AFRICA NINTH STOP ETHIOPIA (ABYSSINIA THAT WAS)

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia, it is probably fair to say, conjures up in the Western mind two images - its former Emperor Hailie Selassie ( probably filed mentally rightly or wrongly under the category "good thing") and the Evelyn Waugh book "WAUGH IN AFRICA" ( similarly filed under the heading "comic writing" or alternatively "No longer PC").

Landlocked Ethiopia is bordered to the North by Eritrea, to the East by Somalia, to the South by Kenya and to the West by Sudan. It is populated 88% by 11 tribes and a wide mixture comprises the remaining 12 %. With an estimated population of 90,000,000 it is the 14th most populous country in the world and the second most populous in Africa. It is the 27th largest country in the world in area and the 10th largest country in Africa.

However, Ethiopia is only the 122nd ranked world exporting country, but it is the 96th largest importing country in the world.(Interestingly, my own country Australia ranks 20th on both Imports and Exports lists - not bad for the 52nd Ranked country by population.)

Considering those statistics, I am amazed that I have so rarely given Ethiopia any thought at all.

Said to have historical roots back to the second millenium B.C., Ethiopia has, for most of the time been a monarchy. In the early centuries A.D. it was part of the Kingdom of Aksum. In more recent times it successfully resisted the European powers' scramble for colonial territory in Africa.
Even in the 1880s she succeeded in defeating Italy's attempts to conquer her. However the claims of the Ethiopian Emperor that he was the heir of a 3,000 years old dynasty were fanciful.

Between 1936 and 1941, Fascist Italy at length succeeded in occupying the country. British Empire forces then joined Ethiopian forces in driving out the Italians in a campaign that degenerated into guerilla war until 1943 when the Italians were finally beaten.In 1944 the British at last recognised Ethiopian sovereignty and this recognition was cemented in the Treaty signed in December, 1944. Since 1995 the country has been a federated Republic.Prior to that , and after the death of Hailie Selassie ,the country was ruled by a Communist Russian backed Military Dictatorship called the Derg.

The Ethiopian territory is a high plateau with a central mountain range divided by the Great Rift Valley. The highest point is Ras Dejen at 4,533 metres. 15% of the land is arable Permanent crops take up only 1.14% of the land.The Great Rift Valley is geologically active with occasional earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and drought.The Blue Nile rises in Lake Tana in the country's Northwest. It is believed that the coffee bean, grain sorghum and the castor bean are native to Ethiopia.

A slight majority of the population is Christian , mostly members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. One third of the population is Sunni Mohammedan.

AFRICA EIGHTH STOP ERITREA

          




BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

HUMBLE CONFESSION :

As you will have noticed, I have paused in my "discovery" research of Africa and , far from doing one country per week, I have not done one country in the last 7 weeks : Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa! I can only plead the lead up to my 75th Birthday which became pre-occupying one way and another, and of course Holy Week and Easter. So now I have to catch up, and at different times I will be doing 2 countries per week.  
 

ERITREA 

Bordered by Djibouti , which we last "visited" , in the South East, by Ethiopia in the South, by Sudan in the West and in the North East and East by the Red Sea, Eritrea has as its capital the city of Asmara which is located inland approximately in the middle of the country opposite the Port city of Massawa.

It is the 101st largest country in the World and the 34th largest in Africa. By population, it is the 106th largest country in the world and the 33rd largest country in Africa.

Wth some 6,000,000 inhabitants, of nine recognised ethnic groups, Eritrea has a policy of recognising only four "official" religious groups : the Eritrean Orthodox, Catholics, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea and Sunni Mohammedans. Adherents of other religions risk arrest! Whilst the Government claims the country is 50% Christian and 50% Sunni Mohammedan, there are suggestions by an NGO that the true situation is 63% Christian and 37% Mohammedan. The same body claims that 57% of the population is Orthodox, 4% Catholic and 1-2 % is Protestant including Evangelical Lutherans and all others. the Mohammedans are concentrated in the Eastern and Western lowlands , whilst the Christians mainly occupy the central highlands. It is estimated that 1,500 adherents of non-"official" religions are held in prison.

History tells us that there are records of civilisation here dating back to around 980 B.C.and even further for it believed to have formed part o what the ancient Egyptians termed the land of Punt. In the first or second century A.D. present day Eritrea was the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. In about A.D.600 just as Mohammedanism was being founded and beginning its wars of conquest, the Kingdom became Christian. In medieval times different Mohammedan Empires controlled parts of Eritrea. The following centuries were subject to the tedious Mohammedan internal strife fragmenting the area until the Turkish Ottoman Empire gained sway only to collapse  in the last Century .In 1947 Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia, but after a few years Ethiopia absorbed Eritrea, which did not regain its independence until Eritreans fought a war of independence ending in a referendum in 1993. Although this was won by the independence voters, the war continued against Ethiopia until 1998 -2000.Along the way skirmishes had taken place with Djibouti.

The economy is not huge at US 5 Billions per annum made up of 11.7% Agriculture, 26.9% Industry and 61.4 % Services.  The labour force of 3,000,000 is devoted to Agriculture 80% and Industry and Services 20 %.

The country is rated among those in which it is most difficult to do business, and this is not surprising give the authoritarian streak shown in matters of Religion.