May
2006
ETHIOPIA
"THE HOLY LAND OF AFRICA"
by
David J. Saunders
Ethiopia
is truly a land of great discovery, a land of
diverse geographical beauty and rich cultural
history. The name Ethiopia is the most widely
referenced African nation mentioned in the Bible
and in fact ancient historians and cartographers
referred to what little was known about Africa by
the name of Ethiopia, which is of Greek origin and
literally translated means "the land of the
brown-skinned people". Religion has always been a
major influence in Ethiopia, which was the first
place in Africa to make Christianity a state
religion. Ethiopia, one of a few countries in the
world that can claim continued existence and
history of over a millennium, is mentioned
thirty-three times in the Bible and many times in
the Qu'ran and perhaps this is the reason why so
many visitors are drawn to Ethiopia by the colorful
stories and fantastic tales to the land once known
as Abyssinia.
Other
contributing factors to the religious mystique of
Ethiopia being referred to as the "Holy Land" of
Africa are that by the early 4th century Ethiopia
was converted to Christianity and, by the 14th to
15th centuries when its territories were surrounded
by Muslim regions, tales were told in Europe about
the mysterious Christian Kingdom of "Prester John".
In addition, the royal lineage of the Ethiopian
Emperors and Empresses was said to have began
through the union of King Solomon (ancient Israel)
and the Queen of Sheba (ancient Ethiopia). In
modern times, perhaps the most famous of these
royal rulers of Ethiopia was Haile Selassie, whose
given name was Tafari Makonnen until he was crowned
a prince (ras) and later emperor of Ethiopia as the
111th successor of King Solomon. He took the name
Haile Selassie which literally translates to mean
"Might of the Trinity" and was perceived by many as
the symbol of black pride and the true king of
Africa as well as fondly referred to as the "Lion
of Judah".
Ethiopia,
also referred to as the "Holy Land" of Africa, is
now being recognized by many African-American
churches because of the remarkable manner in which
ancient historical traditions have been preserved
along with the discovery that Ethiopia has a rich
legacy of religious art, found in churches and
monasteries throughout the country. Indeed, the
traditional religious ceremonies and rituals of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church open a fantastic window
on the authentic world of the Old Testament. In no
other country is it possible to find oneself so
dramatically transported back in time or to
participate with such spiritual freedom in the
sacred rituals of an archaic
faith.
As
a result, many North American tourists are being
introduced to the Historic Northern Route of
Ethiopia which includes: (a) Bahar Dar, the source
of the fabled Blue Nile Falls locally known as Tis
Esat or "Smoke Fire". Bahar Dar also is the home of
several mysterious monasteries and churches located
along the shores of Lake Tana; (b) Gondar, the site
of the numerous medieval castle-like palaces and
the Debra Berhan Selassie Church with its
remarkable ceiling decorated with paintings of
winged angel faces. Gondar is also the ancestral
homeland of the Falashas, also known as the "Black
Jews"; (c) Lalibela, the site of the fantastic
rock-hewn monolithic churches known as the "eighth
wonder of the world", which has been preserved as
one of UNESCO's "World Heritage Sites"; and Axum,
Ethiopia's most ancient capital and the capital of
the historic Axumite kingdom which is the site of
many remarkable monolithic obelisks. Axum is also
the home of the fabled Queen of Sheba and the
reputed repository of the Biblical Ark of the
Covenant.
Other
tourism sites of interests include the natural
beauty and cultural history of Dire Dawa and the
famous walled city-state of Harar, which is the
fourth most sacred Islamic city and the center of
Islamic culture and religion in the Horn of Africa.
Recently, this fortified town was placed on the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites List. In Harar,
affectionately referred to as "Gey" (the City) by
its inhabitants, you can witness the spectacle of
the "Hyena Men" who feed wild hyenas raw meat from
their own mouths! There are also many eco-tourism
adventures to be explored in the Simien Mountains
in the north and the Sof Omar Caves in the south.
To the northeast is the Denakil Depression, which
is one of the most inhospitable but dramatic
landscapes on earth. Here you can explore the
archaeological site where the fossils of
humankind's earliest known ancestors were
discovered in 1974, affectionately known as the
famous "Lucy" fossil remains.
While
almost all of Africa remained under colonial rule
or was still being explored by Europeans, Ethiopia
was once a superpower that played a significant
political and economic role on the world stage. Its
international ties extended to the far corners of
the world. Over its long and storied history,
Ethiopia prided itself on its great achievements in
socio-political organization, arts, literature and
science, as well as innovations in agriculture and
engineering. The foundation for this unique
relationship was perhaps laid on the eve of 1896,
when Ethiopia successfully stopped the European
scramble for Africa at the gates of Adwa in
northernmost Ethiopia. Being an ancient
civilization, Ethiopia among other things gave
coffee and numerous grains and plants to the world.
Ethiopia is also very famous for its unique foods
that are full of fragrant prepared vegetables and
spicy meats eaten with you hands using flat spongy
type bread known as njera.
The
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is the
third most populated African country after Nigeria
and Egypt with an estimated sixty-five million
inhabitants. Ethiopia is fondly referred to as the
land of kings and legends and is the oldest
independent country in Africa as well as the
original home of coffee. Ethiopia is a landlocked
mountainous country that is bisected by the Great
Rift Valley and is roughly twice the size of the
state of Texas. It is geographically located in
what is referred to as "the Horn of Africa" and is
bordered on the north by Eritrea, on the east by
Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on
the west by Sudan. More than half of the country is
at high altitudes and its national capital, Addis
Ababa at 2,450 meters above sea level, is the
highest on the African continent. Addis Ababa is a
cosmopolitan city whose Amharic name translates
into the words "new flower". With the decision to
make Addis Ababa the headquarters of the United
Nation's Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and
the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now known
as the African Union, it has become Africa's
diplomatic capital.
An
estimated 45% of the population is Orthodox
Christians, another 45% are Muslims and the
remaining 10% adhere to traditional ethnic beliefs.
Ethiopia is a democratically-led nation and the
official language of Ethiopia is Amharic which has
its own alphabet - but English is also widely
spoken as the second official language. Other
principal languages spoken in Ethiopia are Oromo,
Tigrinya, Somali and Arabic. The national currency
of the country is the Birr (US$1 = 8.55).
Ethiopians are universally addressed by their first
name even in formal situations. Ethiopia uses the
Julian calendar, which is divided into twelve
months of thirty days each and a 13th month of five
or six days at the end of the calendar year, hence
the famous slogan, "Ethiopia, The Land of Thirteen
Months of Sunshine". The Ethiopian calendar is
seven years and three months behind the Gregorian
calendar.
Ethiopia's
major international airport is located at Addis
Ababa and there is an excellent network of sixteen
subsidiary airports throughout the country. The
national airline carrier, Ethiopian Airlines has
been in continuous operation for almost sixty years
and provides direct flights from Dulles
International Airport and Newark International
Airport on the east coast of the United States to
Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Airlines is also the only
airline carrier to fly east to west services across
the African Continent linking Addis Ababa in the
east with Dakar, Senegal in the west and provides
services to twenty-plus African nations, Europe,
Asia and the United States. Ethiopia has several
major hotels chains to include Hilton Hotel and
Sheraton Hotel boasting high quality amenities to
include a very good network of telephone, cellular
and satellite connections as well as e-mail and
internet services, spas and shops. For American
tourist visas are required as well as anti-malarial
medication.
About
the Author: David J. Saunders is the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Venue International
Professionals, Inc. (VIP) &endash; a full-service
travel and tourism company based in the Washington
Metropolitan Area that specializes in travel and
tourism destinations to the African Continent. He
has visited twenty-five African countries at least
once during the past eight years having visited
every region of Africa except for Central Africa.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Africa Travel Association's (ATA) as well as the
International Association of Black Travel Writers
(IABTW). He is also a prolific writer of more than
sixty published articles and papers about the
travel and tourism industry of the African
Continent.
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