10 interesting things you may not know about Ethiopia

1. 13 Months of Sunshine is Ethiopia´s tourism motto. The Ethiopian calendar actually has 13 months (12 months of 30 days each and one month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days, called Pagume). The year starts on September 11 in the Gregorian calendar.

2. Ethiopia is considered as the "cradle of mankind", as many human fossils have been found in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, suggesting that this place may have represented a crucial site for human evolution in the last million years. The most famous skeleton of a human ancestor found in this area, is a 3.2-million-year-old adult female, called Lucy.  She was named after the Beatles song ``Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds``, which was being played on the tape recorder in the camp on the day of its discovery in November 1974.

 

 
3. The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, means ´new flower´ in the Amharic language. It is the headquarter of the African Union, a Union established in 1963, consisting of 54 African states.

4. Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile.At Khartoum, the capital of Sudan it merges with the White Nile to form the Nile River proper.

 

5. Lalibela, one of its holiest towns in Ethiopia is known as the “8th wonder of the world” due to its marvelous monolithic rock hewn churches, which are considered one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites. They were excavated during the reign of king Lalibela, who ruled Ethiopia at the beginning of the 13^th century. According to the legend men and angels worked

together to built them, the men working through the day and the angels working through the night.

 

 

 

6. Kaffa Region in Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. According to the legend, which dates back to the 9^th century, it was an Ethiopian goatherd called Kadi who discovered the coffee plant. One day he noticed that his goats started pacing restlessy after eating the red berries that grew on the green bushes.

 

7.  Ethiopia is home to the world´s greatest long-distance runners.  Abebe Bikila is considered the greatest marathoner ever. He amazed the world when he won the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rom with a record time. He ran the event barefoot. Four years later, in Tokyo, he won again. Haile Gebreselassie is another Ethiopian distance runner who set a number of world records throughout his career. New generation of Ethiopian runners are following in their footsteps.

 
 

 

8.  Ethiopian Christians believe that the Ark of the Covenant, the gold box into that Moses places the holy Ten Commandments resides in the church of Mary Zion in Axum. The fate of the lost Ark, which mysteriously disappeared from Jerusalem is one of the greatest historical mystery.  However Ethiopian tradition says that the Ark had been taken to Ethiopia by Menelik, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Salomon of Israel.

 

9. The 1984-85 Ethiopian famine is one of Africa's biggest disasters in history.  When millions of Ethiopians were starving, singer Bob Geldof organised musicians to form the group Band Aid and recorded “Do they know it’s Christmas?” This was followed by song “We are the World”, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to raise funds for the famine victims. With sales in excess of 20 million copies worldwide, it is the most successful charity single ever.

 

 

10.   The Rastafarian movement, an ideology that started out in Jamaica in the 1930s regards Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia as a God. The name comes from Ras Tafari, the little (Ras) and Haile Selassie name at birth (Tafari Makonnen). One of the most important figures in the history Rastafarians is the legendary reggae singer Bob Marley.