"Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African."

-Mandela.

Ethiopians are: "The most just men"

-Herodotus (Greek historian, 485-425 B.C.)

Ethiopia : "A country wherein no one is wronged: a land of righteousness"

-Prophet Muhammed.

It has always been the wish of Bob Marley to return to Ethiopia and become a Rastafarian... and with the African Union, Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa and therefore a very symbolic place.

-Bob Marley's widow, Rita Marley.

The Ethiopian Jews known both as Falashas, the Amharic word for landless, wandering Jews, and as Beta Israel, the house of Israel. Today, most of the Beta Israel live in the state of Israel. According to one tradition, the Ethiopian Jews are the descendants of one of the ten tribes, as their religion is an ancient form of biblical Judaism.

Did you know that a large portion of the Ethiopian population claims descent from King Solomon of Jerusalem and the Queen of Sheba. Many converted to Judaism after the son of the queen was born. Many people actually believe that the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant is at a chapel in the ancient holy capital of Aksum.

Ethiopians are: "The blameless race"

-Homer (Greek poet of the 8th century B.C.)

Ethiopia was the first nation to officially declare Christianity. They converted to Christianity 400 years after the birth of Christ. Ethiopia is a land full of lush green pastures, forests, and lakes. It has one of the world's tallest waterfalls, and is the source of the Blue Nile.

Ethiopia is the cradle of ancient civilzation that, and is the land of origin for the first human species, justified by the discovery of Lucy. "Lucy" was found in 1974 by an American Paleo-Anthropologist, and was aged at 3.2 million years old.

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa, and the three main colors of her flag were so often adopted by other African countries upon independence that they became known as the pan- African colors.

"Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, o people of Israel?”

-Amos 9:7.

Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar, which comprises twelve months of thirty days each and a thirteenth month of five days (or six days in a leap year). The calendar is seven years and eight months behind the Western (Gregorian) calendar.

Ethiopia was never colonized, even though from 1935-1941 it was occupied by Mussolini's armies, it has remained untainted by colonial powers.

Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia, although English, Italian, French, and Arabic are also widely spoken.