Physical Landscape of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is located in the Eastern region of Africa. According to the Embassy of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ethiopia lies between the geographical coordinates of 3’ and 14. 8’ latitude and 33’and 48’ longitude. Ethiopia encompasses a majority of the area known as the Horn of Africa. The CIA World Factbook states that Ethiopia is approximately 1,104,300 square kilometers (686,180 miles). To give a better perspective of the sheer size of this country, it is about twice the size of the state of Texas. The CIA World Factbook also states that Ethiopia’s area ranks 27th when compared to the area size of all other countries in the world.

Ethiopia is a completely landlocked country. Access to the Red Sea is blocked its former autonomous region, Eritrea, which is located to the north of this country. The small country of Djibouti is located to Ethiopia’s northern borders, alongside Eritrea. Preventing access to the Indian Ocean is Somalia on Ethiopia’s eastern border. Lying on Ethiopia’s southern border is Kenya. On the south western border sits South Sudan and Sudan covers the north western border (Ofcansky and Berry).

Much of Ethiopia is covered by highlands, plateaus and mountains and with this country’s climate is categorized as primarily H with some subcategories of B on the Köppen system (Attoh). The Western Highlands and Eastern Highlands that consume most of Ethiopia are dissected by the Eastern Rift Valley that slices through from the northeast to the southwest. The highlands here are classified as H climates which means that they experience temperate climates and dry winters. The highlands here can receive up to 80 inches of rainfall a year and average temperatures in the low 60s F (Brittanica.com). Attoh classifi...

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...y the biome of desert steppe vegetation (Britannica).

Works Cited

Attoh, Samuel Aryeetey, ed. Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. 3rd. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. Book.

Central Intelligence Agency. "Ethiopia." cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013.

"Ethiopia." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. .

"Ethiopia." Encyclopedia of the Nations. Advameg, Inc., 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. .

Ofcansky, Thomas P. and LaVerle Berry. Ethiopia. 1991. 17 September 2013. .