The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located in the north-eastern part of Africa, commonly known as the Horn of Africa. Strategically proximate to the Middle East and Europe, its easy access to the major ports of the region enhances its international trade. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world.
With an area of 114 million square kilometers, Ethiopia is as large as France and Spain combined and is five times the size of the UK. Ethiopia is landlocked, bordering Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south.
Ethiopia’s location gives it strategic importance with its proximity to Middle East, Europe and Asian markets. Ethiopia is strategically located in the Horn of Africa. Its proximity to the Middle East and Europe, together with its easy access to the major ports of the region, enhances its international trade.
Ethiopia is the gateway to the Middle East, Europe and Asia. In this regard, Ethiopian Airlines is playing a pivotal role connecting Africa with the rest of the world.
From the north and running down the centre are the Abyssinian highlands. To the west of the chain the land drops to the grasslands of Sudan, to the east to the deserts of the Afar.
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Ethiopia’s topography, one of the most rugged in Africa, is built on four geologic formations.
Rocks of Precambrian origin (more than 540 million years in age) form the oldest basal complex of Ethiopia, as they do in most of Africa. The Precambrian layer is buried under more recent geologic formations-except in parts of northern, western, and southern Ethiopia, where there are exposed rock layers of granite and schist. Geologic processes of the Mesozoic Era (about 250 to 65 million years ago) contributed sedimentary layers of limestone and sandstone, most of which have been either eroded or covered by volcanic rocks. Younger sedimentary layers are found in northern Ethiopia and on the floors of the Rift Valley. Lava flows from the Cenozoic Era (i.e., the past 65 million years) have formed basaltic layers that now cover two-thirds of Ethiopia’s land surface with a thickness ranging from about 1,000 feet (300 metres) to almost 10,000 feet (3,000 metres).
Although Ethiopia’s complex relief defies easy classification, five topographic features are discernible:
- The Western Highlands
- The Western Lowlands
- The Eastern Highlands
- The Eastern Lowlands
- The Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley
The Rift Valley forms a spectacular graben (a massive tectonic trough) running right down the middle of the country from the northern frontier with Eritrea to the southern border with Kenya. The Rift Valley is part of the larger East African Rift System. Hemmed in by the escarpments of the Western and Eastern Highlands, it has two distinct sections.
The first part is in the northeast, where the valley floor widens into a funnel shape as it approaches the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. This is a relatively flat area interrupted only by occasional volcanic cones, some of which are active. The Denakil Plain, in which a depression known as the Kobar Sink drops as low as 380 feet (116 metres) below sea level, is found here. High temperatures and lack of moisture make the northeastern Rift Valley unattractive for settlement.
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The southwestern section, on the other hand, is a narrow depression of much higher elevation. It contains Ethiopia’s Lakes Region, an internal drainage basin of many small rivers that drain into Lakes Abaya, Abiyata, Awasa, Langano, Shala, Chamo, and Ziway. Together these lakes have more than 1,200 square miles (3,108 square km) of water surface. The upper Rift Valley is one of the most productive and most settled parts of Ethiopia.
Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the plateau diagonally.
Exploring the Great Rift Valley: A Journey Through Time
Highlands and Lowlands
Western Highlands
The Western Highlands are the most extensive and rugged topographic component of Ethiopia. The most spectacular portion is the North Central massifs; these form the roof of Ethiopia, with elevations ranging from 14,872 feet (4,533 metres) for Mount Ras Dejen (or Dashen), the highest point in Ethiopia, to the Blue Nile and Tekeze river channels 10,000 feet below. Lake Tana-Ethiopia’s largest inland lake and the main reservoir for the Blue Nile River-is located in this region, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres).
Semien Mountains
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Western Lowlands
The Western Lowlands stretch north-south along the border with Sudan and South Sudan and include the lower valleys of the Blue Nile, Tekeze, and Baro rivers. With elevations of about 3,300 feet (1,000 metres), these lowlands become too hot to attract dense settlement.
Eastern Highlands
The Eastern Highlands are much smaller in extent than the Western Highlands, but they offer equally impressive contrast in topography. The highest peaks are Tullu Deemtu (Tulu Dīmtu), at 14,360 feet (4,377 metres), and Mount Batu, at 14,127 feet (4,305 metres).
Eastern Lowlands
The Eastern Lowlands resemble the long train of a bridal gown suddenly dipping from the narrow band of the Eastern Highlands and gently rolling for hundreds of miles to the Somalian border. Two important regions here are the Ogaden and the Hawd. The Shebele and Genale rivers cross the lowlands, moderating the desert ecology.
Drainage Systems of Ethiopia
Ethiopia has three principal drainage systems.
- The western drainage system: This is the largest and includes the watersheds of the Blue Nile (known as the Abay in Ethiopia), the Tekeze, and the Baro rivers. All three rivers flow west to the White Nile in South Sudan and Sudan.
- The Rift Valley internal drainage system: This system is composed of the Awash River, the Lakes Region, and the Omo River. The Awash flows northeast to the Denakil Plain before it dissipates into a series of swamps and Lake Abe at the border with Djibouti. The Lakes Region is a self-contained drainage basin, and the Omo flows south into Lake Turkana (Rudolf), on the border with Kenya.
- The Shebele and Genale rivers system: Both of these rivers originate in the Eastern Highlands and flow southeast toward Somalia and the Indian Ocean. Only the Genale (known as the Jubba in Somalia) makes it to the sea; the Shebele (in Somali, Shabeelle) disappears in sand just inside the coastline.
A number of rivers cross the plateau; notably the Blue Nile rising from Lake Tana. The plateau gradually slopes to the lowlands of the Sudan on the west and the Somali-inhabited plains to the east.
Most of the Ethiopian uplands have a decided slope to the northwest, so that nearly all the large rivers flow in that direction to the Nile, comprising some 85% of its water. Such are the Tekezé River in the north, the Abay in the center, and the Sobat in the south, and about four-fifths of the entire drainage is discharged through these three arteries.
Another large river is the south-flowing Omo, with 14% of the entire drainage the largest river outside the above-mentioned three main arteries discharging to the west, and by far the main feeder of the endorheic Turkana Basin with Lake Turkana.
Drainage Basins of Ethiopia and Somalia
Climate
The climate of Ethiopia and its dependent territories varies greatly. It is temperate on the plateau and hot in the lowlands. Although Ethiopia lies within 15 degrees north of the equator, owing to the moderating influence of high altitude, the central highlands, where most Ethiopian people live, generally enjoy a temperate and pleasant climate.
There are two seasons in Ethiopia: in most of the country the dry season prevails from October until May with short rains in March; the wet season runs from June until the end of September.
In the highlands above 2,000 meters the temperature rarely exceeds 25°C in most of the country. In the lower lying areas (Awash, Omo and Mago parks), which experience sub-tropical and tropical climates, it can get considerably hotter.
The Somali Region and the Danakil Depression in the Afar Region have a hot, sunny and dry climate producing fully desert or semi-desert conditions.
The rainy season is of great importance not only to Ethiopia but to the countries of the Nile valley, as the prosperity of the eastern Sudan and Egypt is largely dependent upon the rainfall.
Geologic Formations
Ethiopia’s topography is built on four geologic formations:
- Rocks of Precambrian origin (more than 540 million years in age)
- Sedimentary layers of limestone and sandstone from the Mesozoic Era (about 250 to 65 million years ago)
- Younger sedimentary layers found in northern Ethiopia and on the floors of the Rift Valley
- Lava flows from the Cenozoic Era (i.e., the past 65 million years)
The metamorphic rocks compose the main mass of the tableland and are exposed in every deep valley in Tigre and along the valley of the Blue Nile. Mica-schists form the prevalent rocks. Hornblende schists also occur and a compact feldspathic rock in the Suris defile.
In the region of Adigrat the metamorphic rocks are invariably overlain by white and brown sandstones, unfossiliferous, and attaining a maximum thickness of 300 m. They are overlain by the fossiliferous limestones of the Antalo group. Around Chelga and Adigrat coal-bearing beds occur, which Blanford suggests may be of the same age as the coal-bearing strata of India.
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