The Danakil Desert (or Afar Desert ) is a desert in northeast Ethiopia , southern Eritrea , and northwestern Djibouti . Situated in the Afar Triangle , it stretches across 136,956 square kilometres (52,879 sq mi) of arid terrain. It is inhabited by a few Afar , who engage in salt mining . The area is known for its volcanoes and extreme heat , with daytime temperatures surpassing 50 °C (122 °F). Less than 25 mm (1 in) of rainfall occurs each year. The Danakil Desert is one of the lowest and hottest places on Earth.
38-499: Dallol (92 metres below sea level), has the highest average temperature recorded on earth. Dallol features an extreme version of a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ) typical of the Danakil Desert. Dallol is the hottest place year-round on the planet and currently holds the record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, where an average annual temperature of 34.6 °C (94.3 °F)
76-523: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing
114-488: A hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ) typical of the Danakil Desert . Dallol is the hottest place year-round on the planet and currently holds the record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, where an average annual temperature of 34.6 °C (94.3 °F) was recorded between the years 1960 and 1966. The annual average high temperature is 41.2 °C (105.4 °F) and
152-524: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and
190-655: A few volcanic cones which peak in height in Mount Ramlo (2,130 metres (6,990 ft)). The land surrounding the Danakil Depression was once part of the Red Sea . The salt deposits were created when water from the Red Sea flooded the area and then evaporated. The most recent flood was roughly 30,000 years ago. While the water is gone, salt remains in extraordinarily large quantities, and has proven to be
228-476: A few days record measurable precipitation. The hot desert climate of Dallol is particularly hot due to the extremely low elevation, it being inside the tropics and near the hot Red Sea during winters, the very low seasonality impact, the constants of the extreme heat and the lack of nighttime cooling. Local geology is characterized by volcanic and tectonic activity, various climate cycles, and discontinuous erosion . The basic geological structure of this area
266-483: A valuable — and fatal — commodity for locals. A deposit of salt up to 800 metres (2,600 ft) thick can also be found in the Salt Plain flatlands. Other local lakes include Lake Asale (116 metres (381 ft) below sea level) and Lake Giuletti/Afrera 80 metres (260 ft) below sea level, both of which possess cryptodepressions in the Danakil Depression . The Afrera contains many active volcanoes, including
304-751: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of
342-585: Is a locality in the Dallol woreda of northern Ethiopia . Located in Kilbet Rasu , Afar Region in the Afar Depression , it has a latitude and longitude of 14°14′19″N 40°17′38″E / 14.23861°N 40.29389°E / 14.23861; 40.29389 with an elevation of about 130 metres (430 ft) below sea level. The Central Statistical Agency has not published an estimate for
380-817: Is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making
418-579: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This
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#1732772899962456-663: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination
494-501: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of
532-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script
570-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to
608-484: Is particularly hot due to the extremely low elevation, it being inside the tropics and near the hot Red Sea during winters, the very low seasonality impact, the constants of the extreme heat and the lack of nighttime cooling. Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized : Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] )
646-534: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,
684-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units
722-710: The 1960s, the Parsons Company of the US, a mining company, conducted a series of geological surveys at Dallol. By 1965, about 10,000 holes had been drilled at 65 locations. Dallol became more known in the West in 2004 when it was featured in the Channel 4 / National Geographic documentary Going to Extremes . As of 2004 , some buildings still stand in Dallol, all built with salt blocks. Dallol features an extreme version of
760-406: The 2005 population of the village, which has been described as a ghost town . Dallol currently holds the official record for record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, and an average annual temperature of 35 °C (95 °F) was recorded between 1960 and 1966. Dallol is also one of the most remote places on Earth, but paved roads in the area were built in 2015. Still,
798-418: The 600 mm (24 in) gauge Decauville system (ready-made sections of small-gauge track that can be rapidly assembled), it transported salt from the "Iron Point" rail terminal near Dallol via Kululli to the port. Potash production is said to have reached about 51,000 metric tons after the railway was constructed. Production was stopped after World War I because of large-scale supplies from Germany,
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#1732772899962836-469: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but
874-523: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia
912-525: The Maraho, Dabbahu , Afdera and Erta Ale . In 1974, anthropologists discovered an Australopithecus afarensis body at Hadar, Ethiopia in the Awash Valley . The body was found to be female and named Lucy . The Afar people mine salt, loading each of their camels with up to thirty salt bricks weighing four kilograms each. It will then take two days to get to the nearest town, with guards watching
950-537: The US, and the USSR. Unsuccessful attempts to reopen production were made from 1920 to 1941. Between 1925 and 1929, an Italian company mined 25,000 tons of sylvite , averaging 70% KCl, which was transported by rail to Mersa Fatma. After World War II , the British administration dismantled the railway and removed all traces of it. The Dallol Co. of Asmara sold a few tons of salt from the site to India in 1951–1953. In
988-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic
1026-421: The camels and guarding them from bandits. There is a project to flood the depression by carrying out a channel from the ocean. In the past, salt was used as a form of currency in the region, but now the miners use regular cash to conduct transactions. 14°14′30″N 40°18′00″E / 14.2417°N 40.3°E / 14.2417; 40.3 Dallol, Ethiopia Dallol ( Amharic : ዳሎል )
1064-537: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as
1102-443: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic
1140-574: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in
1178-399: The hottest month has an average high of 46.7 °C (116.1 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded is 49 °C (121 °F). In addition to being extremely hot year-round, the climate of the lowlands of the Danakil Depression is also extremely dry and hyperarid in terms of annual average rainy days as only a few days record measurable precipitation. The hot desert climate of Dallol
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1216-525: The most important mode of transport besides off-road vehicles are the camel caravans that travel to the area to collect salt. In the region is the highly active hydrothermal system of Dallol , with numerous springs, terrace systems and fumaroles . A railway from the port of Mersa Fatma in Eritrea to a point 28 km (17 mi) from Dallol was completed in April 1918. Built from 1917 to 1918 by using
1254-482: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In
1292-639: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of
1330-548: The sedimentary deposits. The Danakil Desert has a number of lakes formed by lava flows that dammed up several valleys. Among these is Lake Afrera , which has thick saline crusts on its banks. Other areas of the Danakil became sinks , dry endorheic basins as precipitation evaporates faster than it can collect in permanent lakes. The area is flanked toward the east by the Danakil Alps , a tabular mountain system that has
1368-462: Was caused by the movement of tectonic plates as Africa moved away from Asia. Mountain chains formed and were eroded again during the Paleozoic . Inundations by the sea caused the formation of layers of sandstone , and limestone was deposited further offshore. As the land rose again, further sandstone formed above the limestone. Further tectonic shifts caused lava to pour out of cracks and cover
1406-440: Was recorded between the years 1960 and 1966. The annual average high temperature is 41.2 °C (105.4 °F) and the hottest month has an average high of 46.7 °C (116.1 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded is 49 °C (121 °F). In addition to being extremely hot year-round, the climate of the lowlands of the Danakil Depression is also extremely dry and hyperarid in terms of annual average rainy days as only
1444-475: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered
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