"Abyssinia" redirects here. For the breed of cat, see Abyssinian (cat).

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Amharic ኢትዮጵያ Ityopp'ya), is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and Sudan to the west. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation on the continent, or indeed in the world. Unique among African countries, Ethiopia maintained independence during the Scramble for Africa, and continued to do so except for a five-year period (1936-41) when it was under Italian occupation. But even during this period there was no Italian colonization of Ethiopia as the Italians occupied a few key cities and most of Ethiopia was not affected by their presence; the Italian period is thus considered an "occupation" and not colonial rule.

Ethiopia was also historically called Abyssinia, derived from the Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name "HBSHT," modern Habesha. The English name "Ethiopia" is thought to be derived from the Greek word Aithiopia, from Aithiops ‘an Ethiopian’, derived from Greek terms meaning "of burnt (αιθ-) visage ()".Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (s. v.); Αιθιοπηες Il. 1.423, properly, Burnt-face, i.e. Ethiopian, negro However, this etymology is disputed. The Book of Aksum, an Ethiopic chronicle dating from the Christian era, 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.

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Just started reading Notes From the Hyenas Belly. A memoir of a boy growing up in Ethiopia, where we are adopting from. Good read so far!
jbonewald (jbonewald) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:39:24 -0000
Just started reading Notes From the Hyenas Belly. A memoir of a boy growing up in Ethiopia, where we are adopting from. Good read so far!
#Ewan Message about Ethiopia# http://natgeotv.com/uk/long-way-down/videos/ewan-mcgregors-message-about-ethiopia
EwanMcgregorPT (Ewan McGregor) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:39:01 -0000
#Ewan Message about Ethiopia# http://natgeotv.com/uk/long-way-down/videos/ewan-mcgregors-message-about-ethiopia
global: Eritrean rebels say kill 25 government troops in attacks: ZALAM Subscribe to Ethiopia RSS feed