ShewaShewa (ሸዋ; Shawaa; شيوا), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (Scioà in Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is located at its center. The towns of Debre Berhan, Antsokia, Ankober, Entoto and, after Shewa became a province of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa have all served as the capital of Shewa at various times.
Ethiopian HighlandsThe Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea.
Qemant peopleThe Qemant (also known as western Agaws) are a small ethnic group in northwestern Ethiopia specifically in Gondar, Amhara Region. The Qemant people traditionally practiced an early Pagan-Hebraic religion, however most members of the Qemant are followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Despite their historic relationship, they should not be confused with the Beta Israel. The ethnicity's population is reported to be 172,000, according to the 1994 national census; the latest available national census, the one performed in 2007, does not list them as a separate group.
Meles ZenawiMeles Zenawi Asres (Tigrinya and መለስ ዜናዊ ኣስረስ; mɛllɛs zenawi asrɛs , born Legesse Zenawi Asres; 9 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was an Ethiopian soldier and politician who served as President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and then Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death in 2012. Born in Adwa to an Ethiopian father and an Eritrean mother, Meles became actively involved in politics after changing his original first name from Legesse to Meles, adopted following the execution of fellow university student Meles Takele by the Derg government in 1975.
Tigre peopleThe Tigre people (ትግረ tigre or ትግሬ tigrē) are an ethnic group indigenous to Eritrea. They mainly inhabit the lowlands and northern highlands of Eritrea. The Tigre are a nomadic agro-pastoralist community living in the northern, western, and coastal highlands of Eritrea (Gash-Barka, Anseba, Northern Red Sea regions of Eritrea and other regions too), as well as areas in eastern Sudan. The Tigre speak the Tigre language, which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family.
Cushitic-speaking peoplesCushitic-speaking peoples are the ethnolinguistic groups who speak Cushitic languages natively. Today, Cushitic languages are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north and south in Egypt, the Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania. Donald N. Levine held that Proto-Cushitic was spoken on the Ethiopian Highlands by 5000–4000 BC. Roger Blench hypothesizes that speakers of Cushitic languages may have been the producers of "Leiterband" pottery, which influenced the pottery of the Khartoum Neolithic.
Ethiopian nationalismEthiopian nationalism, also referred to as Ethiopianism or Ethiopianness (ኢትዮጵያዊነት, Ityop̣p̣yawinnät), according to its proponents, asserts that Ethiopians are a nation and promotes the social equality of all component ethnic groups. Ethiopian people as a whole regardless of ethnicity constitute sovereignty as one polity. Ethiopian nationalism is a type of civic nationalism in that it is multi-ethnic in nature and promotes multiculturalism.
Ethnic federalismEthnic federalism, multi-ethnic or multi-national federalism, is a form of federal system in which the federated regional or state units are defined by ethnicity. Ethnic federal systems have been created in attempts to accommodate demands for ethnic autonomy and manage inter-ethnic tensions within a state. They have not always succeeded in this: problems inherent in the construction and maintenance of an ethnic federation have led to some states or sub-divisions of a state into either breaking up, resorting to authoritarian repression, or resorting to ethnocracy, ethnic segregation, population transfer, internal displacement, ethnic cleansing, and/or even ethnicity-based attacks and pogroms.
Gumuz peopleThe Gumuz (also spelled Gumaz and Gumz) are an ethnic group speaking a Nilo-Saharan language inhabiting the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in western Ethiopia, as well as the Fazogli region in Sudan. They speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. The Gumuz number around 200,000 individuals. The Gumuz have traditionally been grouped with other Nilotic peoples living along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border under the collective name Shanqella (Pankhurst 1977).
Christianity in EthiopiaChristianity in Ethiopia is the country's largest religion with members making up 59% of the population. Christianity in Ethiopia dates back to the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, when the King Ezana first adopted the faith in the 4th century AD. This makes Ethiopia one of the first regions in the world to officially adopt Christianity. Various Christian denominations are now followed in the country. Of these, the largest and oldest is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church an Oriental Orthodox church centered in Ethiopia.
