Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

Located in the northeast part of Africa, known as the horn of Africa, Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, was founded in 900 BC. Some of the oldest skeletal remains of modern man were found in this country. For most of its history, Ethiopia was governed by a monarchical system, beginning with the Solomonic dynasty of the Queen of Sheba under king Menelik I. In the 20th century, Ethiopia was the first independent member from Africa represented at the League of Nations and the United Nations. In 1974, the Ethiopian monarchy was overthrown by the Derg, a communist military government, which was then overthrown in 1991 by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. With nearly 80 ethnolinguistic groups, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation that still uses the ancient Ge’ez script, one of the oldest alphabets in the world. Ethiopia is also listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list with the most sites in Africa. Ethiopia’s principle calendar, called the Ethiopian calendar, is approximately seven years and 3 months behind the Gregorian calendar.