Ethiopia lives according to an unusual calendar, in which not 12 months, but 13. Moreover, the first 12 months consist of exactly 30 days, but the last month can be 6 days or 5, depending on whether this year is a leap year or not …
The main religion in Ethiopia is Christianity. More than 60% of the country's inhabitants call themselves followers of this religion. Moreover, Christianity was adopted here in IV, which makes Ethiopia one of the most ancient Christian countries in the world. Islam and Judaism are also widespread in the country.
Until 1993, the country had access to the Red Sea. But after Eritrea gained independence, Ethiopia found itself inside the African continent. This significantly complicated the delivery of goods to the country by sea.
Interestingly, the very word "Ethiopia" is of Greek origin. Literally translated, it means "burnt face". This is mentioned in the works of Homer. True, the Greeks called this not only the inhabitants of Ethiopia, but the entire population of Africa. More than 5,000 Greeks currently live in Ethiopia.
The Amharic language has the status of the state language in Ethiopia. But only a quarter of the country's population speaks it. In total, Ethiopia has over 80 languages. Among foreign languages, English is the most widespread; it is taught in secondary schools and higher educational institutions.
Abram Hannibal, the great-grandfather of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, was supposedly a native of Ethiopia. At the age of seven, he was kidnapped by pirates and brought to Constantinople, a few years later the child was sent as a gift to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. In Russia, Abram Hannibal rose to the rank of general-in-chief. A monument has been erected to his famous great-grandson in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Ethiopians are particularly proud of the fact that the country has never been a colony of European powers. True, from 1936 to 1941. Ethiopia was invaded by Italy. But the locals call this period a temporary occupation, not a colonization.
Ethiopia has one of the largest lakes in Africa - Tana. Its area is about 3,500 square kilometers. However, swimming in it is strongly discouraged due to the large number of parasites.
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In the suburbs of Addis Ababa, there is an unusual factory where tsetse flies are grown. In the 30s of the last century, the Soviet geneticist A. Serebrovsky proposed an original way to combat harmful insects: males are sterilized with X-rays and released into the wild. There are no offspring from their mating with females, gradually the whole species will die out. The Ethiopian government took an interest in the idea and built a farm where tens of thousands of insects are sterilized every week.
The fauna and flora of Ethiopia is quite diverse. At the same time, an interesting fact should be noted: 31 species of mammals, 14 species of reptiles, 17 species of birds and hundreds of plant species are found only in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is home to the Danakil Desert, which is one of the hottest places on our planet. Often the soil surface warms up to 70 degrees here.