PHYSICAL:
Relief: Ethiopia consists mainly of Desert and Mountains. Many valleys and plateau's
also can be found in the country. Due to these landform types the percentage of farm
land is approximately 5.7% of the total amount of land in Ethiopia. The amount of arable
land is 10% of the 5.7% total. Ethiopia has an area of 1 221 900 sq. km. Ethiopia does
not receive any problems such as volcanism, tidal waves, etc., but it does receive great
winds and monsoons. It is located in Eastern Africa neighboured by Sudan (NW), Kenya(S),
and Somalia(SE). Elevations can be seen on figure 1, and the physical features of
Ethiopia on figure 2.
Climate: The Climate in Ethiopia is of three different climatic zones. These being the
cool or dega zone, consisting of the central parts of the western and eastern sections of
the high plateaus and the area around Harar, with terrains roughly above 7 900 ft. in
elevation. The second zone is the temperate, or weina dega zone, comprising portions of
the high plateau between 4 900 and 7 900 ft.. The final area being the hot or kolla
zone, encompassing an area with an altitude less than 5 000 ft. The cool zones
temperatures and precipitation can be seen on figure 3. The temperate zones temperatures
range from 15.6C to 29.4C. The temperature in the hot zone of the lowlands can reach
temperatures as high as 60C.
There are two distinct seasons in Ethiopia the rainy season, or kremt, lasting from
mid-June to mid-semptember. the other is the Dry season, or bega, lasting from
mid-September to mid-June. In April and May there is slight transition period. The
greatest amount of precipitation is found in the southwest areas, near gore. They
receive approx. 104 in. a year. The littlest amount of precipitation is found in the
Great Rift Valley receiving less than 4 inches per year. the average annual
precipitation in the central plateau at 48 in.
The prevailing winds that strike Ethiopia are the Southwesterly monsoon in the rainy
season and the northeasterly wind from the Arabian Desert in the dry season.
Ethiopia's climatic conditions suffer severe drought jeopardizing millions with
starvation. These extreme weather changes create horrible growing seasons, making
yields quite unsuccessful.
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Vegetation: The percentage of forest land is minimal in Ethiopia, most of the area is
grazed dry farmland, and some generally arable land. Near areas where beef cattle are
being raised tsete flies can be found in great numbers. They spread a sleeping disease,
that in turn wear down farmers, and create less productivity, and more disease than
needed. Another insect that causes severe problems are locusts. They are considered the
plague of Ethiopia, eating, therefore ruining crops. Due to lack of money Ethiopia does
not have sufficient preservation facilities, and much of there food rots and goes to
waste. Rodents also get into crops and eat whatever is at hand.
Soils: Almost all of Ethiopia's soils are made up of infertile red and yellow laterite.
Humus and other nutrients are washed out of the soils and into the rivers. Much land is
lost from erosion and desertification, from constant over grazing and loss of trees.
Wildlife: I couldn't find any information on Ethiopia's wildlife, but I would suspect it
is minimal. Small amounts of cattle and ox.
SOCIAL:
Race: Ethiopia is quite unique for the number of races throughout the country. These
races are shown on figure 4.
Languages: In Ethiopia there are over 70 languages and 200 dialects spoken, but only
eight of the languages are commonly used. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia.
Tigrinya and Arabic are the official languages of Eritrea. These are the only three
languages with a written script. Due to the number of languages, many Ethiopians are
bilingual and even trilingual. See figure 4.
Religions: Due to all these different religions many problems arise, such as which
religion should be the inferior religion? Around 1931 Emperor Haile Selassie ruled.
When the emperor was overthrown the Ethiopian Orthodox Church lost its favoured position,
along with its lands and most of its property. Other religions, particularly Western
Protestant evangelical organizations, have found their activities sharply curtailed by
the government. this has been displayed through closure of churches, seizure and
nationalization of property and facilities, and harassment and surveillance. Some
religions have assembled ?secret areas? for worship and other
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practices of there religion. See figure 4.
Population: The population in Ethiopia is extremely high, with a vastly increasing
birthrate. Forms of family planning are not used steadily, if at all. The population
can be seen in figure 5 and past and future estimations of Ethiopia's population can be
seen in figure 6.
Housing and Clothing: Homes outside of the city are primarily made of a mud/straw
mixture. These homes obviously contain no electricity, or insulation. All forms of
heating would be done by man made fires, or some form of wood stove. Due to the poor
nature of the country nothing else is affordable. Clothing consists of a loin cloth for
men, and for women some form of cloth is wrapped around the body. In the city houses are
typically made of cement with a tin roof. Here you may find small amounts of electricity
for heating and cooking, but nothing much more. Some wealthy families may have a
television etc. In the city most people wear Western clothing.
Diet: If the area is not getting foreign aid of any sort the meals, if any, consist of a
food called injera. This is a pancake like sour bread of spongelike texture made chiefly
with teff, a cereal grain. Other foods include wat, a beef or chicken sauce or stew made
with hot spices. The universal drink is talla, a beer fermented from barley, and the
leaves of the gesho plant. Taj, a fermented honey beverage, is consumed by the wealthier
classes. Raw mature meat is relished, but fish is not popular. Locusts are
eaten by some cultures.
Many of the Ethiopian people are suffering from mass starvation. reasons for the lack of
food in Ethiopia are: Over Population, caused by lack of use of family planning. 2.Poor
Soils, most of the U.D.C.'s have infertile red and yellow laterite. 3.Variable Climates
4.Poor Distribution, 5.Food Destruction, 6.Tools and Technology: lack of proper farming
equipment, to obtain successful yields., 8. Ignorance, 9.Food Taboos, 10.Poor Seeds.
These are only a few of the problems involved with lack of food in Ethiopia.
Unfortunately most of the quality food in Ethiopia is grown by latifundia, and is
exported to other countries.
Jobs: Jobs are very sparse, and if found, involve intense backbreaking work, at a
minimal cost. Due to the amount of unemployed people, practically any form of work
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thrown at them will be taken. Latifundia offer jobs to occupants, such as coffee bean
and cotton picking, and they pay them pennies an hour. Some of these jobs are extremely
far from home, breaking up families for weeks. Others are self-employed farmers, or do
not work at all.
Health: Health care in Ethiopia gets slightly better as years pass, but still only a
small portion of the population receives it. Famine care is immensely small, and needs
great improvement. The most commonly found diseases in Ethiopia are malaria,
tuberculosis, leprosy, venereal diseases, smallpox, typhus, typhoid, trachoma,
conjunctivitis, and sexually transmitted diseases. Also see figures 7 and 8 for a
further look at health speculations.
Education & Welfare: Education in Ethiopia is not compulsory by law, but public
education is free from the primary to the college level. The schooling consists of 12
years divided into six years of primary school, two years of middle school and four years
of secondary school. The literacy rate is extremely low at approx. 4.9% of the total
population. Literacy has been steadily increasing though in the past few years.
Ethiopia has been awarded the literacy price from UNESCO from it's success. Further
aspects of education can be seen in figure 9.
In Ethiopia there are no official welfare programs available. Existing public programs
are run by voluntary religious groups only. Due to this lack of support, this is one
reason for vast cases of starvation.
Quality of Life: The Quality of life in Ethiopia is horrible. There is a major shortage
of food, and very few jobs. Due to poor vegetation and soil, food growth is a minimal.
All work is usually backbreaking slave labour, and the main priorities of an Ethiopian is
survival.
ECONOMIC:
Development: Ethiopia is a developing country. Its level of development is extremely
poor and slow, and isn't getting much better.
Economy: Ethiopia continues to face difficult economic problems as one of the
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poorest and least developed countries in Africa. Its Economy is based chiefly on
agriculture and weather plays a major factor in success rates. Development is slow and
doesn't look very promising. Manufacturing suffers from under investment, shortages of
raw material and poor management.
Standard of Living: The GNP of Ethiopia is 114 per capita, being extremely low, and
intolerable for any form of adequate survival. The level of living in turn is
substantially low. Urban Areas tend to be slightly better than rural, but not by
much.GNP insights can be seen in depth on figure 10.
Industries: The primary Industry of Ethiopia is Agriculture, employing roughly 85% of
the country's workers. The rest of the working population is broken down to 10% in
service industries, and the final 5% in manufacturing. The products produced in the
service industries and the manufacturing industries can be seen in figure 11 and 12.
Industrial Location: There are approximately 8 main natural resources and 1 raw material
found in abundance in Ethiopia. This is shown in figure 12 and 13. Two thirds of the
power is provided through hydroelectricity, making Ethiopia one of the least dependent on
outside sources of energy in Africa. Ethiopia has two narrow-gauge railways, two
seaports, and National highways that connect major population centers in the central
plateau and Eritrea. This is only a small portion of Ethiopia's transportation systems.
Most of the country is made up of unpaved or uncrossable roads, making transportation
slow and inefficient. The ratio of people to automobiles is 811:1. The labour involved
is monotonous and backbreaking. The people are paid pennies for days work, and are
usually situated in inadequate working facilities. There are very few markets to
purchase clothing etc.. Ethiopia's capital is very low, and they do receive foreign aid
and tariffs.
Industrial Problems: Ethiopia suffers a great deal, with environmental problems. Areas
that have been strip mined, grazed etc., have been left with no clean up what so ever.
In doing so the appearance of the area is very poor. Pollution caused by heavy machinery
is very low, because there isn't any, but scrap and soot levels are high.There are no
forms of pollution control, and no pollution or dumping laws are enforced.
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Agriculture: The agricultural industry is extremely important to Ethiopia. It makes up
85% of the jobs given to the people. Only 10% of the land area is currently under
cultivation, and it accounts for 47% of the GDP even though drought, poor cultivation,
and many other factors effect productivity. The main types of crops grown are shown in
figure 14. Most methods of farming are done naturally, and traditional, by the sun and
rain, or as there ancestors before. Pesticides, Fertilizers, and Herbicides are too
expensive, and are used, if at all, in small amounts making them almost useless. Most
crops are planted manually, due to the lack of money. Tools are handmaid, and ox are
used for plowing fields. Only Latifundia can afford efficient forms of harvesting, with
expensive materials, and machinery. There is no land distribution to any of the people.
Most lands are obtained through inheritance, from family members that have owned it for
generations. Education levels for agricultural techniques are very low. All knowledge
in farming is typically learned by ancestors, or by ?winging it?. There is very
little irrigation.
POLITICAL:
Form of Government: Ethiopia is said to be a transitional government, but is also known
as a republic country. There current leader is Meles Zenawi. It is a very unstable
country that has had its share of civil wars, there last leader was practically driven
out of parliament. Elections don't really exist. The people of Ethiopia are very
limited with there rights and freedoms. Ethiopia has been classified as a not-free
country. There is a very low value on human rights.
Internal Conflicts: Ethiopia has had many civil revolts. This can be seen in the
Ethiopian History line, figure 15. Many Ethiopians try to migrate to better there
standards of living, in hope of a brighter future. Most of the population is extremely
poor, with the odd family being better off. Most Ethiopians are considered lower class
citizens, that receive little respect if any.
Trade: Ethiopia has about 7 main imports and 5 major exports, that can be seen in figure
16. The balance of trade is roughly -$617 000 000. The money they receive for there
exports is minimal. Exporting partners are: US, Germany, Djivouti, Japan, Yemen,
France, and Italy. There major importers are: USSR, Italy, Germany, Japan, UK, US, and
France. The stability of there currency is unstable, and not very promising.
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International Co-operation: Ethiopia gives no aid to other countries, because it needs
aid itself. They receive foreign aid, from the US, Canada and other countries. Food
donations from the food bank, farmers, small organizations with excess' of food, and
other charity organizations donate a portion of items each year. Many programs are also
run where families ?adopt? a child. If done a donation of money is sent to the country
to give a poor child blankets, clothes, and possibly a toy. Other organizations include
the UN, IRRA, and FAO.
International Conflict: Ethiopia neighbours Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya. Currently there
are no border problems, but attempts of migration are always present. Other border
problems can be seen in the history line of Ethiopia on figure 15.
Future: All in all the future of Ethiopia is very poor. Due to little or no family
planning the birth rate is still high. The inability to produce enough food for its
vastly growing population, still creates mass starvation. The government does not seem
to be planning any propositions of future hope, making chances of improvement almost
inevitable.
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Bibliography
Colombo, John Robert, ed. 1996 Canadian Global Almanac. Toronto: Macmillian Canada
1996.
?Ethiopia Famine.?Ethiopia: Case Study. Internet. http://rs6.loc.gov/et_00_00.html.
1996
?Ethiopia.? Information Finder. Vers.2.6. Computer Software. World Book, Inc., 1996
Kurian, George Thomas, ed. Encyclopedia of the Third World. New York: Facts on File,
1992
Wright, Hohn W., ed. 1996 Universal Almanac, Kansas City: 1995 Universal Press
Syndicate.
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