Prehistory Archaeologists found remains of early hominins, one of the most specimen was
Australopithecus afarensis, also called "Lucy", which was discovered in the country's
Awash Valley, so-called
Hadar in 1974. It is estimated to be 3.5 million years old. In October 2015, scientists discovered the remains of a man called "Mota" in a cave in south-central Ethiopia, he lived 4,500 years ago. Atypical of Euroasians, who were believed to have reached the region after him, Mota's genetic variants did not include traits such as "light-colored eyes or skin," resembling the modern
Aari tribes that live in the southern area of the country. By proofing
Mota has no European genome, archeologist theorized the
Near East population migrated to Africa in 3,000 years ago. Other evidence concluded that Eurasian population made significant contribution as a result of back migration between 1,500 and 3,500 years ago.
Nilo-Saharan peoples do not exhibit this genetic similarity; instead, their DNA shows evidence of more recent admixture (less than 1200 years ago) with other African peoples. It was thought that
Hamitic people from
Asia Minor had migrated before Semitic Arabian people in the 7th century BC. In 1933,
G.W.B Huntingford proposed a theory of
Azanian civilization could have existed in
Kenya, and northern
Tanzania, between the
Stone Age and
Islamic period. It was supposed that these people evicted from Ethiopia and
Somalia by Muslim invasion to southern region in present-day Kenya and Tanzania where perished around 14th- and 15th-century. About 7000 BC,
Afro-Asiatic-speaking population namely
Cushitic and
Omotic-speaking people grouped in the present day of Ethiopia after which diversification thrived in the area and allowed the other local groups, the
Agaws,
Somali,
Oromo, and numerous Omotic-speaking groups to unify. Originally a hunter gatherers, those people began domesticating indigenous plants thereafter, including the grasses
teff,
eleusine,
enset, root crop, and domestication of cattles and other animals to fill agricultural livelihoods that still contemporary followed. By the late first millennium BC, the Agaws occupied the northern Ethiopian region, as the
Sidamo occupied the central and southern parts of Ethiopia, making inaugural
historical development of Ethiopia. Afro-Asiatic languages were present in Africa and the Middle East by the eighth to sixth millennium BCE. This language family includes various modern and extinct African and Asian languages such as Oromo, Somali, Egyptian, Berber, Hausa, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian. Ge'ez was developed around sixth century BCE and evident by inscriptions of contemporary kingdom of D'mt. The language dominance was eclipsed by 1000 AD, but the highland inhabitants used it as written scholar and liturgical language between 300s and 1800s.
Antiquity In 980 BCE,
Dʿmt was established in present-day
Eritrea and the
Tigray Region of Ethiopia, straddling
South Arabia in present-day of
Yemen. This polity's capital was located at
Yeha, in what is now northern Ethiopia. Most modern historians consider this civilization to be a native Ethiopian one, although in earlier times many suggested it was
Sabaean-influenced because of the latter's hegemony of the Red Sea. Other scholars regard Dʿmt as the result of a union of Afroasiatic-speaking cultures of the Cushitic and Semitic branches; namely, local
Agaw peoples and Sabaeans from Southern Arabia. However,
Ge'ez, the ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, is thought to have developed independently from the
Sabaean language, one of the
South Semitic languages. As early as 2000 BCE, other Semitic speakers were living in Ethiopia and Eritrea where Ge'ez developed. Sabaean influence is now thought to have been minor, limited to a few localities, and disappearing after a few decades or a century. It may have been a trading or military colony in alliance with the Ethiopian civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto-Axumite state. The kingdom enlarged its territory by the half of 4th century after conquering neighbor city
Meroë in 330, and entered a "Golden Age" for the next three centuries. Aksum's power began declining at the time of the
Islamic Golden Age, where they frequently countered intrusions by Arab Muslims in the
South Arabia protectorate (modern
Yemen), making them to evicted more in the southern of Agaw population. In 10th century, the kingdom ultimately collapsed followed by pillage by
Queen Gudit, after execution of Christians and ordered
arson in church. While Aksum's existence extinguished, the follow-up
kingdom of Zagwe likely of a continuation of its civilization and revival of Christianity, and a new multi-ethnic empire-state was formed in title of "king of kings". The successful integration of Agaw and
Semitic groups in the north prolonged over millennium and eventually forms
Tigrayans and
Amhara people. The Zagwe kingdom capital, relocated to
Lalibela, and sparked a new cultural life. The most notable churches in this period was constructed with unique
rock-hewn architecture. A dominant group, Amhara, continues to expand its territory in so-called
Solomonic period after the downfall of Zagwe in 1270, and by the late 13th century, they reached to southern Shewa. Since then, centralized military unit was buildup while frequently engaged war with Sidama kingdom in the west and Muslim population to the east. One of the most important era for Christian and Muslim insight, and the resultant of religious war was in the mid-16th century of
Ethiopian–Adal War, involving the Amhara, Tigrayan and Agaw force allied to the
Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) and the Muslim states composed mostly of
Harari and Somali people, together forms the
Adal Sultanate. The
Oromo people additionally took an advantage of the war and occupied much the northern highland zone of the Amhara empire in the
Oromo migrations. In 1855, Emperor
Tewodros II sought to establish permanent Ethiopian border by solidifying the Shewan kingdoms. Tewodros II is often credited with being the preliminary figure of modern Ethiopian history but his reign ended prematurely when he committed suicide during the
British Expedition to Abyssinia. at
Battle of Adwa. The battle considered to be the basis of Ethiopian nationalism against European colonial powers Emperor
Menelik II done major reformations to the country by the late 1890s: under his reign, Menelik extensively conquered the rest of kingdoms nearby region, while annexing the
Tigray Province, ultimately formed the modern border of Ethiopia. His reign brought sharp solidification of the current Ethiopian national identity. The
Battle of Adwa was a 1896
colonial resistance battle between the Ethiopian Empire led by Menelik and
Kingdom of Italy led by General
Oreste Baratieri, involving respective 100,000 and 17,700 troops, where Ethiopian armies decisively defeated them and secured sovereignty.
Current era An Italian occupation of Ethiopia following
Second Italo-Ethiopian War brought legacy of ethnic marginalization of major ethnic groups: the Oromos, Amharas, Tigrayans, and Somalis. Ethiopia underwent series civil clashes under communist military junta
Derg.
Ethnic nationalism and similar policies implemented by the
Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which brought Ethiopia to
ethnic federalist state since 1995, which was aimed to reduce internal ethnic conflicts and grant
freedom of choice within every ethnic groups although, Ethiopia then faced more
prolong internal conflicts and ethnic clashes in the 21st century. ==Ethnicity ==