Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country in Africa. The country has four major rivers: the Blue Nile, Omo, Awash and Wabe Shebelle. The Blue Nile empties into the sea. The other three either flow into lakes or dissolve in desert sand. The climate is tropical. Due to the differences in altitude, the country has three different climate zones. Rain falls in March - April (the little rainy season) and June - September (the big rainy season). The rest of the year is mostly dry. 70-80 languages are spoken with around 200 dialects. The language of the Amhara people, Amharic, is used as the national language and is spoken by all educated Ethiopians. It is from the Semitic language family (such as Arabic and Hebrew). More directly, Amharic is derived from Geez, also known as Old Ethiopian, which dates back to the origins of Ethiopia, the Aksum civilisation. Geez was the dominant written language in medieval Ethiopia until the late 19th century. It is still used by priests in Ethiopian Orthodox churches, in the same way that Latin is spoken in Catholic churches. Geez is written with its own alphabet, which is also used for Amharic and other modern Ethiopian languages. The language of the Oromo people has only a short history as a written language and uses the Latin alphabet. English is the "official international language" of Ethiopia and is used in institutions of higher learning. Only highly educated Ethiopians speak English. 85% of the population is employed in agriculture.