Addis Ababa is the beautiful capital of Ethiopia, with a population of almost 2,757,729 people, and it is even one of the trendy and most significant places in Ethiopia 🏛️.
It is the country’s capital, as well as a highly developed and vital artistic, cultural, administrative, and financial center of Ethiopia.
It is a beautiful city with fantastic facts, such as its crazy traffic.
So, in this article, we will go through several interesting facts about the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.
Interesting Addis Ababa Facts
This city is home to the largest outdoor market in Africa.
The city of Addis Ababa is famous as the home to the biggest outdoor market in Africa 🌍. It spans more than a mile in several directions. The market is so fierce and extensive that you can get lost in the maze of people and alleys.
There is only so much a tourist might want to purchase inside; however, it is a perfect place to wander around and enjoy something new.
The city of Addis Ababa is highly diverse.
You might think that an African city in a nation like Ethiopia would be boring, but in that case, you would be wrong. There are multiple large ethnic groups within Addis Ababa 🌈, such as Oromo, Amhara, Gurage, and Tigray.
Also, there is plenty of ex-pats from nations around the globe because the city is home to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Addis Ababa has one of the most exciting intersections in the world.
Just try to cross the road in Meskel Square, which is famous as one of the craziest intersections in the world and operates without any traffic lights 🚦.
Also, the city of Addis Ababa is one of the busiest and most storied cities in Africa.
This city was founded in 1886 and grew to more than three million people, accumulating different quirks and monuments.
The origin of the name Addis Ababa
The wife of Emperor Menilek II, empress Taitu persuaded the emperor to build a house near the hot springs.
Thus, the city of Addis Ababa was founded in 1887 and named “Addis Ababa,” meaning “New Flower.” 🌸 It is one of the most beautiful cities in Africa and the world 🌍.
The country where Addis Ababa is located is home to the hottest region on Earth.
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia, where you can see the Danakil Depression. The average year-round temperature in the place called Danakil Depression is 34.4 degrees Celsius ☀️, which makes it the hottest place on Earth 🌍.
In addition to this, it is also an arid region, receiving just between 100 and 200 mm of rain every year ☔.
Despite these extreme weather conditions 🌍, this place is often known as the cradle of humanity, with many ancient hominin fossils discovered over the years.
Danakil Depression is also the lowest place on the continent of Africa.
The depression is located at the junction of the Earth’s three tectonic plates in the Horn of Africa and is almost 125 meters below sea level 🌋.
At 200 kilometers in length and almost 50 meters in width, this relatively small desert 🏜️ is even home to nearly 25% of the volcanoes of Africa.
Addis Ababa is the African continent’s highest capital city.
In the highlands bordering the Great Rift Valley, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city 🌆, is 2355 meters above sea level, the highest in Africa.
Thus, Addis Ababa ranks just behind other cities like Colombia, Bogota, and Quito.
While visiting Addis Ababa, travelers have been known to experience shortness of breath and altitude sickness after a few days 😅.
This beautiful city is also the continent’s fourth largest city and one of the best regions to sample Ethiopian cuisine 🍛.
There are more than 80 languages spoken in the nation.
Ethiopia has more than 80 languages spoken 🗣️ across its areas, and as of 2020, it even has five official working languages, such as Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya, Afar, and Somali.
Also, English is the most commonly used foreign language, and all University classes here are taught in English.
However, Amharic is the most widely written and spoken language in Addis Ababa.
As of 2018, this language was spoken by almost 31.8 million native speakers in Ethiopia. Also, this language is spoken by all ethnic groups in the city of Addis Ababa 🗣️.
The Addis Ababa University.
In 1950, Addis Ababa University was founded and was initially named “University College of Addis Ababa.” 🎓
After that, in 1962, it was renamed for the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, who had donated his beautiful Genete Leul Palace to the University to use as the University’s main campus the previous year.
There is a square in the city of Addis Ababa named after Mexico.
If you visit the city of Addis Ababa, you might see a giant Mexican statue in one of the city’s most prominent squares.
Addis Ababa built Mexico Square to appreciate Mexico’s support of the nation during Italy’s occupation, as Mexico was the only nation in the League of Nations to act like that 🤝.
Here, you will see a statue of Karl Marx.
After enjoying the Mexican statue, you can also see a statue of Karl Marx 🗽 in Addis Ababa.
Just outside Addis Ababa University, you will see a giant statue of Karl Marx, which represents the socialist history of the nation Ethiopia.
For a time, even Addis Ababa was a communist city, famous as the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, between 1987 and 1991.
The capital city of Ethiopia started as a military encampment.
Unlike many other African cities, Addis Ababa didn’t start as a typical small village. Instead, it began as an encampment of the military that housed the palace of the emperor Menelik II ⛺.
His large troops surrounded the palace, and after many years, people eventually came into the city to settle it.
Also, Emperor Menelik II 👑 was the person who started modernizing Addis Ababa by introducing some new educational schemes during the early 20th century.
Though it is located in the same country as Danakil Depression, it never gets that hot.
Despite being close to the equator and located in the same country as Danakil Depression, the temperatures in Addis Ababa never get that hot 🌡️. Even in the hottest months in the city, the average temperature reaches only 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also, the record temperature of Addis Ababa is only 32 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Theaters and stadiums in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is home to several famous theaters 🎭, including the long-run Hager Fikir Theater. This theater served the performances of many prominent figures.
Also, the capital city of Ethiopia is home to several notable stadiums, such as Abebe Bikila Stadium, named after Shambel Abebe Bikila, Addis Ababa Stadium, and Nyala Stadium.
Notable architectures in Addis Ababa
Some significant taller architectures in the capital city of Ethiopia include Zemen Bank 🏢, the CBE headquarters, Hibret Bank, NIB international bank, Nani Tower, Huda Tower, Bank Misr Building, along with the approved Angola World Trade Center Tower, Mexico Square Tower, Abyssinia Bank Tower, and also the AU Conference Center and Office Complex.
It has a science museum.
In the city of Addis Ababa, you will get to see a science museum built by the exhibition crew of Media Tech 🔬.
Also, this Ethiopian city is a melting pot of various communities throughout the country’s regions, along with Dire Dawa.
Addis Ababa held off Italian invaders.
Unlike other African countries, the city of Addis Ababa and its country Ethiopia fought off its would-be colonizers.
People gathered to rally in Addis Ababa during the First Italo-Ethiopian War ⚔️ and then gave the Italians the boot. The mausoleum of the emperor can still be visited in the city.
However, the Italians came back.
Unfortunately, the Italians returned to Ethiopia in the 1930s and occupied Addis Ababa for about five years.
At the time, the city became the capital of Italian East Africa, a nation stretching to Eritrea.
However, the Italians lost again, and Emperor Haile Selassie returned to the city ✌️.
Addis Ababa has a subtropical highland climate.
The city of Addis Ababa mainly has a subtropical highland climate ☀️ where precipitation varies considerably by the month.
Moreover, the city is situated in the heart of the state of Oromia, and the primary ecosystem of the city is offered by Oromia state.
The city of Addis Ababa is a vital financial, artistic, and cultural center of the country of Ethiopia. In the year 1889, this city became the capital.
Later, Addis Ababa transformed itself by recognizing the importance of urbanization and modernization 🌆.
It is often known as the political capital of Africa.
Home to the third largest United Nations population, the headquarters of the African Union 🌍, and with representation from about every foreign embassy from around the globe, the city of Addis Ababa is known as the political capital of Africa.
Moreover, Addis Ababa is a vibrant city in Africa with a lot of sunshine. Also, most diplomatic communities and NGOs are based in the town, making Addis Ababa one of the safest cities in Africa.
So, Addis Ababa is a beautiful and vibrant city in Ethiopia, Africa, with its exciting culture, interesting people, rich history, beautiful landscapes, solid architecture, and many more.
At the end of this article, we learned 20 exciting facts that offer us a clear picture of this beautiful capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. You can see our website if you want to know some additional facts.
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