ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia lies in the easter section of the African continent. Its highlands
range from six thousand to ten thousand feet in height. Its area is 450,000 square
miles. It is bordered by the: Red Sea in the north
Kenya in the south
Somalia and French Somaliland in the east and southeast
Sudan Republic in the west
Because of its shape in the map of Africa, Ethiopia is called the Horn of Africa.
In the rainy season, most of Ethiopia's rivers become impassable barriers.
Numberless huge cone-shaped and truncated mountains, called Ambas, jut skyward.
Ras Dashan, in the Semiem Mountain range, is 15,160 feet high. It is the highest
mountain in Ethiopia.
There are eight fairly large lakes in Ethiopia. Lake Abyata in the southern
part is famous for its millions of flamingoes.
The northern tip of one Kenyan lake extends into Ethiopia. The lake which was
discovered in 1886 was named for Rudolph, the son of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.
Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia. It is 2,300 square miles in area with
an average depth of forty-six feet. It is 6000 feet above sea-level. Thirty-seven
tiny islands break the watery expanse. Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile
River which in Ethiopia is called the Abbai River.
While the westward flowing rivers join the Nile River, the few which flow east-
ward follow a meandering course through undulating and sometimes desert country.
The Wabi Shebelli River rises in the Ahmar mountains, and the Juba River in the
Mendabo mountains. These two rivers are of a considerable size, each with several
tributaries. They flow through Somalia. However, the Wabi Shabelli River dries up
before reaching the Indian Ocean.
Three definite climate zones offer variety in Ethiopia. They are:
1. Dega--cold
2. Woina-Dega--temperate
3. Quolla--hot
Although Ethiopia has more than 100 varieties of indigenous trees, the area
covered by forests is only 5 per cent of the land. The forest areas are found mainly
in the southeast and south central areas. Two large juniper type trees are the Tid
and Zibba. Eucalyptus trees are abundant especialy in cities, towns and villages.
Reasons for the scarcity of forestlands in Ethiopia area:
1. The centuries-old practice of stripping the land of its timber
with no attempt made at replanting.
2. An unsufficient or uneven rainfall.
The two main seasons are wet and dry. They are:
1. Kiramt--the season of big rans--June to September
2. Bega--the dry season
There are little rains between February and April. Ethiopia's highest rainfall is
in the southeast, averaging 70 inches annually. In the central highlands, 40 to 70
inches is normal, but down on the Denakil Desert as little as one inch is recorded.
30 per cent of the country is pastoral, 9 per cent arable, and about 22 per
cent comprises brush and thornbush. The reamining one-third is either unproductive
or desert area.
PEOPLE
The people of Ethiopia are of mixed races and tribes, mainly Hametic, Cushitic,
and Nilotic. These ethnic groups speak about seventy different languages. Amharic
from the Hamitic-Ethiopia stock is the official language. |