Ethiopia

Ethiopia, in east Africa, is a country that has something that no other country in the world has. It is the land where human beings began. In fact, the origin of human beings can be traced to just about where Ethiopia's capital city of Addis Ababa is located. Genetic diversity is at a maximum here, and decreases with distance from Addis Ababa, thus proving that it is where the first humans walked the earth.

Ethiopia is thus ultimately the ancestral homeland of all humans.

Meroe was the capital of the kingdom of Kush (or Cush). This was an ancient kingdom that was the predecessor of what we now call Ethiopia, which comes from the Greek name for the area. Meroe is actually in what is now Sudan. Nubian pyramids were of their own style that were distinct from Egyptian pyramids. There was a dynasty of Kushite pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the 25th Dynasty. Two Egyptian pharaohs mentioned in the Bible, Shabaka and Tarhaka, were Kushites. 

The first three images of Nubian Pyramids are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

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A good place to begin our visit to Ethiopia's modern capital city of Addis Ababa is Menelik Square. Although Ethiopia is a very ancient country, it's capital city is not much more than a century old. Menelik I is the legendary son of Israel's King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and Ethiopia's first emperor. In more recent times, Menelik II, in the late Nineteenth Century, could be considered as the founder of modern Ethiopia. St. George's Cathedral, an octagonal building, is where the very popular Twentieth-Century emperor Haile Selassie was crowned.

The first two images, showing the statue of Menelik II in the square and the inside of St. George's Cathedral, are from Google Street View. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@9.0358334,38.7521052,3a,75y,138.82h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN_F2I6HNS4EoA0MoLbQPt3Wil6yBSHhlMQxW2o!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN_F2I6HNS4EoA0MoLbQPt3Wil6yBSHhlMQxW2o%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya139.17728-ro-0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

You may notice that St. George's Cathedral (top), the octagonal building where Haile Selassie was crowned, bears a strong resemblance to the octagonal Dome of the Rock, which is where Solomon's Temple was once located and Haile Selassie is believed to be descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who's visit to him is described in the Bible. Both images from Wikipedia.

Here are some more views around the center of Addis Ababa.

https://www.google.com/maps/@9.0361657,38.7630358,3a,75y,169.5h,92.93t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOiEswTbmV5lQ7TjlpuiuXFzPz3diWc15oDqpb4!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOiEswTbmV5lQ7TjlpuiuXFzPz3diWc15oDqpb4%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya169.5-ro0-fo100!7i8850!8i4425

This is the monument that was set up by the former Communist government of Ethiopia to celebrate the alliance with Cuba, who assisted that government in a war with neighboring Somalia in the 1970s. The first two images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@9.019959,38.7514816,3a,75y,271.5h,104.93t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMugY-jHwYB3jCBMXzS3zM9QPSqmbyyTQQayIFJ!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMugY-jHwYB3jCBMXzS3zM9QPSqmbyyTQQayIFJ%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-14.933861-ya311.5-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

This is a newer area of Addis Ababa. The first two images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@9.0099257,38.7808659,3a,75y,187.5h,96.94t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO5fBpjzBg_81FWlpITnKrcxAoOfZ7KEeQBdcEk!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO5fBpjzBg_81FWlpITnKrcxAoOfZ7KEeQBdcEk%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-6.941883-ya187.5-ro0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

Ethiopia underwent a reconciliation with neighboring Eritrea, which had once been a part of Ethiopia but had broken away to form a separate country in the 1990s. Eritrea is the region along the Red Sea coast. The two countries are not reuniting, but are no longer enemies or rivals. The following scenes are of Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea. The first two images are from Google Street View.

This church in Asmara is so crowded that it's standing room only. Image from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@15.337074,38.9405837,3a,75y,120h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNfMkjlc0yUIjqdUHPK0l-yGZwlh0ciAy7-I8lu!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNfMkjlc0yUIjqdUHPK0l-yGZwlh0ciAy7-I8lu%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-17.23073-ya122.09165-ro11.397077-fo100!7i5760!8i2880

Ethiopia was one of the first Christian nations. The apostle Phillip encountered an Ethiopian in Chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles. Lalibela is considered as a model of Jerusalem, but where churches are carved into solid rock. Amazingly, the symbolic Tomb of Adam is located in Lalibela. The tomb was carved centuries ago, but modern science has proven that Ethiopia is definitely where humans originated. The first two images of Lalibela are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.0336665,39.043419,3a,75y,162.13h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOKZdtSjyoiS0YpP1eJFr0FUi4aYhbfxxPBJp7L!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOKZdtSjyoiS0YpP1eJFr0FUi4aYhbfxxPBJp7L%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya70.502945-ro-0-fo100!7i7680!8i3840

This is the town of Gondar, founded in the 17th Century as the capital of Ethiopia. The castle belonged to King Fasillides, and is known as the Royal Enclosure. The first four images of Gondar and the castle are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@12.6083256,37.4697141,3a,75y,58.94h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPurd1t5aRf6dzPCwO6734hWn6uLZpBhz6JtyaK!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPurd1t5aRf6dzPCwO6734hWn6uLZpBhz6JtyaK%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya262.31448-ro0-fo100!7i11264!8i5632

Axum (or Aksum) is considered as probably the holiest city of Ethiopia. It is a very ancient city in the far north of the country.

One of the most sought-after objects in the world is the Ark of the Covenant. This is the gold-covered wooden box in which the Israelites carried the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, along with other holy objects, before they had a permanent worship center. The probability is that it was destroyed or irrecoverably lost when the Babylonians looted and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. When the Persians conquered Babylon they allowed the Jews who the Babylonians had taken into exile to return, and gave back to them the items that had been looted, but the Ark of the Covenant was not mentioned among those objects.

But some people are convinced that the Ark of the Covenant somehow survived. There are legends of it being in various places, and one of those places is Axum in the Chapel of the Tablet. 

The first five images, all from Google Street View, are two of the Chapel of the Tablet and three of Axum.

https://www.google.com/maps/@14.1316252,38.7197075,3a,75y,208.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNdftkjRWQyX3U5nt5bO9sDQm7OmE-H9q6srQDS!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNdftkjRWQyX3U5nt5bO9sDQm7OmE-H9q6srQDS%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-4.4454465-ya50.860996-ro-3.0946338-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

These are the ruins of a mansion or palace in Axum and there is a legend that it once belonged to the Queen of Sheba. Another legend is that the Ethiopian emperor Menelik I was the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This began the Solomonic Dynasty that continued until the overthrow of Haile Selassie by the Communists in 1974. Beta Israel is the name of the Ethiopian Jewish community, many of which were evacuated to Israel by airlift in recent times.

It is interesting that the major language of Ethiopia, Amharic, is a Semitic language.

The origin of Ethiopia's Jewish community is not entirely certain, escapees from bondage in Egypt or even some of the "Ten Lost Tribes" who were taken into exile by the Assyrians and lost to history. There were ancient Jewish communities in Yemen and what is now Iraq, as well as in Ethiopia, and we do have to wonder if at least some of the fabled "Ten Lost Tribes", who were relocated to other parts of the Assyrian Empire as punishment for defiance of Assyria, managed to carry on as Jews until modern times. Of particular interest is Kurdish Jews, who lived in what would have been at the opposite end of the Assyrian Empire at the time the "Ten Lost Tribes" were taken away. 

The first three images of the palace at Axum associated with the Queen of Sheba are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@14.1269667,38.7065389,3a,75y,40.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNLJsVkdYxmxutQtr3x7N70AEJgMQBKs2YyJzhN!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNLJsVkdYxmxutQtr3x7N70AEJgMQBKs2YyJzhN%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya301.34784-ro0-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

Ethiopia is the land of so many legends. But whether or not those legends are true, none compare in importance to what has been scientifically proven. That Ethiopia is the place where human beings began. This is ultimately the homeland of all of us. The Rastafarians of Jamaica deserve a lot of credit because they regarded Ethiopia, although it was on the other side of the world, as the sacred homeland decades before it was scientifically proven that this was indeed where the first humans originated.