James Chan & Michael Son
Fr. A. Fogarty, S.J.
Catholic Social Ethics 5C
12 December 2005
Ethiopia, What a Country
The dictionary states that a third world country is a developing nation in the midst of Africa, Asia, or also Latin America. The country of Ethiopia is described as a third world country due to its great poverty rate. This country has a peculiar land layout and is ranked 16th in the world with its population. Ethiopia is a country with interesting cultural ways and rich with historic events. Unfortunately some factors brought the Ethiopian country to become one of the world's poorest countries. History of this great nation dates as far back as the 4th century C.E and as time progressed many interesting facts have occurred until the present day. Ethiopia encountered European civilization close to the 15th century where Portuguese missions began in this country. This commenced a series of unwanted battles and unjust rulers. Ethiopia's environment is another major factor towards the reason to the countries third world status. The inhabitants of Ethiopia are being horrid to its nature by polluting the soil, and destroying the trees to make more space for their needs. Ignoring many principles of Catholic Social Justice. The economy of Ethiopia is also suffering due to the fact that the country is selling more than spending. Therefore it was practically inevitable that this country claimed the status of being third world. "Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the north and northeast by Eritrea, on the east by Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on the west and southwest by Sudan" (See Appendix A Figure 4)(Wikipedia, 1). "The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to 3,000 m (6,000 to 10,000 ft) above sea level, with some mountains reaching 4,620 m (15,158 ft)" (Wikipedia, 1). "Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the
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