Ethiopia
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50 free Ethiopia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Ethiopia trivia quiz covers the ancient, never-colonised country at the heart of the Horn of Africa: Lucy and the birth of humanity, the Kingdom of Aksum and its obelisks, the rock churches of Lalibela, the Solomonic emperors, the victory at Adwa, Haile Selassie and the Rastafari, the Derg, the famine of the 1980s and today's Africa-leading airline and giant Nile dam. It also gets to the table and the track: coffee, injera and berbere, and the barefoot marathoner Abebe Bikila. The first questions suit anyone who has eaten with their right hand off a shared injera; the last ones test people who know why the Ethiopian year is seven years behind and what the Ge'ez script is. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ethiopia lies in which region of the continent?
The Horn of Africa
Its capital Addis Ababa, at 2,355 metres, is the highest capital on the continent.
Q 02Along with Liberia, Ethiopia is described as the only African country never to have been what?
Fully colonised
Italy occupied it from 1936 to 1941 but never secured the whole country against the Arbegnoch resistance.
Q 03At which 1896 battle did Ethiopian forces under Menelik II defeat an Italian invasion?
Adwa
Victory Day on 2 March is the first public holiday of the year, and the flag's tricolour was adopted a year later.
Q 04The 3.2-million-year-old hominin skeleton found in Ethiopia's Afar region in 1974 is known as what?
Lucy
Locally called Dinkinesh, she was named after a Beatles song played in Donald Johanson's camp that night.
Q 05The name of which drink may derive from Ethiopia's Kaffa region?
Coffee
Legend credits a 9th-century goatherd, Kaldi, with noticing his energised flock; the bean is Ethiopia's biggest export earner.
Q 06How many months does the Ethiopian calendar have?
Thirteen
Twelve months of 30 days plus a short thirteenth of five or six days; the year also runs seven or eight years behind the Gregorian.
Q 07For most of the Gregorian year, the Ethiopian year number is how many years lower?
Seven
It is eight years lower from January until the Ethiopian new year in September, then seven.
Q 08Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash, falls on which date?
11 or 12 September
Ethiopian Christmas is celebrated on 7 January.
Q 09Emperor Haile Selassie, born Ras Tafari Makonnen, is revered as a central figure by which religion?
Rastafari
The faith developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, the decade he was crowned.
Q 10Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974 by which Soviet-backed military junta?
The Derg
It ruled for nearly 17 years under Mengistu Haile Mariam amid civil war and the Red Terror.
Q 11The eleven monolithic churches of Lalibela were carved to recreate which holy city?
Jerusalem
King Gebre Meskel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty commissioned them around 1200; tradition says the work took 24 years.
Q 12The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum claims to hold which biblical relic?
The Ark of the Covenant
It is regarded as the holiest church of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo faith.
Q 13The Solomonic dynasty, founded in 1270, claimed descent from King Solomon and which legendary female ruler?
The Queen of Sheba
Their supposed son Menelik I is counted as the first emperor; the line ended with Haile Selassie in 1974.
Q 21Dallol in the Danakil Depression holds which climate record?
Highest average annual temperature
The average is 34 °C, in a depression that also holds the lava lake of Erta Ale.
Q 22Which Ethiopian runner won the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome barefoot?
Abebe Bikila
He won again in Tokyo in 1964, the first man to defend an Olympic marathon title.
Q 23Distance great Haile Gebrselassie set how many world records in his career?
27
He also won two Olympic golds and four world titles over 10,000 metres.
Q 14A coin dated to 324 shows Ethiopia was the second country to officially adopt Christianity, after which?
Armenia
The Aksumite king Ezana converted; Ethiopia was the first major power to do so.
Q 15The 24-metre Obelisk of Axum was looted by Mussolini's Italy and erected in which city in 1937?
Rome
It stood by the Circus Maximus until its return to Ethiopia in 2005.
Q 16Ethiopia's population of about 138 million makes it the most populous what in the world?
Landlocked country
It has been landlocked since Eritrea's independence in 1993 and ranks second in Africa by population.
Q 17Ethiopia lost its coastline when which country became independent in 1993?
Eritrea
Haile Selassie had annexed the territory in 1962, triggering a 30-year war.
Q 18Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia is the source of which river?
The Blue Nile
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam now stands on the river downstream, to Egypt's alarm.
Q 19The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam holds what distinction?
Largest hydroelectric plant in Africa
Its 5.15-gigawatt capacity places it among the 20 largest power plants worldwide.
Q 20Ras Dashen, Ethiopia's highest mountain, rises to about what height?
4,550 m
The highlands are nicknamed the Roof of Africa, and shelter the gelada, walia ibex and Ethiopian wolf.
Q 24The staple flatbread on which Ethiopian stews are served is made from which grain?
Teff
The sour, spongy injera is about 50 cm across and doubles as the eating utensil.
Q 25Ethiopians traditionally eat using what?
The right hand
Pieces of injera are torn off to scoop up wat and side dishes from a shared platter.
Q 26The Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, was founded in which year?
1963
The AU Commission's secretariat is still based in Addis Ababa.
Q 27Ethiopia's flag is a green, yellow and red tricolour bearing what emblem?
A golden star on a blue disc
The pentagram was added in 1996; the tricolour itself dates from Menelik II's decree of 1897.
Q 28Ethiopia's principal writing system is what?
Ge'ez script
It is one of the oldest alphabets still in use, and also writes the Ethiopian calendar.
Q 29The four largest of Ethiopia's many ethnic groups are the Amhara, Somali, Tigrayans and which other?
Oromo
The Oromo language was introduced at court by Emperor Iyoas I in the 18th century, replacing Amharic.
Q 30Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize chiefly for making peace with which neighbour?
Eritrea
His historic 2018 visit ended two decades of frozen conflict, though war in Tigray followed in 2020.