Physical Relief Of The Country Of Ethiopia Essay Example

of precipitation is found in the southwest areas, near gore. They receive approx. 104 in. a year. The littlest amount of precipitation is found in the Great Rift Valley receiving less than 4 inches per year. the average annual precipitation in the central plateau at 48 in. The prevailing winds that strike Ethiopia are the Southwesterly monsoon in the rainy season and the northeasterly wind from the Arabian Desert in the dry season.

Ethiopia's climatic conditions suffer severe drought jeopardizing millions with starvation. These extreme weather changes create horrible growing seasons, making yields quite unsuccessful.

Vegetation

The percentage of forest land is minimal in Ethiopia, most of the area is grazed dry farmland, and some generally arable land. Near areas where beef cattle are being raised tsete flies can be found in great numbers. They spread a sleeping disease, that in turn wear down farmers, and create less productivity, and more disease than needed. Another insect that causes severe problems are locusts. They are considered the plague of Ethiopia, eating, therefore ruining crops. Due to lack of money Ethiopia does not have sufficient preservation facilities, and much of there food rots and goes to waste. Rodents also get into crops and eat whatever is at hand.

Soils

Almost all of Ethiopia's soils are made up of infertile red and yellow laterite. Humus and other nutrients are washed out of the soils and into the rivers. Much land is lost from erosion and desertification, from constant over grazing and loss of trees.

Wildlife

I couldn't find any information on Ethiopia's wildlife, but I would suspect it is minimal. Small amounts of cattle and ox.

Social

Race

Ethiopia is quite unique for the number of races throughout

the country. These races are shown on figure 4.

Languages

In Ethiopia there are over 70 languages and 200 dialects spoken, but only eight of the languages are commonly used. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya and Arabic are the official languages of Eritrea. These are the only three languages with a written script. Due to the number of languages, many Ethiopians are bilingual and even trilingual. See figure 4.

Religions

Due to all these different religions many problems arise, such as which religion should be the inferior religion? Around 1931 Emperor Haile Selassie ruled. When the emperor was overthrown the Ethiopian Orthodox Church lost its favoured position, along with its lands and most of its property. Other religions, particularly Western Protestant evangelical organizations, have found their activities sharply curtailed by the government. this has been displayed through closure of churches, seizure and nationalization of property and facilities, and harassment and surveillance. Some religions have assembled "secret areas" for worship and other practices of there religion. See figure 4.

Population

The population in Ethiopia is extremely high, with a vastly increasing birthrate. Forms of family planning are not used steadily, if at all.