Final Project

Africa is a very diverse continent. It is the second most populated continent in the world with about 1.1 billion people residing on the land. Africa is also one of the oldest populated areas in the world. The continent of Africa has 54 different counties within its borders. There are 2,000 different recognizable languages spoken in the country. Africa however, is the world poorest and most underdeveloped counties in the world. Disease is very common in this country as well, over 25 million people are HIV positive. And over 17 million have already died from the disease. Malaria is also a known killer in Africa. 90% of all malaria cases are from Africa and it accounts for 24% of children’s death. The average life span for a person living in Africa is appropriately 51 years old.  Schools are very scares in this area. 40% of all adults are illiterate and most of those being woman. Africa is the hottest and the second driest continent in the world. It holds the largest desert in the world and it is even bigger than the whole United State together. That desert is called the Sahara Desert. Since most of the continent is dry Deseret over 90% of the land is not suited for agriculture. Some areas get absolutely no ran and some get rain none stop. Appropriately 240 people in Africa suffer from malnourishment. For the remainder of this paper I am going to focus on just one of Africa’s 54 countries: Ethiopia. Ethiopia has strong religious history in which the country is founded on. It also has music and art history as well natural resources and trade.

            Ethiopia is the second most populated country in Africa with a population of about 100 million people. The largest city in Ethiopia which is also the capital is Addis Ababa, whom plays in important role in Ethiopian history. The weather is Ethiopia is typically mild in a very tropical climate. The average temperatures range from 68 degrees to 85 dresses. They do not have set seasons like we do here in the United States. There seasons are largely defined by how much rainfall they get. October to February is a pretty dry season. Then in march begins a light rainy season and goes until may. Then the heavy rain starts in June going till September. The country has a high central plateau and mountains ranging between 4,000 to 13,000 feet high. The Great Rift Valley splits the plateau in half making the western high grounds get a lot more rain and the low grounds get very hot, dry days. Ethiopia has a lot of health problems and most of those health problems stem from poor sanitation and malnutrition. Of the 100 million residents of Ethiopia, over 44 million do not have access clean water. The people will drink the dirty water, even though it makes the sick because they have absolutely no other alternative. There is very little medical care on sight to help the sick, leaving many to die of treatable illnesses. The average life expectancy for a person living in this country is 42 years old which is very young compared to the people in the United States. World Heath and the United Nations is working to bring clean water to these people. They are also providing information regarding diseases such as AIDs to educate people how to stop them from spreading.

            Unlike most of the other Africa counties Ethiopia was not formally colonized but was ruled over by a line of emperors. Ethiopia is now known as a federal state which means they are a self-governing country like the United States. Ethiopia is divided into 9 state like regions and 2 charted cities. A character city is “a city which the governing system is defined by the city’s own charter document rather by the state, provincial regional or national law.” [1] The two charter cities are the capital of Ethiopia; Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Each region is governed by a council and each council has a president. Also, each president has an executive committee. Ethiopia has its own constitution which came into effect in 1995.  Ethiopia is a landlocked country which means its surrounded by other countries. It relies on other countries for trading exports to other counties. The county of Ethiopia has quite a few natural resources. Most of their resources come from agriculture. They have a wide range of soils, climates and elevations that allow for a variety of different crops to be grown. They also have a large variety of minerals such as iron, copper, petroleum, salt, potash, gold and platinum.  Ethiopia is the 110th largest export economy in the world. Ethiopia's top exports include refined petroleum which is used to make a variety of products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene and heating oils. Another export is coffee. Coffee is a $842 million industry for the county. Ethiopia is the 7th largest producer of coffee in the world. They produce over 28 thousand tons of coffee each year. The Ethiopians drink about half and then export the rest around the world. Coffee counts for about 10% of the annual government revenue for the county. The stability of Ethiopia is at a constant rise. The World Bank claims that Ethiopia will be a middle-class country by the year 2025. Ethiopia is now opening foreign trade with Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia. Also, Ethiopia’s coffee industry is on the rise as well.  It is said that Ethiopia is going to increase their coffee exports by 45% in the next couple of years. 

            Christianity was adopted in Ethiopia as early as the 1^st century. It has been said that Ethiopia was one of the first nations in the whole world to accept Christianity. Ethiopian also practices Islam, Judaism and Paganism. The Syriac Nine Saints and Sadqan were two missionary groups that spread the religion of Christianity around Ethiopia. The Syraice missionaries helped expand the church and allowed for a place for people to come and learn about the Christian faith. At the time the bible was only written in a few languages but with the help of the missionary groups it started getting translated into more Ethiopian languages. The translation of the bible played a very important role in the spreading of Christianity in this nation. Another very important figure head in the Ethiopian culture is the Queen of Sheba. A very long time ago Ethiopia was under the rule of a serpent. A man came to visit Ethiopia and decided to stay for a while. He witnessed what the serpent was doing to the people of this country and wanted to do something about it. He decided that he was going to kill the serpent by tricking it into its own death. So, he went out and killed a goat, gutted it and filled it with poisonous herbs and then gave it the serpent. The serpent devoured the goat and then fell to his death. The people were so happy that the serpent was gone that they made this man the king. He married and had a daughter named Makeda. While the man was on his death bed, his daughter because the Queen of Sheba. The story of Queen of Sheba can be found in the Christian bible in 1 Kings 10. The Queen of Sheba left Ethiopia to go visit a man named Solomon in Jerusalem. Solomon became her teacher of the bible and answered all the questions she had. He also was also her lover. When the Queen of Sheba went back to Ethiopia, she spread the good news to her country. The story of the queen is said to be one of the very first biblical interactions the country ever had.

            Ethiopia has a very long, interesting history. From where they came from, how the country started and how religious entered this country is all very fascinating. Even though Ethiopia is still very much a struggling nation, it has come so far and are continuing to grow and strengthen every day. I like to think of the country of Ethiopia as a preserving country because they keep on pushing forward no matter the obstacles they must go through.

Bibliography

Belcher , Stephen. African Myths of Origin (Penguin Classics). Penguin Books, 2005.

Bent, J. Theodore. "JSTOR." The Ancient Trade Route across Ethiopia 2, no. 2 (August 1893). Accessed March 8, 2017.

Boyes, Steve. "Getting to Know Africa: 50 Interesting Facts…." National Geographic Society (blogs). August 25, 2014. Accessed March 08, 2017.

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/31/getting-to-know-africa-50-facts/.

"Ethiopia." WHO. Accessed March 08, 2017.

http://www.who.int/countries/eth/coop_strategy/en/index1.html.

"Ethiopia." Infoplease. Accessed March 08, 2017. http://www.infoplease.com/country/ethiopia.html.

"Ethiopian Treasures." Ethiopian Religions - Christianity, Islam, Judaism & Paganism. Accessed February 03, 2017. http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/religion.htm.

"Interesting Facts about Ethiopia." Interesting Facts about Ethiopia | Abeba Tours Ethiopia. Accessed March 08, 2017. http://www.abebatoursethiopia.com/about_ethiopia/interesting_facts.

Reader, John. Africa: A Biography of the Continent . Vintage, 1999.

Society, National Geographic. "Ethiopia Facts, Ethiopia Flag." National Geographic. Accessed March 08, 2017. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/ethiopia-facts/.

"What is a Charter City?" Community Solutions MN. July 13, 2011. Accessed March 08, 2017. https://communitysolutionsmn.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/what-is-a-charter-city/.

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[1] “What is a Charter City?” 

Political and national boundries

Ethiopia was not a formally colonized state but was ruled over by sequential emperors. Ethiopia was imperialistic and autocratic. Each emperor brought in various ethnic groups to reside in the state. In the 19 century though, that all changed.  Ethiopia is now known as a federal state which means that they are a self-government country just like the United States. There are only 4 countries in Africa that claim a federation type of government. Ethiopia is divided into 9 regional states and 2 chartered cities. A charter city is “a city which the governing system is defined by the city’s own charter document rather by the state, provincial regional or national law.” The two charter cities are Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Each region is governed by a council and each council has a president. Also each president has an executive committee. Ethiopia has its own constitution which came into effect in 1995. The picture on the left shows the different regional states in Ethiopia and the picture on the right shows all of the federal state countries. 

Ethiopia and the country of Somali sit right next to each other and there has been a lot of tension between the two counties for many years. Their conflict was not only political but territorial. In the 16^th century Ethiopia invaded the Ogaden region. The two counties went to war three separate times. After the last was, Somali had a collapse in their central government and ever since Ethiopia has had the upper hand financially and militarily. 

                                          

The stability of Ethiopia is at a constant rise. The World Bank claims that Ethiopia will be a middle class country by the year 2025. Ethiopia is not opening foreign trade with Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia. Also Ethiopia’s coffee industry is on the rise as well. Coffee plays a major role in the country’s economic status. It is said that Ethiopia is going to increase their coffee exports by 45% in the next couple of years. 

Missions

Christianity was adopted in Ethiopia as early as the 1^st century. It has been said that Ethiopia was one of the first nations in the whole world to accept Christianity. We can find this introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia through the New testament book of Acts. Act 8:26-40 discusses how a man named Philip helping a man understand a passage of Scripture. ³⁶ As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” ^{[37] [c] 38} And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

The Syriac Nine Saints and Sadqan were two missionary groups that spread the religion of Christianity. The Syriac missionaries helped in expanding the church. And also served as a center where people could come and learn about the Christian faith. The bible was then began being translating into different languages. It is said that the translation of the bible into various languages played a vital part in the spread of Christianity.

Also the story of Queen of Sheba and Solomon was one of the first accounts of the spread of Christianity. When the Queen of Sheba traveled to Jerusalem to see Solomon. He taught her about the one true God and answered any biblical questions she had. He may have been her lover but also her teacher. When she went back to Ethiopia and told the good news of the one real, true God. 

First Contacts

Building off of Ethiopian theories the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba visited Solomon in Jerusalem. 1 Kings 10 discusses in great details Queen of Sheba’s visit. “Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.” (1 Kings 10:2-4) As we know from the story, the Queen returned back to her country and with new found knowledge of the one true God. This is the earliest reported contact with the outside world for Ethiopia and with this contact came immersion of a new religions. Also this interaction formed the foundation of the Solomonic Dynasty which fell around 1974.

            Italy and Ethiopia had an interesting bond because they shared interest involved each other’s cultures back in the Middle ages. Ethiopians were very interesting in experiences other countries religious practices especially Christians one. Italy’s ties with Ethiopia also opened educational doors as well. The field of cartography and sea exploration increased greatly. The Ethiopians did have interactions with Greece and Asia but they had more of a trade relationship than anything else.

            In the early 1400’s a European man by the name of Pietro Rombulo visited Ethiopia for the first time. However, this is not the first interaction between the two countries. According to our text by Reader he says “Ethiopians regularly visited Egypt and Cyprus, and made pilgrimages to the holy places of Palestine, where they met European travelers and established links between Ethiopia and the rest of the Christian world” (Readers, 351).  Also in the early 1400, King Henry IV sent a letter to Ethiopia’s King named Prester John. Henry wanted an alliance with Ethiopia involving a crusade against Islam. 

References:

Reader, John. Africa: A Biography of the Continent. New York: First Vitage Books, 1999.

New International Bible

Natural Resources & Trade

 

A natural resource is a “material or substance such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occurs in nature and can be used for economic gain.” The county of Ethiopia has quite a few natural resources. Most of their resources come from agriculture. They have a wide range of soils, climates and elevations that allow for a variety of different crops to be grown. They also have a large variety of minerals such as iron, copper, petroleum, salt, potash, gold and platinum.  

Ethiopia is the 110th largest export economy in the world. Ethiopia's top exports include refined petroleum which is used to make a variety of products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene and heating oils. Another export is coffee. Coffee is a  $842 million industry for the county. The county also exports oily seeds which is used to make different types of cooking oils such as sun flower old, canola oil and sesame oil. The county also receives a few imports from other countries such as delivery trucks, telephones, iron structures and palm oil. In 2014 research shows that Ethiopians exported about 5.56 billion dollars in resources to other countries such as Kuwait, Somalia and Saudi. But imported 16.3 billion dollars in resources leaving the county at a negative trade balance of 10.8 billion dollars. 

                      

As I mentioned earlier Ethiopia is known for their coffee exports. Ethiopia is the 7th largest producer of coffee in the world. They produce over 28 thousand tons of coffee each year. The Ethiopians drink about half and then export the rest around the world. Coffee counts for about 10% of the annual government revenue for the county.

        

Religion and Origins

The people of Ethiopia practice Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Paganism. Ethiopia is however a predominately Christian county and majority of those Christians are Orthodox Tewahedo Christians. Christianity began in the county when two Syrian Christians decided to travel to Aksum and started to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Ezana, King of Aksum, declared Christianity as the kingdoms main religion in 341 AD. A good amount of Ethiopians believe that the Ark of the Covenant is still existent and can be found in Aksum. The Ark of the Covenant is very sacred in their country. A replica has been made and is known as the tabot. And is placed in every Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia 

Fasting is very important to the Orthodox Tewahedo Christians. While they’re fasting they cannot eat meat or dairy products. According to the church “the faithful must abstain from eating meat and dairy products to attain forgiveness of sins committed during the year and undergo a rigorous schedule of prayer and atonement.” The followers are only allowed one meal a day and that meal must be eaten after 3pm. They have over 7 different times throughout the year that they practice fasting.

The Ethiopian people also have a lot of myths/theories that they believe in as well. A very long time ago, Ethiopia was under the rule of a serpent. A man from another land came to Ethiopia and decided to live with the people. He observed the horrific acts the serpent did to the people and decided to take it upon himself to get rid of the serpent. He decided he was going to trick the serpent and kill it. He killed a goat, then cut into its stomach and filled the body with poisonous herbs. He then offered the serpent the goat and the serpent ate it right up and soon after died. The people then made that random man their kind since he rescued the people from the serpent’s reign. He married and had a daughter named Makeda. On his death bed his daughter became the queen of Sheba.  Queen of Sheba is a very valued and looked at figure in Ethiopia. 

"Ethiopian Treasures." Ethiopian Religions - Christianity, Islam, Judaism & Paganism. Accessed February 03, 2017. http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/religion.htm.

Music and Art as Historical Record

Music and art is very popular in Ethiopia. Music in the county of Ethiopia is very diverse because every ethnic group in the area is connected with a specific unique sound. The county had many different types of instruments as well. Traditional string instruments include the Masenqo which was a single-stringed bowed lute. Another string instrument they used frequently used was the Begena, it is a ten string instrument that looks similar to the harp we are familiar with in our county. Other types of instrument include the Washint which is a bamboo flute, the Kebero which is a very large hand drum. The Ethiopian people are very influenced by many types of folk music and ancient Christian related music. The people also listen to their own secular music that is similar to what we have here in the U.S.

               

 Ethiopian art started as early as the 4^th century to the present. The Art can be divided into 2 separate groups: Christian art which was used in church and metal work such as crowns. And arts and crafts such as baskets and jewelry. Ethiopian paintings were done regularly on walls, books and in icons. The Ethiopians would paint their orthodox churches from top to bottom. As I said before metal works was another important art form in this county. They would make crossed out of wood and metal. The crosses were made for either processional services or worn as jewelry such as necklaces. The Ethiopians also created a diverse array of textiles used in the church such as curtains and wrapping in their churches. They also made colorful beautiful baskets which was extremely common in rural Ethiopia. The people used these baskets to store grain, seeds, food and also used as bowls.