Ethiopian Geography & the Horn (GeEs 1011)

Chapter One: Introduction

Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the learners will be able
to:
• Comprehend the meaning and scope of
Geography.
•Explain the themes of Geography.
• Explicate the implications of location, shape
and size of Ethiopia and the Horn on the
physical environment, socioeconomic and
political aspects.
• Acquire basic skills of map reading.
Activity 1
By referring the image in the next page answer
the following question
1. Write where the Horn of Africa is located?

2. What are the member states of the Horn of

Africa?

3. The Horn contains diverse areas as the

highlands of the Ethiopian Plateau, the Ogaden
desert, and the Eritrean and Somali coasts.
List the responsible water body to wash their
coastal area?
Activity 2

1.Define Geography by your word

2.Is there one acceptable definition by all

geography?

3. What about the scope

 Its coasts are washed by the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and
Indian ocean
 The Horn of Africa takes its name from the horn-shaped land
formation that forms the easternmost point of the African
continent, projecting into the Indian Ocean south of the Arabian
Peninsula
 The Horn of Africa, a region of eastern Africa, is a narrow tip
that protrudes into the northern Indian Ocean, separating it from
the Gulf of Aden.
 Its coasts are washed by the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the
Indian Ocean, and it has long been in contact with the Arabian
Peninsula and southwestern Asia
 1.1. Geography: Definition, Scope, Approaches and Themes

 Meaning of Geography
.
-The 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.
  Scope of Geography
• Geography is a holistic and interdisciplinary
field of study contributing to the
understanding of the changing spatial
structures from the past to the future.
Thus, Scope of Geography is
-The surface of the Earth, which is the very thin
zone that is the interface of the atmosphere,
lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, which
provides the habitable zone in which humans are
able to live.
Approaches of geography
human-physical continuum and a topical-regional
continuum.
The topical (systematic) fields of Geography view
particular categories of physical or human phenomena
as distributed over the Earth while

Regional geography concerned with the associations

within regions of all or some of the elements and their
interrelationships.
Themes of Geography
Geography has five basic themes namely
1)Location
-A particular place or position.
- The location of a country or a place is expressed in
- Absolute or relative location
2)Place
Place is defined as the physical and human aspects of a
location.
It is associated with
Toponym the name of a place
Site the description of the features of the place
Situation the environmental conditions of the place.

Its unique characterstics expressed in terms of

landforms, hydrology, biogeography, pedology, characteristics and size of its
human population, and the distinct human cultures

• Aids geographers to compare and contrast two

places on Earth.
3)Human-Environment Interaction
Involves three distinct aspects:
• Dependency refers to the ways in which humans are
dependent on nature for a living.
• Adaptation relates to how humans modify
themselves, their lifestyles and their behavior to live
in a new environment with new challenges.
• Modification allowed humans to “conquer” the
world for their comfortable living.
4)Movement
The translocation of human beings, their goods, and
their ideas from one end of place to another

Three aspects or dimension of movements

The physical movement of people (the translocation of human beings)
allowed the human race to inhabit all the continents and
islands of the world.
The transport of goods
from one place on the Earth to another.
The flow of ideas
that allows the unification of the human civilization and
promotes its growth and prosperity.
5) Region
A region is a geographic area having distinctive
characteristics that distinguishes itself from adjacent
unit(s) of space. It could be
A formal region
that is characterized by homogeneity in terms of a
certain phenomenon (soil, temperature, rainfall, or other
cultural elements like language, religion, and economy).
Functional or nodal region
characterized by functional interrelationships in a
spatial system defined by the linkages binding particular
phenomena.
1.2. Location, Shape and Size of Ethiopia and the Horn
 Location of Ethiopia
i) Astronomical/ absolute/ mathematical location
-location of a place is defined by its latitude and
longitude /it is exact address of a place/
Astronomically, Ethiopia is located
• Latitude: 3°N and 15°N
• Longitude: 33°E to 48°E
• Absolute location of Eth: 3°N- 15°N and 33°E- 48°E
The east west distance is 15°
The north-south distance is 12°
ii) Relative location
expresses with reference to
• the location of other countries (vicinal),
• landmasses or water bodies.
Activity 3
1. Write the vicinal location of Ethiopia
2. Write the relative location of Ethiopia in
relation to natural features
Ethiopia’s location in relation to its neighboring countries
Activity 4
1. Write the astronomical location of point/area
from the given geographical grid
90 180 150 120 90 60 30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
75 H F
60
45
L J D
30
15 A
0 K
15
30
45 B
60 C M
75
90 E I G
 The relative location of Ethiopia
Vicinal location In relation to water bodies &
land masses
. Sudan to the west and . In the Horn of Africa
northwest . Southwest of the Arabian
. South Sudan to southwest Peninsula
. Djibouti to the east . South of Europe
. Somalia to the east and . Northwest of the Indian
southeast Ocean
. Eritrea to the north and . In the Nile Basin
northeast
. Kenya to the south
The implications of the location of Ethiopia
a) Climate:
-Ethiopia ‘s location between 3°N and 15°N (between the Equator and Tropic of
Cancer) implies that the country has a tropical climate, though modified by its
altitude.
-The location of Ethiopia relative to the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the
African and Asian landmass has also various bearings on the climate of Ethiopia.
b) Socio-cultural:
Ethiopia is one of the earliest recipients of the major world religions namely
Christianity, Islam and Judaism due to its proximity to the Middle East, which was
the origin of these religions. The linguistic and other cultural relationships, which
Ethiopia shares with its neighbours, reflect the influence of location.
c) Political:
The political history of Ethiopia has been considerably influenced by
• Geopolitical considerations of superpowers,
• Adjacency to the Red Sea (a major global trade route).
• The Middle East geopolitical paradigms

Ethiopia has been exposed for external invasions in a number of times; though the
country resisted foreign intervention and remains free of external domination.
 Size of Ethiopia
-Total area approximately 1,106,000 square kilometers -
The 8th largest country in Africa and 25th in the World.

-It extends about 1,639 kilometers East-West, and 1,577

kilometers North-South.

-About 0.7% of the country is covered by water bodies.

-The size of Ethiopia also affects both the natural and

human environment of the country.
Advantages and disadvantages of Ethiopia’s large size

Advantage Disadvantage
Possess diverse agro Demands greater capital to
ecological zone construct infrastructural
facilities

Variety of natural resources Requires large army to

protect its territory
Own extensive arable land Difficult for effective
administration
Have larger population size Difficult for socio economic
integration
Home for diverse cultures
Greater depth in defense
external invasion
 Shape of Ethiopia and its Implication
Countries of the World have different kinds of shape These shapes have
implications on defense, administration and economic integration within a
country. Whether some kind of shape is advantageous to a country or not,
however, depends on many other factors.
Compact shape countries:
The distance from the geographic centre of the state to any of the borders does not vary
greatly. It is easier for defense, socioeconomic and cultural integration.
Fragmented shape countries:
They are divided from their other parts by either water, land or other countries.
Elongated shape countries:
They are geographically long and relatively narrow like Chile.
Perforated shape countries:
A country that completely surrounds another country like the Republic of S. Africa.
Protrude shape countries:
Countries that have one portion that is much more elongated than the rest of the country
like Myanmar and Eritrea.
Indices of compactness
There are various ways of measuring shape of countries.
These measures are known as the indices of compactness.
These indices measure the deviation of the shape of a
country from a circular shape, which is the most compact
shape. Since there is no country with absolutely circular
shape, those approximating a circular shape are said to be
more compact.
There are four most commonly used measures of compactness.
1. Area-Boundary ratio: The ratio of area of country to its boundary length:
The higher the A/B ratio, the greater the degree of compactness.
2. Boundary-Circumference ratio
the nearer the ratio to 1 the more compact the country is.
3. Area-Circumference ratio:
The higher the A/C ratio, the greater the degree of compactness.
4. Area-Area (A/A.) ratio:
The nearer the ratio to 1, the more compact the country is.
Country Area Boundary A/B ratio B/C ratio A/C ratio
(km2) (Km)
Ethiopia 1106000 5260 210.27 1.41 296.61
Djibout 22000 820 26,82 1.56 41.83
Eritrea 117400 2420 48.58 1.99 96.83
Kenya 582644 3600 161.85 1.33 215.28
Somali 637657 5100 125.03 1.80 225.22
Activity 5
1. Which country is more compact?
Country Area Boundary A/B Rank
(km2 ) (Km)
A 1,500,000 5000 3 000 2
B 3,000,000 600 5,000 1
C 2,350,000 1250 1,880 3
1.3. Basic Skills of Map Reading
-A map is a two-dimensional scaled representation of part or
whole of the Earth surface on a flat

-Map reading encompasses a systematic identification of

natural features(mountains, plateaus, hills, valleys, river,
ocean, rocks, plain etc. ) and manmade features( roads, railway,
buildings, dam etc.)

-Although many disciplines use maps, they have a special

significance for Geographers as primary tools for displaying
and analyzing spatial distributions, patterns and relations.
Since these features cannot easily be observed and interpreted
in real landscapes, maps are essential to Geographers.
Importance of maps
• Provide the basis for making geographical details of
regions represented i.e. the geographical facts of an area
such as relief, drainage, settlement etc.
• Giving location of geographical features by varied
methods of grid reference, place naming etc.
• Maps are used on various disciplines like land use
planning, military science, aviation, tourism, marine
science, population studies, epidemiology, geology,
economics, history, archaeology, agriculture etc.
• Makes storage of the geographical data of areas
represented.
• Maps are potentially used to asses. reliable measurements
of the geographical features. The measurements can be of
area, size, distance etc.
Types of Map
There are many types of maps
a. Topographical maps:
depict one or more natural and cultural features of an
area. Contents of topographical maps depend on
purpose of a map, scale of a map, date of compilation,
and nature of the land represented.

b. Special purpose/statistical maps:

maps which show distribution of different aspects such
as temperature, rainfall, settlement, vegetation etc.
Marginal Information on Maps (Elements of Maps)
Marginal information is shown on a map to enable the reading and
interpretation of the geographical information of an area represented. This
includes:

a. Title: It is the heading of the given map which tells what the map is all
about.
b. Key (legend): It is the list of all convectional symbols and signs shown on
the map with their interpretation.
c. Scale: It is the ratio between the distance on the map and the actual ground
distance. Scales enable the map user to interpret the ground measurement .It
can be expressed as representative fraction, statements/verbal scale, and
linear (graphic) scale.
d. North arrow: It is indicated with the north direction on a map; used to
know the other important directions of the mapped area like east, west,
south, and west.
e. Margin: Is the frame of the map. It is important for showing the end of the
mapped area.
f. Date of compilation: It is a date of map publication. This enables map users
Basic Principles of Map Reading
• In developing map reading abilities and skills,
certain basic principles must be applied by the map-
reader to translate map symbols into landscape
images.
• Secondly, knowledge of directions is an important
principle in reading maps.
• Maps are covered in a series of lines that make up a
grid. the grid system makes it simple to give an
accurate description of your location. This
description, which will be a series of numbers, is
known as a grid reference.