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Addis Ababa – largest city in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, which in the Amharic language means: „New Flower”, is the largest city in Ethiopia and also the capital city of this country. It is situated on the Ethiopian Highlands in the center of the country at the altitude of approximately 2400 meters above the sea level. This is one of the highest-situated capital cities in the world.

Area: 530.14 square kilometer.

Population (data estimated for the year 2012): nearly 3,500,000

At the end of 19th century, Emperor Menelik II established the city, and in the year 1889 it became the capital city of the country. What makes it different from the other capital cities of Africa is that the establishing, growth and development of that did not occur in the colonial period.

It is here that the headquarters of international organizations – the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The office building of the African Union, rising above the city, is the gift of the People’s Republic of China for the nations of Africa. Addis Ababa is of purely African character and magnificent traditions, is growing rapidly, and the number of inhabitants representing an extraordinary mixture of nationalities is increasing all the time.

The city is also the main center of commerce and industry, and also of culture, in the country. In the city, there are several museums, one of which is the National Museum with the skeleton and the re- construction of the oldest prehistoric man discovered until a short time ago, namely „Lucy”, Ethnographical Museum on the premises of the university, which was established and managed for several years by the Poland, Professor Stanislaw Chojnacki, and also the Mausoleum of Menelik.

It is possible to visit the bazaar of Merkato, the largest one in the East of Africa. What is worth doing, is visiting the cathedrals of Saint George and of the Holy Trinity, with the mausoleum of Emperor Haile Sellasie and his spouse, and also the mountain called Entoto (3200 meters above the sea level), rising above the city. It was there that the Emperor Menelik II had originally established his capital city, which he was later to transfer it to the areas situated lower because of more favourable climatic conditions.

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