Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. It is widely known as one of Africa's major capitals.
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of 1,104,300 square kilometres (426,400 sq mi). As of 2024, it is home to around 132 million inhabitants, making it the 10th-most populous country in the world, the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populated landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.
The Tigray Region is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fourth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states.
Oromia is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The provision of the article maintains special interest of Oromia by utilizing social services and natural resources of Addis Ababa.
Dire Dawa is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromo border and one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia. Dire Dawa alongside present-day Sitti Zone were a part of the Dire Dawa autonomous region of the Somali Region stipulated in the 1987 Ethiopian Constitution until 1993 when it was split by the federal government into a separately administered chartered city.
The Awash River is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia and empties into a chain of interconnected lakes that begin with Lake Gargori and end with Lake Abbe on the border with Djibouti, some 100 kilometres from the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura. The Awash River is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin covering parts of the Amhara, Oromia and Somali Regions, as well as the southern half of the Afar Region. The Awash River basin, spanning 23 administrative zones, covers 10% of Ethiopia's area.
Awash National Park is a national park in Ethiopia. Located at the border of Oromia state and Afar state, the park covers an area of 827 square kilometers, most of it lies at an altitude of 900 meters. Spanning across the southern tip of the Afar Region and the northeastern corner of the East Shewa Zone of Oromia, this park is 225 kilometers east of Addis Ababa.
Lake Langano is a lake in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, exactly 200 kilometers by road south of the capital, Addis Ababa, on the border between the East Shewa Zone and Arsi Zones. It is located to the east of Lake Abijatta in the Main Ethiopian Rift at an elevation of 1,585 meters.
The Birbir River of southwestern Ethiopia is a tributary of the Baro River, which it creates at its confluence with the Gebba. It is politically important because its course defines part of the boundary between the Mirab Welega and Illubabor Zones of the Oromia Region. Richard Pankhurst notes that the Birbir is economically important for the discovery in 1904 of deposits of platinum along its course.
Akaki is a woreda or district in Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Part of the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne, Akaki is bordered on the southwest by the Southwest Shewa Zone, on the west by Sebeta Hawas, on the northwest by Addis Ababa, on the north by the Bereh, and on the east by East Shewa Zone. The administrative center of this woreda is Dukem.
Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from foreign aid, much still remains to be done. Some factors inhibiting the achievement of these goals are the limited capacity of water bureaus in the country's nine regions, two city administrations and water desks in the 770 districts of Ethiopia (woredas); insufficient cost recovery for proper operation and maintenance; and different policies and procedures used by various donors, notwithstanding the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
The white-winged flufftail is a very rare African bird in the family Sarothruridae. The estimated global population size of white-winged flufftails is less than 250 adults. These birds reside in Ethiopia and South Africa but it is unknown whether these populations are one large or two different populations.
The history of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, formally begins with the founding of the city in the 19th century by Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II and his wife Empress Taytu Betul. In its first years the city was more like a military encampment than a town. The central focus was the emperor’s palace, which was surrounded by the dwellings of his troops and of his innumerable retainers. In the 1920s, Addis Ababa experienced a significant economic upturn, marked by a surge in the number of middle-class-owned buildings, including stone houses furnished with imported European furniture. The middle class also introduced newly manufactured automobiles and expanded banking institutions. Urbanization and modernization persisted during the Italian occupation, guided by a masterplan aimed at transforming Addis Ababa into a more "colonial" city, a trajectory that continued beyond the occupation. Subsequent master plans, formulated from the 1940s onward with the input of European consultants, focused on the development of monuments, civic structures, satellite cities, and the inner city.
The Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia that surrounds Addis Ababa. It was created in 2008 from parts of North Shewa Zone, East Shewa Zone, Southwest Shewa zone and West Shewa Zones. The zone was created to support the cooperation and development of the surrounding areas of Addis Ababa, and to control the urban sprawl of the city on the lands of Oromia. The administrative center of this zone is in Addis Ababa (Finfinne). The districts and town in this zone include Akaki, Bereh, Burayu, Dubra, Holeta Town, Koye Feche, Mulo, Sebeta Hawas, Sebeta Town, Sendafa Town, Sululta, Walmara, Laga Xafo Laga Dadhi, Galaan, Sebeta Hawas (Town) and Dukem.
The following is a historical events of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, including its formation prior to 20th century by chronology.
Akaky Kaliti, also spelled Akaki Kality, is a district (sub-city) of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As of 2011 its population was of 195,273. Formerly, Akaky Kaliti was known as Woreda 26.
The Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve is a protected area located in the Amhara National Regional State approximately 563 km northwest of Addis Ababa in the north-western part of Ethiopia. The biosphere reserve comprises Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, the main source of the Blue Nile, which provides important ecosystem services. The area is a hotspot of biodiversity, internationally known as an Important Bird Area and is of global importance for agricultural genetic diversity. The area is characterized by an enormous heterogeneity of land uses and natural ecosystems.
Alem Bekagn, or 'Kerchele Prison', was a central prison in Ethiopia until 2004. Located in Addis Ababa, the prison possibly existed as early as 1923, under the reign of Empress Zewditu, but became notorious after Second Italo-Ethiopian War as the site where Ethiopian intellectuals were detained and killed by Italian Fascists in the Yekatit 12 massacre. After the restoration of Emperor Haile Selassie, the prison remained in use to house Eritrean nationalists and those involved in the Woyane rebellion. Under the Communist Derg regime that followed, the prison was the site of another mass killing, the Massacre of the Sixty, and of the torture and execution of rival groups in the Red Terror. The prison remained a site of human rights abuses until the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front entered Addis Ababa on 28 May 1991, after which it became a normal prison. The prison was closed in 2004 and demolished in 2007 to allow the construction of the headquarters of the African Union.
Addis Ababa's economy is growing rapidly and become leading among cities in Ethiopia. Over the last two decades, the city shifted to development-oriented programmes and privatization. In late 1990s, the Office for Revision of Addis Ababa's Master Plan (ORAAMP) and National Urban Planning Institute (NUPI) were launched to analyze the economic status of the city. The city covered 29% of Ethiopia's GDP and 20% of national urban development as of 2022.
