Our earliest relatives?

Palaeontologists have found some of the best evidence about how early man evolved in the east African Rift Valley – in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. This part of Africa may indeed have been the ‘cradle of mankind’.

Men-like apes (known as Australopithecus) lived in this region around four million BC, as did our earliest ancestors (Homo species) around two million BC. It looks likely these two branches of hominoids lived side by side.

An ancient land

During the time of the ancient Egyptians, east Africa was known as Punt and the two agricultural civilisations seem to have had links from around 2,500BC.

In Biblical times (from 1,450BC), Ethiopia and its surrounds were called the land of Kush. There are over 30 references to Kush in the Old Testament, including mention of a dispute in Numbers 12: verse one, because Moses had a “Cushite wife”. Jewish communities were active in Ethiopia up until the last century.

From 500BC onwards, the city of Axum in the north of Ethiopia rose to prominence. See Tourism & Communications for more historical sites of interest. From the first–eighth centuries AD, the ancient Aksumite kingdom became the most powerful of the region. Its empire stretched from the Nile River across the Red Sea to Yemen and the Aksumites traded widely across the globe.

In the fourth century AD, King Ezana made Christianity the official religion of the Aksumite people. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is therefore one of the oldest in the world. It is self-governing, having broken ties with Rome and Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 451AD over a dispute about Christ’s divine nature.

The beginnings of modern-day Ethiopia

The power of Aksum began to wane as Arab traders spread across Africa from 750AD, cutting off the city’s trading routes. Ethiopians turned south, forming the area which is now modern-day Ethiopia (known as Abyssinia until the last century).

Early evangelists spread Christianity further through the region. In the twelfth–thirteenth centuries, the ruling dynasty began the construction of Ethiopia’s famous Christian churches hewn out of rock.

In the 1500s, divisions between Christians and Muslims led to wars between the two groups, even though Mohammed himself had taken refuge in Axum (in AD615) and warned his followers never to hurt Ethiopian people.

An independent spirit

The Portuguese were welcomed into Ethiopia in the 1500s and the British also became involved in the region in the 1800s. However, apart from a five-year occupation by Mussolini's Italy before and during World War II, Ethiopia was never colonised by a European power.

Having helped to evict the Italians in 1941, Britain paved the way for the return of Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled Ethiopia for over 30 years. However, with little economic progress or reform to the feudal-based society, popular unrest led to the Emperor’s toppling from power.

A communist group, called the Derg, took control in 1974. This regime killed many thousands of opponents. Property was confiscated and military spending spiralled. Agricultural harvests also fell. In 1985, Ethiopia hit the world headlines with its worst famine and drought in living memory. One million Ethiopians died, mostly in the northeast.

Ethiopia's communist regime was overthrown in 1991. Since then, political conditions have stabilised and the country is enjoying economic growth.

The current Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, won a fourth term in May 2010.