Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it is the second-most populous nation in Africa and the tenth-largest by area with its 1,100,000 km2. The capital is Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia is is bordered on the north and northeast by Eritrea, on the east by Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on the west and southwest by Sudan.
The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,290 to 3,000 m above sea level, with the highest mountain reaching 4,533 m. Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the plateau diagonally. A number of rivers cross the plateau—notably the Blue Nile rising from Lake Tana.