Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country in East Africa. It is one of the oldest nations in the world. Its history goes back thousands of years. The capital city is Addis Ababa, which sits high in the mountains. More than 120 million people live in Ethiopia. That makes it the second most crowded country in Africa, after Nigeria.

Ethiopia has no coastline. It is landlocked, which means other countries wrap all the way around it. Its neighbors are Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea. The country covers about 420,000 square miles. That is a little bigger than the state of Texas.

The land itself is full of surprises. A chain of tall mountains called the Ethiopian Highlands runs through the middle of the country. These highlands are the largest mountain region in Africa. The Blue Nile is one of the two main branches of the Nile River. It begins at Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia. The Blue Nile gives most of the water that flows through Egypt. Ethiopia also has one of the hottest places on Earth, the Danakil Depression. Temperatures there often pass 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ethiopia has one of the longest written histories of any country. A kingdom called Aksum ruled the region almost 2,000 years ago. Aksum traded with ancient Rome, India, and Arabia. It was also one of the first kingdoms in the world to accept Christianity, around 330 CE. Today, about two-thirds of Ethiopians are Christian. Most of the rest are Muslim. The country has its own branch of Christianity called the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Ethiopia is also famous for another reason. It is one of only two countries in Africa that was never fully taken over by a European empire. In 1896, Ethiopian soldiers beat an Italian army at the Battle of Adwa. That win became a symbol of freedom for people across Africa.

Coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia. An old story says a goat herder named Kaldi saw his goats acting lively after eating red berries from a bush. Those berries came from the coffee plant. Ethiopians still grow some of the best coffee in the world. Sharing coffee is an important part of daily life.

Scientists study Ethiopia for another reason too. Some of the oldest human fossils ever found were dug up there. One famous skeleton, nicknamed Lucy, is about 3.2 million years old. Because of finds like Lucy, many scientists call Ethiopia the cradle of humankind.