Ethiopia (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country situated in the Horn of Africa that has been landlocked since the independence of its northern neighbor Eritrea in 1993. Apart from Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia is bordered by Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Djibouti to the northeast, and Somalia to the east.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world and the second-most populous nation in Africa. It has yielded some of the oldest traces of humanity, making it important in human evolution. Ethiopia is the only African country that escaped European colonialism and the Scramble for Africa, although, there was a five-year military occupation by fascist Italy from 1936 to 1941. Having converted during the fourth century AD, it is also the second-oldest country to become officially Christian, after Armenia, although it has been secular since 1974.
Historically a relatively isolated mountain empire, Ethiopia has more recently become a crossroads of global international cooperation. It became a member of the League of Nations in 1923; signed the Declaration by United Nations in 1942; was one of the fifty-one original members of the United Nations (UN); founded the UN headquarters in Africa; and currently hosts the headquarters of the African Union ( formerly the Organisation of African Unity) of which it was the principal founder.