began training students in 1965 two of which are linked to Addis Ababa University.  There is only one psychiatric facility treatment in the whole country because Ethiopian culture is resistant to psychiatric treatment.  Although there have been huge leaps and bounds in medical technology there is still a large problem in the distribution of medicine and doctors in Ethiopia.

Education

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Education in Ethiopia has been dominated by the Orthodox Church for many centuries until secular education was adopted in the early 1900s. The elites, mostly Christians and central ethnic Amhara population, had the most privilege until 1974, when the government tried to reach the rural areas. In fact, until right now, it is only the elite Christians who have better chance to higher education. Languages other than Amharic are supressed. Oromo, for example wasn't allowed in the educational institutions. The current system follows very similar school expansion schemes to the rural areas as the previous 1980s system with an addition of deeper regionalisation giving rural education in their own languages starting at the elementary level and with more budget allocated to the Education Sector. The sequence of general education in Ethiopia is six years of primary school, four years of lower secondary school and two years of higher secondary school.

Sports

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Ethiopia has some of the best middle-distance and long-distance runners in the world. Kenya and Morocco are often its opponents in World Championships and Olympic middle and long-distance events. The New York Times called Ethiopia a "running mecca" due to its historical successes in the athletics program, in which it also took 5th place in the world ranking during the Beijing Olympics. As of March 2006, three Ethiopians dominate the long-distance running scene, mainly: Haile Gebreselassie (World champion and Olympic champion) who has set over twenty new world records and currently holds the 20 km, half-marathon, 25 km, and marathon world record, and Kenenisa Bekele (World champion, World cross country champion, and Olympic champion), who holds the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records. Ethiopia has also had various successful sweeps by taking all three medals in various world races including during the Olympics and Lewis Michael Fletcher who is now based in Peterborough who won 4 golds in the Ethiopian para olympics. The last few years Ethiopian women runners have joined the men in dominating athletics, particularly the multi-gold medalists Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba. Ethiopia has added more events to the list of its preeminence in athletics, including the steeplechase which Legese Lamiso recently took the top honors.

Ethiopian distance-runners include Derartu Tulu, Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde, Miruts Yifter, Addis Abebe, Gebregziabher Gebremariam, Belayneh Densamo, Werknesh Kidane, Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Million Wolde, Assefa Mezgebu, etc. Derartu Tulu was the first woman from Africa to win an Olympic gold medal, doing so over 10,000 metres at Barcelona. Abebe Bikila, the first Olympic champion Θ representing an African nation, won the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964, setting world records both times. He is well-known to this day for winning the 1960 marathon in Rome while running barefoot. Miruts Yifter, the first in a tradition of Ethiopians known for their brilliant finishing speed, won gold at 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Moscow Olympics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kenenisa Bekele became the second man to achieve this feat, while fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba became the first woman to win gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

Archaeology

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Ethiopia offers a greater richness in archaeological finds and historical buildings than any other country in Sub-Saharan Africa (including Sudan). In April 2005 , the Obelisk of Axum, one of Ethiopia's religious and historical treasures, was returned to Ethiopia by Italy.  Under the orders of dictator Benito Mussolini, Italian troops seized the obelisk in 1937 and took it to Rome. Italy agreed to return the obelisk in 1947 in a UN agreement, and it was finally returned in 2005 . As of January 2007 the obelisk has not been erected in Ethiopia. The monument was returned to Ethiopia in three or four large segments to facilitate easier transport. The pieces are so large that the Ethiopian government has been unable to erect it or even devise a way it could feasibly be done. The original site of the obelisk is an unexcavated area that would be damaged by heavy machinery, if that were determined to be an appropriate method of erection. There have been plenty of significant discoveries including the oldest known, complete fossilized human skeleton, Lucy. Other discoveries are still being made. Recently, archeologists uncovered the ruins of the legendary ancient Islamic kingdom of Shoa, that included evidence of a large urban settlement as well as a large mosque.

source of information is based on http://en.wikipedia.org/