Patchwork design
Ethiopian landscape sceneries
Northwest of Addis the Rift Valley and its peoples
Text and Photos: Pierre-Michel Virot,
photographer of the World Health Organization
Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained
its freedom from colonial rule, one exception being the Italian occupation
of 1936-41. Ethiopia has a variety of distinct geographical zones and
contrasts, varying as much as 120 metres below sea level in the harsh
salt flats of the Danakil depression, to a 4618 meter peak Ras
Dashan, the fourth highest peak in Africa, in the Simien mountains The
most distinctive feature is the northern part of the Great Rift Valley,
which runs through the entire length of the country in a northeast-southwest
direction. In the centre of the country is a high plateau region. This
rugged tableland is bordered by steep slopes on the northwest. Those
are massive highland complex of mountains and dissected plateaus divided
by Great Rift Valley running generally southwest to northeast and surrounded
by lowlands, steppes, or semi deserts.
The population of Ethiopia has reached over 67 million people. The
ethnic groups and languages are distinguishable ethnolinguistic entities,
some speaking the same language, they are estimated at more than 100;
at least seventy languages are spoken as mother tongue.
Roughly 30 percent of total population consists of the Amhara, whose
native language Amharicis also spoken by additional 20 percent
of the population as a second tongue and therefore Amtharic is Ethiopia's
official language.