Best Ethiopia Tours

  The establishment of Addis Ababa as a capital of Shoa in 1886 was both economic and political significance. Traditions held that medieval emperors had had camps on Entoto, the mountain range north of the city. Menelik found Entoto secure and convenient as a base foe campaigning in the south and west and visited ruins north of Entoto in 1879 which were reputedly the remains of a medieval town. in 1883, Taitu started construction of a church dedicated to the virgin Mary on Entoto. The next year, Menelik endowed a second entoto church dedicated to the angel Raguel.  The 2km of terrain between the two churches became in effect the capital by the 1880s but the site 10,000 feet was cold and difficult to supply with water, food, and fuel. The hot spring at filwoha in the valley south of the mountain attracted the imperial party in rainy season and Taytu had a house built near them in 1886. This became to e regarded as the founding of the city of Addis Ababa “the New Flower”. In the 1887 Menelik allocated land to all his Rases and officials and began constriction in earnest. The process accelerated after Menelik became emperor in 1889, though a fire destroyed his own palace in 1892 and it had to be rebuilt. After the battle of Adwa, the capital attracted foreign legations and both commercial and private buildings steadily increased.

The introduction of the blue gum eucalyptus in to Ethiopia at this time eventually solved the fuel and construction problems. By the mid twentieth century, the eucalyptus had turned Addis Ababa into a city the appeared to rise out of forest against the back ground of the entoto range, also coved with eucalyptus.

At present, different attractions have been opened for visitors in Addis Ababa such as the ethnographic museum, the national museum, and St. George churches, the Grand Anwar Mosque, Mercato (this is the biggest shopping area in Addis and it has been known that it is the largest open market in African continent. Believe or not, mercato is the real commercial hub of Addis Ababa, a vast grid of roads lined with stalls, kiosks, small shops, and newly built up malls where you can buy just about anything you might want to buy),  the trinity churches, Unity Park and Entoto parks. The last two have been opened very recently and they are much richer in their content and facilities than the others.