Geography of Ethiopia and the Horn (Geo 101)
Chapter one
1. Introduction: - Geography is a scientific study of the earth that describes and analyses
spatial and temporal variations of physical, biological, and human phenomena and
their interrelationships and dynamism over the surface of the earth. The scope of
geography is the surface of the earth, which is very thin zone that is the interface of the
atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere which provide the habitable zone
in which human can live.
1.1 Approaches in geography:-it can be divided in to two: human-physical continuum
(which deals about physical and human phenomena) and topical-regional continuum
(which deals about regional phenomena in detail).
Topical /systematic-deals about particular topic in detail.
Regional –deals about a particular region both human and physical.
Geography has five thematic areas (focus areas of geography)
Location
Place
Human –environment interaction
Movement
Regional
1.2 Location, shape, and size of Ethiopia and the horn
The horn of Africa, a region of Eastern Africa is a narrow tip elongated in northern
Indian Ocean separating it from the Gulf of Aden. The region includes Djibouti, Eritrea,
Ethiopia and Somalia. From this Ethiopia is the largest and Djibouti is the smallest.
Location of Ethiopia
Astronomical location:-it is absolute or mathematical location which states
location of places by using lines of latitudes and longitudes. Ethiopia is a land
locked country located between 3°N (Moyale) to15° (Bademe) and 33°E (Akobo)
to 48° (Ogaden).
Relative location:-it expresses the location of countries with reference to the
location of other countries (vicinal location), landmasses and water bodies.
Size of Ethiopia:-Ethiopia has a total area of 1,106,000 km2.
The 8th largest country in Africa and the 25th in the world.
Its east-west extension is about 1639km and 1577km from north –south.
Coverage of water bodies of the country has about 0.7%.
The shape of Ethiopia and its implication: - generally the countries of the world have
different shape which can be divided in to 5 categories.
Compact shape countries:-having similar distance from the center(Eth, Poland)
Fragmented shape countries: - they are divided from their by either water, land
or other countries (Philippines).
Elongated shape countries:-they are long and relatively narrow (Chile, Norway,
and Malawi).
Perforated shape countries:-a country that completely surrounds by another
country (R.S.A).
Protrude shape countries:-one portion of the country much more elongated than
the rest of the country (Eritrea, Myanmar).
Index of compactness:-it measure the deviation of the shape of a country from a circular
shape, which is the most compact shape but no country in the world with absolutely
circular shape. There are 4 most common measures of compactness. These are:-
The ratio of area of a country to its boundary length (A/B)-the higher the A/B
ratio, the greater degree of compactness.
The ratio of boundary length of a country to the circumference of a circle (B/C)-it
measures how far the boundary of a country approximates the circumference of a
circle of its own size. Thus, the nearer the ratio to 1 the more compact.
The ratio of the area of a country to the circumference of the smallest inscribing
circle (A/C).It compares the area of the country with the circumference of a circle
that passes touching the extreme points on the boundary. Thus, the higher the A/C
ratio, the greater degree of compactness.
The ratio of actual area of a country to the smallest possible inscribing circle
(A/A), the area of inscribing circle is the area of the smallest possible circle
whose circumference passes through the extreme points on the boundary. Thus,
the nearer the ratio to 1, the more compact the country.
Table 1.3 Ethiopia’s shape compared to its neighbors in the Horn.
Country Area in Boundary A/B ratio B/C ratio A/C ratio
Km2 in Km
Ethiopia 1,106,000 5,260
Djibouti 22,000 820
Eritrea 117,400 2,420
Kenya 582,644 3,600
Somalia 637,657 5,100
Now from the table above, area is given, Boundary is also given and the value of
C=2πr; fulfill the rest column,(to find r, take the largest diameter of a country).
Basic skills of Map Reading: - A map is defined as a drawing or graphical
representation of the land. It is a two-dimensional scaled representation of the earth’s
surface. Map reading encompasses a systematic identification of natural and man-made
features.
Importance of Maps
Provide the basis of geographical knowledge.
Spatial analysis of facts (climate, weather…)
Give location of an area.
Used for planning, military science, aviation, tourism, marine, population studies,
geology, economics, history…
Types of Maps:-
Topographical Maps: - shows natural and cultural features of an area.
It can be-Small scale map, medium scale map and/or large scale map.
Spatial /statistical maps: - shows the distribution of different aspects like
temperature, rainfall, settlements…
Maps are also classified as physical and political maps.
Marginal information on maps/basic elements of maps/
Title of maps
Legend/key
Scale (defined as the ratio between the distance on maps and the actual ground).
North arrow-it indicated the north direction on maps.
Margin –the frame of the maps.
Date of compilation-date of publication.
Map exercise:-find the ground area of the following farm land from the given diagram.
Given: - 1/Scale: 1:100,000
2/Length: 6cm
3/Width: 4cm