Category:Ethiopia

Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of the 1936-41 A.D. Italian occupation during World War II. In 1974 A.D., a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile Selassie (who had ruled since 1930 A.D.) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 A.D. by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994 A.D., and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995 A.D.. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990's ended with a peace treaty in December 2000 A.D.. Amarigna, Oromigna, Tigrigna, Somaligna, Guaragigna, Sidamigna, and Hadiyigna are spoken.

-- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Ethiopia - Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered (Genesis 2:13; 2 Kings 19:9; Esther 1:1; Job 28:19; Psalms 68:31; Psalms 87:4), a country which lay to the south of Egypt, beginning at Syene on the First Cataract (Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:6), and extending to beyond the confluence of the White and Blue Nile. It corresponds generally with what is now known as the Soudan (i.e., the land of the blacks). This country was known to the Hebrews, and is described in Isaiah 18:1; Zephaniah 3:10. They carried on some commercial intercourse with it (Isaiah 45:14). Its inhabitants were descendants of Ham (Genesis 10:6; Jeremiah 13:23; Isaiah 18:2, "scattered and peeled," A.V.; but in R.V., "tall and smooth"). Herodotus, the Greek historian, describes them as "the tallest and handsomest of men." They are frequently represented on Egyptian monuments, and they are all of the type of the true Negro. As might be expected, the history of this country is interwoven with that of Egypt. Ethiopia is spoken of in prophecy (Psalms 68:31; Psalms 87:4; Isaiah 45:14; Ezekiel 30:4; Daniel 11:43; Nahum 3:8; Habakkuk 3:7; Zephaniah 2:12).