The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa means “New Flower” in Amharic. The city lies at the foot of Mount Entoto and this site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul. Her husband, Emperor Menelik II founded Addis Ababa in 1886. The present population is approximately four million and keeps growing at a rate of eight percent per annum. The city’s population speaks as many as eighty languages and belongs to eighty nationalities and Christian and Muslim communities.

The city is home to Addis Ababa University. Addis Ababa University was formerly known as Haile Selassie I University, after the former Emperor of Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa is served by Bole International Airport, where a new terminal opened in 2003. It has a railway connection with Djibouti.

The national Museum in Addis Ababa is famous for the fossilized skeleton, and a plaster replica of the early hominid Lucy (known in Ethiopia as Dinkinesh).