Basics Population: over 62 million Area: 1,098,000 sq km Currency: Birr Capital city: Addis Ababa History The oldest skeleton in the world was found in Ethiopia. She's called Lucy and she's three million years old. I expect those old bones are creaking a bit by now. Lucy and her friends were stone-age hunter-gatherers and her descendants kept some animals. By 1000BC there was a large civilisation in northern Ethiopia. Between 600BC and 100AD Ethiopia was a big player in world trade. After this things went wrong and Ethiopia became isolated. Between the 8th and 17th century there were lots of wars, often between different religious groups. In 1882 Ethiopia agreed to help British troops in Sudan and give the British control over the port of Massawa. In return the Ethiopians were promised that they could import goods into Britain for free, and they would get back land that Egypt had taken. Unfortunately the Ethiopians were taken for a ride and the British handed Massawa over to the Italians. In 1985 the Italians invaded but they got lost in the hills and the Ethiopians managed to kick them out. Ethiopia was the only African country that managed to stay independent. In 1930 Ras Tafari became emperor and was called Haile Selassie meaning 'power of the holy trinity'. People who follow the Rastafarian religion today see Haile Selassie as their leader. Eritrea was once part of Ethiopia but was given independence in 1993. Since then the two countries have had repeated wars because they can't agree on where the border should be.