Claim: Ethiopia was a monarchy.

Ethiopia -LRB- -LSB- ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə -RSB- ኢትዮጵያ , , -RRB- , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia -LRB- የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ , yeʾĪtiyoṗṗya Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpebilīk -RRB- , is a country located in the Horn of Africa . It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast , Djibouti and Somalia to the east , Sudan and South Sudan to the west , and Kenya to the south . With over 100 million inhabitants , Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world , as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria . It occupies a total area of 1,100,000 km2 , and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa .   Some of the oldest evidence for anatomically modern humans has been found in Ethiopia . It is widely considered as the region from which modern humans first set out for the Middle East and places beyond . According to linguists , the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era . Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC , Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history . During the first centuries AD , the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region , followed by the Ethiopian Empire circa 1137 . Ethiopia derived prestige with its uniquely successful military resistance during the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa , becoming the only African country to defeat a European colonial power and retain its sovereignty . Subsequently , many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopia 's flag following their independence . It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations and the United Nations . In 1974 , at the end of Haile Selassie 's reign , power fell to a communist military dictatorship known as the Derg , backed by the Soviet Union , until it was defeated by the Ethiopian People 's Revolutionary Democratic Front , which has ruled since about the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 .   Ethiopia 's ancient Ge'ez script , also known as Ethiopic , is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world . The Ethiopian calendar , which is approximately seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar , co-exists alongside the Borana calendar . A majority of the population adheres to Christianity -LRB- mainly the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and P'ent ` ay -RRB- , while around a third follows Islam -LRB- primarily Sunni Islam -RRB- . The country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash . A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews , known as Bete Israel , resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s , but most of them have since emigrated to Israel . Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups , the four largest of which are the Oromiffa , Amhara , Somali , and Tigrayans . Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches . Additionally , Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions . Nilo-Saharan languages are also spoken by the nation 's Nilotic ethnic minorities .   Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa -LRB- which was one of the 14 provinces in the old Ethiopian administration -RRB- . It is a land of natural contrasts , with its vast fertile West , jungles , and numerous rivers , and the world 's hottest settlement of Dallol in its north . The Ethiopian Highlands are Africa 's largest continuous mountain ranges , and Sof Omar Caves contain Africa 's largest cave . Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa .   Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the UN , the Group of 24 -LRB- G-24 -RRB- , the Non-Aligned Movement , G-77 and the Organisation of African Unity . Ethiopia 's capital city Addis Ababa serves as the headquarters of the African Union , the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry , the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa , African Aviation Training HQ , the African Standby Force , and many of the global NGOs focused on Africa . In the 1970s and 1980s , Ethiopia suffered from civil wars and communist purges which devastated its economy . The country has begun to recover recently however , and now has the largest economy -LRB- by GDP -RRB- in East Africa and Central Africa . According to Global Fire Power , Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world , and the third most powerful in Africa .