In many ways, Ethiopia is a land that time forgot. Always independent, Ethiopia was ruled by a monarchy that traced its origins back to the second century. Because of its strong internal government, Ethiopia was one of the two African countries that was able to resist the European imperialism of the nineteenth century and retain its own government (the other country to retain its independence after the Berlin Conference of 1884 was Liberia). Ethiopia is a remarkable country in many ways. Home to nearly ninety million people, the country has its own calendar (which calculates the years differently than ours so that it is currently 2012 in Addis Ababa, while 365 days are divided into 13 months!) and its own alphabet called Ge’ez. It was one of the first countries to formally adapt Christianity as the official religion, boasts a large Muslim population and is the traditional home of the Falashas-African Jews whose oral history trace their origins to immigrants to Ethiopia after the fall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70AD, but whose DNA evidence indicates are probably later converts to Judaism. The stamps of Ethiopia have a long tradition of being among the most popular stamps of any country without a strong native collecting base. The issuing policy has traditionally been conservative and concerned with internal events. Recent decades have seen much political turmoil in Ethiopia. After the end of the Monarchy (Haile Salassie was deposed in 1974) sectional political infighting destroyed the fragile Ethiopian economy and a country that has rich natural resources and a hard working people has faced starvation.
