Ethiopian Highlands in the context of "Derg"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Ethiopian Highlands in the context of "Derg"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains extending from Ethiopia to Eritrea in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). It is sometimes called the "Roof of Africa" due to its height and large area. Ethiopia is the only country in the region with such a high elevated surface. This elevated surface is bisected diagonally by the Great East African Rift System which extends from Syria to Mozambique across the East African Lakes. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, with the Eritrean Highlands as its northernmost portion. The Ethiopia-Yemen Continental Flood Basalts are shared between the Horn of Africa and highlands of Upper Yemen along with the cultural, historical, and genetic ties of the two regions on opposite ends of the Red Sea.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Lake Tana

Lake Tana (Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ, romanizedT’ana ḥāyik’i; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately 84 kilometres (52 miles) long and 66 kilometres (41 miles) wide, with a maximum depth of 15 metres (49 feet), and an elevation of 1,788 metres (5,866 feet). Lake Tana is fed by the Gilgel Abay, Reb and Gumara rivers. Its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 square kilometres (1,200 to 1,400 square miles), depending on season and rainfall. The lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control weir where the lake discharges into the Blue Nile. This controls the flow to the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Abbai) and hydro-power station.

In 2015, the Lake Tana region was nominated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve recognizing its national and international natural and cultural importance.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Montane grasslands and shrublands

Montane grasslands and shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The term montane in the name of the biome refers to high elevation, rather than the ecological term that denotes the region below the treeline. The biome includes high-elevation (montane and alpine) grasslands and shrublands around the world, including the puna and páramo in South America, subalpine heath in New Guinea and East Africa, steppes of the Tibetan plateaus, and other similar subalpine habitats.Drier subtropical montane grasslands, savannas, and woodlands include the Ethiopian Highlands, the Zambezian montane grasslands and woodlands, and the montane habitats of southeastern Africa.

The páramos of the northern Andes are the most extensive examples of the habitat type. Although ecoregion biotas are most diverse in the Andes, these ecosystems are distinctive wherever they occur in the tropics. The heathlands and moorlands of East Africa (e.g., Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Rwenzori Mountains), Mount Kinabalu of Borneo, and the Central Range of New Guinea are all limited in extent, isolated, and support endemic plants and animals.The plants and animals of tropical montane páramos display striking adaptations to cool, wet conditions and intense sunlight. Around the world, characteristic plants of these habitats display features such as rosette structures, waxy surfaces, and abundant pilosity.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Sultanate of Sennar

The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar or Blue Sultanate was a kingdom in what is now Sudan, northwestern Eritrea and western Ethiopia. Founded in 1504 by the Funj people, it quickly converted to Islam, although this conversion was only nominal. Until a more orthodox form of Islam took hold in the 18th century, the state remained an "African empire with a Muslim façade", coming to rule over an ethnically diverse population.

At its greatest extent the polity extended from the Third Cataract southwards to the Ethiopian Highlands and Sobat River, east to the Red Sea, and west to Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains. It reached its peak in the late 17th century, but declined and eventually fell apart in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1821, the last sultan, greatly reduced in power, surrendered to the Ottoman Egyptian invasion without resistance.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Ogaden

Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadēn; Somali: Ogaadeen, Amharic: ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (lit.'Western Somalia'). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia. It also includes another region to the north known as Haud.

The Ogaden is a vast plateau located to the south and southeast of the Ethiopian Highlands, and is overwhelmingly inhabited by Somali people. It represents the westernmost region inhabited by the Somalis in the Horn of Africa. It is largely a semi-arid region and encompasses the plains between the border of Somalia and Ethiopia, extending towards the southeastern highlands, where larger cities like Harar and Dire Dawa are located near.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Sudanian savanna

The Sudanian savanna or Sudan region is a broad belt of tropical savanna that runs east and west across the African continent, from the Ethiopian Highlands in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It represents the central bioregion within the broader tropical savanna biome of the Afrotropical realm. The Sahel acacia savanna, a belt of drier grasslands, lies to the north, forming a transition zone between the Sudanian savanna and the Sahara Desert phytochorion. To the Sudan's south, the more humid forest-savanna mosaic forms a transition zone between the Sudanian savanna and the Guineo-Congolian forests that lie nearer the equator.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Amhara people

Amharas (Amharic: አማራ, romanizedĀmara; Ge'ez: ዐምሐራ, romanized: ʾÄməḥära) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly the Amhara Region.

According to the 2007 national census, Amharas numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9% of Ethiopia's population, and they are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christian (members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church).

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Church forests of Ethiopia

The church forests in Ethiopia are small fragments of forest surrounding Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. Northern Ethiopia was once covered in forests, but due to deforestation for agriculture, only about 4% of the original forested lands remain. Church leaders have long held the belief that a church needs to be surrounded by a forest, and these sacred forests have been tended for some 1,500 years. Aerial photographs of church forests show them as small verdant islands surrounded by vast areas of tilled lands and pasture. There are around 35,000 individual church forests in the region, ranging in size from 3 hectares (7.4 acres) to 300 hectares (740 acres), with the average around 5 hectares (12 acres). It is estimated that these church forests represent the bulk of the remaining forested land in the Ethiopian Highlands.

↑ Return to Menu

Ethiopian Highlands in the context of Finger millet

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is an annual herbaceous plant. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.

Finger millet is native to the Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands. It has the ability to withstand cultivation at altitudes over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level and a high drought tolerance. The grain is suitable for decades-long storage. It is widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia.

↑ Return to Menu