It is in the Afar region of Ethiopia where scientists discovered the remains of "Lucy" or Dinkenesh, meaning "thou art wonderful," as she is known to the Ethiopians. "Lucy" lived more than three million years ago, and her bones now rest in the Ethiopian National Museum.

The country's rich history is woven with legends of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; the Ark of the Covenant that is said to rest in Axum; the great Axumite kingdom and the birth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; and the story of King Lalibela, who is believed to have constructed eleven rock-hewn churches, still standing today and considered the eighth wonder of the world.

Ethiopia is the only African nation that was not colonized by European colonial forces. It was briefly occupied by the Italians between 1936 and 1941.

Between 1991 and 1995, a transitional government of Ethiopia which was a coalition of 27 political and liberation organizations, embarked on its path to transform Ethiopia from a centralized, military-controlled country to a free and democratic federation which it achieved in May 1995 when Ethiopia's first free and democratic elections were held in which Meles Zenawi was elected Prime Minister and Negasso Gidada was elected President.

The people of Ethiopia represent a a mosaic of 60 million diverse individuals who live side-by-side speaking a multitude of different tongues, practicing different religions and customs, and celebrating a rich and eclectic history. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia, while English, French and Italian are widely spoken, especially in business and academic circles. The religions in Ethiopia are predominantly Ethiopian Orthodox (or Monophysite Christianity) and Islam. Other religions that are also practiced include Judaism and Animism. The Animist faith is found mainly in southern regions of Ethiopia. Further south in Somali and surrounding areas, Islam is practiced. Christianity is more common in the northern and central parts of Ethiopia, where Judaism and Islam can be found as well.

Traditions are thick in Ethiopia where people usually greet each other by bowing heads. A greeting in Ethiopia can be a long and lively process- the longer the greeting, the closer the friends. Another custom is to kiss the cheek of your friend three times when you greet them. The coffee ceremony is a sacred tradition in Ethiopia, where the beverage originated and is an integral part of the Ethiopian lifestyle. Performing the ceremony is almost a requirement when you have a visitor at any time of the day.

Food in Ethiopia consists of a number of traditional dishes. Injera, a flat, sourdough pancake made of the indigenous grain called t'ef, is the country staple. The injera is typically served with either meat or vegetable sauces. To eat it, you tear off a bit of injera and use it to pick up pieces of meat or to mop up the sauce. Berbere, the blend of spices that gives Ethiopian food its characteristic taste, can be quite hot. A popular food called wot is a hot spicy pepper sauce, which is eaten with basic ingredients like vegetables, meat and chicken. Kotcho, another popular food, is a pancake made of "ensete" stem and root. A traditional Ethiopian meal involves a gathering of people, who eat together from one large circular plate. The guests will have the choice morsels of meat placed in front of them, which they wait to eat last after filling up on injera and sauce.

The geography of Ehiopia is diverse. Located in the heart of the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is the tenth largest African country. A land of contrasts, the scenery in Ethiopia changes constantly from one region to another, creating a microcosm of an entire continent in a nation the size of France and Spain combined. The scenery changes from hot, dry places to rolling hills and fertile highlands, to savanna and mountainous regions where it sometimes even snows. Ethiopia's dramatic geographic contours, which were formed over one million years ago, have been hailed by some as probably the most spectacular in the world. The most sensational geographical feature is the East African Rift Valley, which runs from north to south, cleaving the country into three distinct regions: the western highlands, the eastern highlands, and the Rift Valley lowlands.

Formal education in Ethiopia started in 1908. However, because of misguided policies it did not progress and very few children received an education. As a result, Ethiopia could not compete even with other African countries. In the past, schools were restricted to cities and towns and some roadside villages. Rural areas were very much at a disadvantage, as people had no access to education if they lived far away. Furthermore the curriculum was irrelevant to children's lives; it was far removed from the world of rural agriculture in which most of them lived and worked.

However, radical changes have been made to the curriculum. A problem-centred methodology has been adopted and student-centred methods are preferred. Education is generally more practical and relevant. After regionalisation was introduced in 1993, for the first time Ethiopian people had the right to education in their own languages at the elementary level. Amharic, the national language, of course remains on the curriculum and from the secondary level the medium of instruction is English. Curriculum texts, although vetted by the Ministry of Education, are devised by the educational bureaux in regional states in order to ensure their appropriateness to the diverse cultures of Ethiopia. The curriculum has been improved to ensure, for example, that after completion of the first eight years of education, a student would be a capable semi-skilled individual. Enrolment at school has risen from 2.5 million to 4.9 million. The number of elementary school pupils has risen from 1.8 million to 4 million and the number of secondary pupils from 700,000 to nearly 900,000. In higher education numbers have doubled in the four years and additional courses in engineering, management and health science have been introduced . The number of girls enrolled has more or less doubled in four years. This is an encouraging increase considering most girls did not have access to education in the past. Most do still not have equal status with boys, but there are measures such as positive discrimination, which are helping to right this imbalance. The issue of gender equality is addressed explicitly in several curriculum texts.