10 Amazing, Fun & Interesting Facts About Ethiopia

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Ethiopia, officially known as Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a country located in the Horn of Africa (northeastern Africa). It is surrounded by Eritrea,  Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya. It is the 2nd most populous country in Africa.

Interesting Facts About Ethiopia

#1: The Watch & The Calendar

  • Ethiopia counts its time on the opposite side of its clock. This can be tallied to being behind by 6 hours. 6 pm would be 12 noon and 12 noon would be 6 am.
  • The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months. The calendar is eight years behind the Western calendar. The months are usually 30 days long but the last month has 5 or 6 days.
  • September 11th is celebrated as the day of New Year.

#2: Coffee’s Birthplace

  • Ethiopia is the country where coffee was first discovered. Hence it is considered coffee’s homeland.
  • It was first noticed by a shepherd named Kaldi, whose goats started pacing restlessly after eating the plant’s leaves.
  • The word coffee itself is considered borrowed from the southern Ethiopian lands of Kaffa.

#3: Christianity & Ethiopia

There are some interesting facts about Ethiopia related to the religion Christian, here they are:

  • Ethiopia and its people, the Ethiopians have been mentioned in the Bible. The number of times varies from 40 to 60 according to different sources.
  • There are a lot of churches here and this gives Ethiopia a prominent place in the World as well as Christian history.
  • Ethiopia also claims that the final resting place of the Arc of the covenant is at a chapel in the holy city of Aksum, which was once, the capital of Ethiopia.

#4: Islam in Ethiopia

There are some interesting facts about Ethiopia related to the religion Islam, here they are:

  • Ethiopia has been mentioned in the Koran. It is also worth mentioning that it has mentions in the Iliad and Oddessey.
  • Ethiopia also happens to be the first country where muslim prayers were held outside Arabia.
  • Al Nejashi is the first mosque that has been built outside Arabia.
  • Ethiopia was the country in which Mohamed and his followers found solace when they were persecuted.

#5: League of Nations

  • Ethiopia is one of the countries that have not been invaded and conquered. Italy had been defeated twice when it tried to.
  • The country was the first to join the League of Nations, which soon proved to be fruitless. The nations belonging to this league would be given support known as ‘ collective support’. When mass murders and ethnic cleansing happened in Ethiopia, the others did not just bother.

#6: African Union

  • Emperor Hailesellasie I firmly believed that the states of Africa should unite and be its own master.   This led to the birth of Pan Africanism. This thought materialized to what is the African Union today.

#7: Hot Spots

  • Addis Ababa is the highest city in Africa. Goof up that happens with this city is that, tourists tend to assume that this city will also be as hot as any other African city. They are in for a surprise when they find out in person, how cool the city is, and how cold it can get.
  • The hottest place in the world is the Afar depression or the Afar triangle. The highlight is that it remains so throughout the year.

#8: Candace

  • Candace is the name given to the ancient queens who ruled Ethiopia. It is also spelt as Kandake or Kentake.

 #9: Sharing Names

  • Ethiopian fathers and their children do not share last names. The children take the first name of their father as their last name.

#10: Tukul

  • The traditional homes were huts called tukuls. The floor is dirt, while the walls are sticks and mud and the roof is made from Tef, a long grass.

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