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Ethiopian Highlands

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ethiopian Highlands is the name for a mountain area in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is also called Abessynian Highlands, named after Abyssinia, a region on the Horn of Africa. Most of the highlands are about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) above sea level, the highest point is at 4,550 metres (14,930 ft) above sea level. There is a lot of rain. People do agriculture, they raise cattle, or cultivate Teff, a staple food.

The Highlands are about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) north to south, and about 500 kilometres (310 mi) east to west. The Alps have a s similar size.

In Ethiopa, the Highlands cover the regions Amhara, Oromia and Tigray. In Eritrea, the regions covered are Maekel, Debub, Gash-Barka and Anseba.

A coffee cup from the era of the Kaffa Kingdom

In the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands there was the Kingdom of Kaffa, a medieval and early modern state. From there, the coffee plant was exported to the Arabian Peninsula. The land of the former kingdom is mountainous with stretches of forest. The land is very fertile, capable of three harvests a year. The term coffee derives from the Arabic: قهوة (qahwah)[1] and is traced to Kaffa.[1][2]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "coffee, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1891.
  2. Weinberg, Bennett Alan; Bealer, Bonnie K. (2001). The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-415-92722-2. Retrieved 18 November 2015.