Central Ethiopia, historically known as Shewa, is the part of Ethiopia surrounding the capital city of Addis Ababa, including parts of Oromia and southern Amhara.

Cities

• 1 Addis Ababa – the capital city of Ethiopia and of Oromia
• 2 Adama, also known as Nazret – an important commercial town east of Addis Ababa
• 3 Ambo – a spa town west of the capital
• 4 Bishoftu, also known as Debre Zeyit – a resort town between Addis Ababa and Adama
• 5 Sodere – a spa town south of Adama
• 6 Tiya – World Heritage Site for its mysterious Stonehenge-like structure

Other destinations

• 1 Debre Libanos — a 13th-century monastery north of the capital

Understand

Shewa used to be a southern borderland province of the Ethiopian Empire, before becoming the political (and geographical) center in the late 19th century. It lies on the rim of the Great Rift Valley, making Addis Ababa the 3rd-highest capital city in the world.

Talk

Addis Ababa is multilingual, but the most useful language in the capital is Amharic.

Around the capital, the Oromo people make up most of the population. They constitute about 30% of the 85 million inhabitants of Ethiopia. The Oromo nation is one of the most numerous nations in Africa that enjoys a homogeneous culture, shares a common language, and has common political, religious and legal institutions. The Oromo language, Afaan Oromoo or Oromiffa, belongs to the eastern Kushitic group of languages and is the most extensive of the forty or so Kushitic languages. It is also considered to be one of the five most widely spoken languages from among the approximately 1000 languages spoken in Africa. The Oromo language is very closely related to Konso, with more than fifty percent of the words in common, closely related to Somali and distantly related to Afar and Saho.

Amharic is widely spoken in the region too. In some big towns such as Nazret, more people speak Amharic than Afaan Oromoo. Basic English is understood by young people.

Get in

Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa is the main hub for Ethiopian Airlines and also hosts Lufthansa, Sudan Airways, Kenya Airways, British Airways, KLM, Turkish Airways, Emirates, Gulf Air, Egypt Air and fly Dubai.

Get around

This area has the best infrastructure in the country, with relatively reliable roads.