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The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a country in the northeastern part of Africa. It is surrounded by Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world, with over 102 million inhabitants. The capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. There are over 80 different languages spoken in Ethiopia, but the official language is Amharic. Ethiopia is a federal parliamentary republic.

Ethiopia is considered one of the countries of origin of modern man and the country of origin of coffee. It has 3,000 years of uninterrupted history. It has been occupied only once during the Second World War by the Kingdom of Italy. In 1974, the more than 800-year-old monarchy ended with a coup. This was followed by a socialist one-party dictatorship. In 1991, the rebel alliance EPRDF came to power after a civil war. The EPRDF has since established itself as an authoritarian governing party.

The Order of Solomon is the highest title and was established by Ras Tafari Makonnen in 1922 acting as regent, although it had been proposed some 9 years earlier by the British Minister to Ethiopia.