People People

The People and Culture

Ethiopia has been called a rich cultural mosaic due to its eighty different languages and dialects and as many, if not more, cultural variations.

The Amharas are located In the central highland plateau of Ethiopia and comprise the major population element in administrative zones of Gonder, Gojjam, in parts of Shoa and Wollo of the Amhara regional state.

The Oromos are the largest ethnic group in the country. They are a pastoral and agricultural people who live mainly in central and south - western Ethiopia.

People belonging to Nilo- Saharan ethnic group occupies the western part of the Country stretching from the borders with Eritrea to Lake Turkana.

Elsewhere around the country there are a number of smaller communities whose cultures, languages and traditions are related to different facers of Ethiopia's long history and, as with all the peoples of the country, to its religions be they Orthodox Christians, Muslims or members of other faiths.

Folk culture is also an important element of today's Ethiopia. Artists and craftsmen make their own contributions to the countrie's cultural and social development. Almost every town has its own cultural troupe made up of singers and dancers, poets and writers, and its own cultural hall in which the troupe re-creates the song and dance of its particular area from a bygone age.

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