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Addis Ababa

Capital of EthiopiaHigh in the Ethiopian Highlands, Addis Ababa sits about 2,360 m above sea level. The Entoto Mountains rise to over 3,000 m along the city's northern edge.

Why it's the capital

In 1886 Empress Taytu Betul chose a site beside hot mineral springs below Mount Entoto and persuaded Emperor Menelik II to move his capital down from the cold, windy mountain. She named the new town Addis Ababa, and it became the empire's capital in 1889.

Fun facts

  1. Its Amharic name means "new flower", and its Oromo name, Finfinnee, means "fountain of hot mineral water".
  2. The African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa have their headquarters here, which is why it is called "the political capital of Africa".
  3. The fossil skeleton of Lucy, an early human relative known in Ethiopia as Dinkinesh, is kept at the National Museum of Ethiopia in the city.

Finding it on the globe

Go inland to the south-west of Djibouti until you reach the middle of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa is there on the highlands, just west of the Great Rift Valley that splits the country in two.

Sources: Wikipedia: Addis Ababa