The country is also one of the oldest Christian countries, introduced to the religion in the 4th century, with archaeological finds related to the Queen of Sheba, and the oldest illustrated bible in existence (Embassy of Ethiopia n.d.). It is also speculated that Ethiopia is site to the Ark of the Covenant, should it exist. Until the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa, the Solomonic empire of Ethiopia was one of the continents superpowers, the other being the Bantu kingdom of Congo, the latter of which eventually crumbled due to European occupation (Gebrekidan 2010). Despite the negative impact Europe had in Africa, Ethiopia was one of only 2 countries on the continent not colonized Europeans, the other being Liberia, which was American. This was not only because Ethiopia was powerful, but it was Christian before European arrival, whose initial contact involved missionary work in attempt to convert Africans to Christianity. The country however was not spared from brief European occupation, being conquered by Italy twice in its history, first from 1895-1896 and again from 1936-1941(BBC …show more content…
In brief, the country faced a period known as the Red Terror, lasting from 1973-1987, in which a communist dictator known as Mengistu Haile Mariam rose to power during a military coup overthrowing the king (BBC 2016). During this period, nearly 200000 citizens died of famine in the first year, the nation was invaded by Somalia, and hundreds of thousands of people perished due to genocide before the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front retook Addis Ababa and deposed Mengistu (Aneme 2006). More recently, between 1998 and 2009, Ethiopia has been involved in wars with both Eretria and Somalia, while 2016 brought the most disruptive anti-government protests in over 25 years (BBC