Ethiopia

History

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of 1,104,300 square kilometres (426,400 sq mi). As of 2025, it has around 135 million inhabitants, making it the 14th-most populous country. 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. In 980 BC, the Kingdom of D'mt extended its realm over Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia, while the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region for 900 years. Christianity arrived to the kingdom in 330 AD, while Islam influenced during the first Hijra in 615. After the collapse of Aksum in 960, the Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts of Ethiopia. The Shewan usurper, Yekuno Amlak, overthrew the dynasty in 1270 at the Battle of Ansata, inaugurating... Summary adapted from the English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). The live article includes citations, maps, and updates.