The Kingdom of Aksum, the first known kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and over time changed King Ezana to Christianity, making Christianity Ethiopia's religion. For this, he received the title "Abba Selama". At different times, including a time in the 6th century, Axum ruled most of modern-day Yemen just across the Red Sea.
The line of rulers of the actual Axumite kings ended around 950 AD when they were overthrown by the Jewish Queen Gudit; then it was followed by the Zagwe dynasty for around 300 years. Around 1270 AD, the Solomonid dynasty came to control Ethiopia, claiming that they were related to the kings of Axum (though their claim was unscientific, they were even southern Ethiopia people, like from Shewa and such). They called themselves "Neguse Negest" ("King of Kings," or Emperor), basing their claims on their direct relation to king Solomon and the queen of Sheba.
During the rule of Emperor Lebna Dengel, Ethiopia made its first good contact with a European country, Portugal in 1520. When the Empire was attacked by Somali General and Imam, Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Portugal responded to Lebna Dengel's request for help with 400 musketeers, helping his son Gelawdewos beat al-Ghazi and remake his rule. However, Jesuit missionaries over time offended the Orthodox faith of the local Ethiopians, and in the mid-17th century Emperor Fasilidos got rid of these missionaries. At the same time, the Oromo people began to question the Ethiopian Christian authorities in the Abyssinian territories, and wanted to keep their own religion.
All of this led to Ethiopia's isolation during the 1700s. The Emperors became figureheads, controlled by warlords like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray. But Amharic is the national language of Ethiopia. Ethiopian isolationism ended following a British mission that made friendship between the two nations; however, it was not until the reign of Tewodros II that Ethiopia began to take part in world matters once again.
In 1896 Italy was decisively defeated in the battle of Adwa by Emperor Menelik; an Amhara Emperor from the province of Shewa. This battle dispelled the notion that Europeans were superior and could not be defeated by a black army. It gave rise to the Pan African movement, and hope to other African countries who were conquered. This victory made Ethiopia the only African country to successfully repel a European power during the Scramble of Africa. In 1936 Italy again attacked, and succeeded in occupying Ethiopia until 1941. With British help the 5 year occupation ended and Emperor Haile Selassie regained the throne.
Revolutionaries overthrew and killed the emperor in 1974. The resulting civil war lasted until 1991. Eritrea became independent and later fought the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.
Before 1996, Ethiopia was divided into 13 provinces. Ethiopia now has ethnically based regional countries, zones, districts, and neighborhoods.
There are nine regions, sixty-eight zones and two chartered cities. Ethiopia is further divided into 550 "woredas" and several "special woredas".
The nine regions and two chartered cities (in italics) are:
Coffee production is a longstanding tradition in Ethiopia.
Utah
Utah is a state in the west United States. The capital and largest city is Salt Lake City. Utah became a state in the U.S. on January 4, 1896.
Utah is bordered by Idaho and Wyoming in the north and Colorado in the east. It touches a single point of New Mexico to the southeast at Four Corners. Utah is bordered by Arizona in the south, and by Nevada in the west. It covers an area of 84,899 square miles (219,887 km²).
Utah is mostly rocky with three distinct geological regions: the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau. Utah is a great geographical tourism place. Utah is known for its natural diversity and is home to features ranging from arid deserts with sand dunes to thriving pine forests in mountain valleys.
Utah has a dry, semi-arid to climate, although its many mountains have large, wide, differences of climates, with the highest points in the Uinta Mountains being above the . The dry weather from the state lying mostly in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada in California. The eastern half of the state is in the rain shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. The primary source of rain for the state is the Pacific Ocean, with the state normally lying in the path of large Pacific storms from mid-October through April, although northern Utah often sees these large storms earlier and later. In summer, the state, normally southern and eastern Utah, is in the path of monsoon from the Gulf of California. Most of the lowland areas get less than 12 inches (300 mm) of rain a year. The Great Salt Lake Desert is the driest area of the state, with less than 5 inches (125 mm). Snowfall is common in all but the far southern valleys. Although St. George only gets about 3 inches (7.5 cm) per year, Salt Lake City sees about 60 inches (150 cm), enhanced by the lake-effect snow from the Great Salt Lake, which increases snowfall totals to the south, southeast, and east of the lake. Some areas of the Wasatch Range in the path of the lake-effect get up to 700 inches (1,770 cm) per year. The dry, fluffy, snow led Utah's ski industry to get the slogan "the Greatest Snow on Earth" in the 1980s. In the winter, temperature are a phenomenon across Utah's low basins and valleys, leading to thick humidity and fog that can sometimes last for weeks at a time, normally in the Uintah Basin.
The center of population of Utah is in Salt Lake County in the city of "Salt Lake City". As of July 1, 2008 the Census Bureau believes Utah has a population of 2,736,424. In 2008, the US Census Bureau determined Utah to be the fastest growing state in the country in terms of population growth.
Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. Growth outside the Wasatch Front is also increasing. The St. George metropolitan area is right now the second-fastest growing in the country after the Las Vegas metropolitan area, while the Heber metropolitan area is also the second-fastest growing in the country (right in front of Palm Coast, Florida).
The University of Utah says that the gross state product of Utah in 2005 was $92 billion, or 0.74% of the total United States GDP of $12.4 trillion for the same year. The per capital personal income was $24,977 in 2005. Major companies of Utah are: mining, cattle ranching, salt production, and government services.
In eastern Utah petroleum making is a big industry. Near Salt Lake City, petroleum refining is done by a number of oil companies. In central Utah, coal mining accounts for much of the mining activity.
Utah has a high total birth rate, and the youngest population of any U.S. state. It is also one of the few non-Southern states that has more males than females.
In 2000, the gender percents of Utah were estimated as: