Ethiopia, Where Humanity Began Its Long March

At the dawn of humanity

Her remains, excavated in 1974 by the American paleoanthropologist Donald Johansson, are preserved in the museum of Addis Ababa, where I had the opportunity to meet the relatives of this Australopithecus afarensis.

The descendants of Lucy continued to walk, crossed continents and their genes evolved to what is today our species, the homo sapiens or “wise man”; so “wise” that we even have the ability to eliminate the entire human species, and we seem to be in a frantic struggle to destroy the planet.

This evolutionary history of the human being could be much more beautiful if only the differences between the descendants of Lucy were minor.

While today in the developed world, few are still obliged to walk, in most of Africa human beings continue to walk great distances; carrying water and grain on their backs due mainly to poverty, which has its explanation in the history of this continent subjected and exploited by colonial powers, along with wars, ethnic conflicts, religious struggles, lack of institutional presence, weakness of the political systems and last but not least, climate change.

Ethiopia, with an area of 1,104,300 km², equivalent to 36 times the area of Belgium, concentrates just over 100 million inhabitants. According to demographic projections, they will reach 188.5 million in 2050.

The majority of its population, 41%, is under 14 years old – a percentage that in Germany only reaches 13%. The 4 main ethnic groups (Oromos, Amharas, Somalis and Tigray) make up just over 70% of its population which in total houses 140 different groups where 83 languages and about 200 dialects are spoken.