Photos of The people of Ethiopia, Ethiopia

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The people of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a very diverse country, with more than 80 different ethnic groups and at least 70 languages spoken, a few by millions of people, others by only a few hundred. Most people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. Amharic is Ethiopia’s official language, a language that, with Tigrinya and Tigre, is descended from Ge’ez, still the liturgical language used in the Ethiopian church.

Girls from Addis
 
Happy couple
 
Boys of Addis
 
A young girl
 
Souvenir selling
 
Embroidering
 
Woman with butter
 
Women of Addis
 
Market Women
 
A small boy
 
Young Harari girl
 
Somali girl
 
Oromo girls
 
Harari woman
 
Shoeshine boy
 
Herding cattle
 
Guard, Tis Isat
 
Men of Tis Isat
 
Separating fibres
 
Basket weaving
 
Young girl
 
Weaving 'shamma'
 
Cooking 'injera'
 
Begging in Lalibela
 

Amharic has its unique alphabet with thirty-seven consonants, of which the form changes depending upon which vowel sound follows it, making 251 different characters in the language. It used to be taught in all primary schools, but local languages have replaced it in many areas. Of these, Oromo (formerly referred to as Galla, which is now considered a pejorative term) is the most widely spoken first language, used by more than 24 million people in Ethiopia and parts of northern Kenya.

It is estimated that about 44% of its 90 million people adhere to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, one of the few pre-colonial Christian Churches in Sub-Saharan Africa and the largest of all Oriental Orthodox Churches. About 34% of Ethiopians are Muslims. In the far south of Ethiopia live many tribal groups speaking Omotic and Nilo-Saharan languages. Orthodox Christianity generally didn’t influence these people; they retained their indigenous beliefs or converted to Islam or by foreign Christian missionaries.