Abeshia

Abeshian Empire Mängəstä Habesha
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Habesha tabetsih edewiha habe Igziabiher" (Amharic) "Abeshia stretches her hands unto God!"
Anthem: Abeshia, Be Happy!
Capital	Addis Ababa
Official languages	Amharic
Recognised regional languages	Danakil, Galla, Gurage, Harrari, Hadiyya, Keffa, Saheli, Sidamai, Tigrinya, Wolaitta,
Demonym(s)	Abeshia
Government	Federal semi-parliamentary absolute monarchy
• Emperor	Haile Selassie II
• Chief Minister	TBD
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Chamber of Peers
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Population
• 2020 census	98,750,936
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$1.390 trillion
• Per capita	15,474
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$529 billion
• Per capita	$7,791
Gini (2019)	36 medium
HDI (2019)	0.765 high
Currency	Abeshian Birr (฿)
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	70
ISO 3166 code	ABE
Internet TLD	.ABE

Abeshia (Amharic: ሀበሻ, Habesha; Sabaean: ሓበሻ; Galla: Abeshiyaa; Saheli: Adiga; Tigrinya: ሃበሻ) officially known as the Abeshian Empire, is a sovereign nation that functions as a parlimentary federal state under a semi-absolute monarchy. With over 90 million inhabitants as of 2019, Abeshia is one of the most populous countries in the world. The country has a total area of 1,249,928 square kilometres (482,600 mi²). Addis Ababa is both the capital and its largest city.

The national identity of the Abeshian people is based on a diverse multiethnic culture, a long history of monarchical rule, and links to all three major Abrahamic religions. Tracing its origins to the 2nd millennium BC, Abeshia is considered one of the oldest if not the oldest continous monarchies with the Solomonic dynasty stretching back to antiquity.

A deeply religious country, Abeshia is one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, with the Abeshian Orthodox Church serving as the state religion since the 4th century AD. While the majority of Abeshians adhere to the Christian faith, a third of the population profess Islam (primarily Sunni Islam), a small segment follow the Judahism, or other faiths.

While Amharic is the official language of Abeshia serving as the language of business, and the lingua franca, the empire is a multilingual nation, with close to 80 ethnic groups, the largest being Galla, Amhara, Saheli, Tigrayan.

The Abeshian alphabet coming from the ancient Sabaean script is said to be one of the oldest dated languages in the world. Abeshia is noted for its calendar with 13 months and that is close to seven years behind the the more modern Gregorian calendar.

The nation of Abeshia is a land that is has diverse as it is beautiful with secure highlands, fertile plains, lush forests, deserts, and evern snow-capped mountains in some areas. The nation is famed for being the site of a number of world reknowned heritage sites.

Since the industrilization of the country in the 19th century the country has been classified as a newly industrialized economy with agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism serving as major sectors.

Etymology

The name of Abeshia comes the ancient Sabaean word for incense gatherer, a term used to denote the peoples of the region who in ancient times provided incense to such far away places as Mesogeia.

History

Antiquity

Abeshian civilization has it roots in the pre-Ophirian kingdom called Saba which arose in 1200 BC, existing for nearly a thousand years before it collapsed. Sometime around 930 BC Menelik the son of Queen Makeda of Saba and King Solomon of Israel established himself on the Sabaean throne. All the later monarchs of both Saba, Ophir, and modern Abeshia claim descent from him through the line of kings and emperors known as the House of Solomon.

The Sabaean King Hakla in the 9th century was the first Abeshian monarch to use the title Negusa Nagast (king of Kings), literally Emperor. Saba was replaced in the 1st century AD, by the Kingdom of Ophir, a powerful trading empire. Zagan VI is considered to be the last monarch of the Sabaean kingdom, because around 107 AD his eventual successor Ela Samara established a new capital at Ophir ushering in a new era known as the Kingdom of Ophir. In the late third century AD, christianity was adopted as the state religion of Ophir.

The Kingdom began to weaken in later centuries, eventually collapsing in the 10th century AD, when all the male members of the dynasty (except one) were murdered and the throne was usurped by a princess of the Imperial house known as Gudit. Gudit reigned for 40 years, during which time she tried to force the mass conversion of the populace to Judaisim. Her reign of terror was only ended by her sudden death by lightening and the seizure of the throne by an agaw general of the former Ophirian Emperor. The general founded the Zagaw dynasty that ruled Abeshia mainly in the regions of Lasta, Wag and Tigray for the next two centuries, before they were eventually overthrown themselves by Yekuno Amlak, an amharan nobleman who was the descendant of the sole surviving son of the last Ophirian Emperor in the direct male line.

During the mediveal age, the Zagaw kingdom flourished as a center of christianity, establishing at their capital Roha, later renamed Lalibela a new Jerusalem. Even after the Zagaw rule collapsed their capital continued to famed throughout the world for its many churches.

Politics

Abeshia is legally a Federal constitutional monarchy with a semi-parliamentary democracy, while in practice it resembles a benevolent autocracy. Zara Yaqob II, the 224th monarch of Abeshia is the head of state while the head of government is Chief Minister PLACEHOLDER.

Monarch

The monarch of Abeshia is His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie II, Emperor of Abeshia who acts as head of state and officially appoints the Chief Minister as head of government from the leader of the party controlling a majority in the lower house. The 1927 Constitution of Abeshia stipulates that the Emperor by the virtue of his imperial blood and descent from the House of Solomon is the fount of all authority and power.

Due to constitutional restraints placed on the monarch in the late twentieth century, while remaining in theory an aboslute monarch, the emperor exercises executive authority through various constitutional bodies, they include the Crown Council, and the Council of Ministers which is in theory a committee of the Crown Council.

Parliament

The legislative branch of the Abeshian government is vested in the 57th Parliament of Abeshia. The bicameral parliament consists of two houses, the Chamber of Peers consisting of 150 members appointed from members of the Mesafint (hereditary nobles), the Mekwanint (appointed nobles) (The Abeshian aristocracy), and members of the clergy; and the house of Deputies with 547 members drawn from the districts to four year terms.

For much of its existence the Parliament of Abeshia was known as the Emperor's Council and was composed of one singular body, an informal precursor of the Chamber of Peers which consisted of the most powerful nobles and church officials in the land. For much of its existence the body acted as a purely advisory body only acting on matters concerning religious doctrine and imperial succession.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the Crown Council, and Council of Ministers, and various other government bodies were split off from the Emperor's Council or began acting autonomously of it in some way. It was around this same time in the late 19th century that the Emperor's Council began to be referred to as Parliament after the western practice to differentiate it from the Crown Council. The Parliament did not have a lower house until the mid 20th century.

Military

The Abeshian military is collectively known as the Abeshian Armed Forces, or His Imperial Majesty's Armed Forces. Since the 20th century the Abeshian military has been divided into three branches: the Abeshian Imperial Army, the Abeshian Imperial Navy, and the Abeshian Imperial Air Force, in addition to the Imperial Guard, which opperates seperately from the three main branches.

The armed forces numbers some 306,000 active duty personnel, with an additional 245,000 active reserve personnel. By tradition the head of the armed forces is the Emperor, while the Ministry of Defense, and its head the Minister of Defense manages it.

Administrative divisions

The Abeshian Empire is divided into 17 provinces (called Teklay gizat) derived from historic kingdoms and states, these are Adal, Arsi, Assab, Bali, Begameder, Gibe, Gojjam, Hararghe, Illubabor, Medri Bahri, Nubia, Shewa, Saheli, Sidamo, Tigray, Welega, and Wello.

Keeping with the federal system of the Abeshian empire, the constitution allows for extensive power to be vested in the provinces, who more or less derive their athority from the Emperor.

The provinces are further divided into about 100 counties (Awrajas), which are divided into smaller districts (Woredas) which number around 600.

Education

Education is provided by an organized school system consisting of Kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, and a few universities. The current literacry rate stands at 93%. While the education system in Abeshia has been secular in nature since at least the 1900s, the education system is largely dominated by the Orthodox Church

The top ranking universities are Haile Selassie University, Menelik University, Ophir University, Debarwa University, Gondar University, Bahir Dar University, Harar University, Meroe University, Adal University, Jimma University, Dire Dawa University, Welega University.

Economy

Abeshia has been classified as an emerging economy since the late 20th century, being dubbed one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With a GDP of 529 billion dollars, and per capita income of $7,791, Abeshia has been labeled an upper-middle-income economy. The Abeshian economy is heavily depended on exports with it accounting for a wopping 60% of the country's GDP. Major exports include petroleum, coffee, gold, chemicals, vehicles, processed food and beverages, leather, tobacco, and livestock.

The major coporations in Abeshia include G. M. Mohamedally & Co, Abeshian Airlines, Abeshia Motors, Abeshia Enterprise Holdings, Abeshia Commercial Bank, Messobo Cement, Abeshia Telecom, Abeshia Shipping Lines, Addisge Estate, Melotti Breweries, Moja Development Company, Geda Inc, Abeshia Bottling Inc, and Awash Bank, Ahadu Inc, Guna Trading Company, Savouré-Rimbaud, Assadourian, E Moussaya, A Baillet, Haji Khawas, Sarkis Terzian, and Mihran Muradian, all of which are listed on the Addis Ababa Stock Exchange.

With agriculture playing a major role in the Abeshian economy, major agricultural firms such as Dire Dawa Food Company, Nas Foods, Tomoca Coffee, Seka Food Processing, Tendaho Cotton, Wonji Sugar, play a leading role in the economy in addition to the major companies.

Being an economy somewhere between developing and developed there is as serious wealth gap between the rich and the poor. Sources claim that that the country's top 10% richest people control 71% of the country's assets, the top 1% dominate the economy and the 50 richest families (many of whom belong to the Abeshian nobility) had a net worth equal to 30% of the country's GDP while at the same time 12-14 million people live in poverty or near poverty or applied for the country's state sponsored welfare program.

Agriculture

As of 2020, agriculture accounts for 21.6% of the empire's GDP, 49 percent of exports, and 34% percent of the labour force, of these 15% are directly involved or linked to the production of coffee. Principal crops include coffee, pulses, oilseeds, cereals, potatoes, sugarcane, and vegetables.

Demographics

Major cities

The top twenty largest cities in Abeshia are: Addis Ababa, Mogadazo, Meroe, Soba, Debarwa, Zeila, Nazareth, Gondar, Mekele, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, Debre Markos, Dessie, Jimma, Ophir, Jijiga, Debre Zeyit, Harar, Nekemte, and Debre Birhan.

Languages

According to records gathered by the Imperial Academy of Language and Literature, around 100 lnaguages are spoken in Abeshia. Among which the top ten most popular languages are Amharic, Galla, Saheli, Nubian, Tigrinya, Sidamo, Welayta, Gurage, Dankali, Hadiyya.

While havinv many languages, Amharic is generally regarded as the official language of the country with it being used by the government, the Imperial Court, major businesses, as well as being used as the language of instruction in the country's school system

Religion

Religion in Abeshia (2020)

  Abeshian Orthodox (57.5%)

  Islam (33.9%)

  Traditional faiths (3.85%)

  Catholicism (3.0%)

  Judaism (1.75%)

Abeshia has a long connection with all three abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Culture

Naming conventions

Abeshian naming conventions differ significantly from Western naming practices in the fact that whereas Western societies make use of family names no such practice exist in Abeshia. Typically a child adds the given names of his father and grandfather to that of his own given name. For example a man named Estifanos Mengesha Seyoum, is the son of Mengesha Seyoum and the Grandson of Mengesha, while Menen Mengesha is the daughter of Mengesha, and the grand daughter of Seyoum. It should be noted that women raely add both their father's and their grandfather's name to their own and that married women do no take a husband's name or change their maiden name because their second name is purely patronymic and not a surname.

Usually for the sake of Westernization, the grandfather's given name is used as a family name for official use.

Everyone with a few exceptions are addressed by their given names, with prefixes such as Ato, being used for men, Woizero for married women, Woizerit for unmarried women, and Woizerit-Hoy for widows. Exceptions to this rule include the Emperor and the the Patriarch. The Emperor is never directly addressed by his given name, instead he is formally referred to as Girmawi (literally "His Imperial Majesty"), in common speech as Janhoy ("Your Imperial Majesty" or "Sire" or by his own household and family as Getochu ("Our master"). The Emperor is only referred to using his name in the third person with the suffix of Atse (translated to Emperor).

The Patriarch is never addressed by his birth name he instead uses an official name with a connection to the church with the prefix of Abuna.

Calendar

The Abeshian empire does not follow the Western Gregorian calendar, instead keeping the older Julian calander with its twelve months with exactly 30 days each plus a five or six day thirteenth month to account for the remaining days of the year. Abeshian New Year generally falls on 1 Mäskäräm, which typically corresponds to 11/12 September.

The thirteen months of Abeshia are Mäskäräm (11 September), Təqəmt (11 October), Ḫədar (10 November), Taḫśaś (10 December), Ṭərr (9 January), Yäkatit (8 February), Mägabit (10 March), Miyazya (9 April), Gənbo (9 May), Säne (8 June), Hamle (8 July), Nähase (7 August, and Ṗagume (6 September).

Cuisine

Abeshian cuisine is characterized by its use of vegatables and often extremly spicy meat dishes. The typical meat dish in the country is a stew known as wat, which often contains a minimum of 30 different spices. Wat and its counterparts are usually served atop, injera, a flatbread traditionally made of teff flour.

It is customary in Abeshia for people to eat with thier right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up entrees and side dishes. Being a deeply religious country, with all three Abrahamic faiths, Christian Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism present traditional Abeshian cuisine cotains no shellfish or pork and much of the population follows strict fasting practices which prohibts the consumption of animal products on wednesdays, fridays, and all of Lent

In addition to its food, Abeshia has several drinks that are unique to the country, they include several alcoholic beverages such as Tella, a kind of beer prepared with teff, or sorghum and geisho; Tej, a kind of wine made with honey and the leaves of geisho; and Areki, which is considered the strongest native alcoholic drink.

Other beverages that are non-alcohlic include Kenetto, a subsitute for the alcohlic Tella; Borde, a cereal based beverage popular in the south east of the country; Atmet, a barley and oat based drink similar to egg nog and served to women who are nursing as a comfort drink; tea, called chai in Abeshia; and Coffee, known as buna.

Coffee

Coffee, known to the Abeshians as buna is the national drink of the country, with the dark beverage having originated in the Keffa region of the country thousands of years ago. The traditional coffee ceremony is performed throughout the country where the brewer uses the traditional jebena, a clay coffee pot.

Coffee is typically served with salt and sugar, with side snacks such as toasted barley (kolo) or popcorn. The traditional coffee ceremony of Abeshia contains three rounds, abol, tona, and bereka, and is followed by the burning of frankincense.

Media

Originallly started with an imperial charter, Imperial Abeshian Broadcasting Corporation (IABC) is the country's oldest and largest broadcaster controlling some 34% of the market share and featuring news, sports, music, and entertainment with the majority of languages being Amharic with segments in Galla, Saheli, Tigrinya, as well as English. The second largest broadcaster Gondar TV controls a further 18% of the market share, ABS (Amha Broadcasting Systems) controls a further 16%.

The most widely circulated newspapers and magazines in Abeshia include the Abeshian Herald, Addis Zamana, Melkite Selam, Berhanena Selam, Menan, as well as the govenrment sponsored Negarit Gazeta.

The sole internet provider in the country is Abeshia Telecom.

Sports

The major sports in Abeshia are track and field, and football. A number of sporting venues exist throughout the country, they include Prince Makonnen Stadium, Haile Selassie I Stadium, Debarwa Stadium, Mekelle Stadium, Bahir Dar Stadium, Mogadazo Stadium, and Meroe Stadium.

Sports in the country are overseen by various agencies, such as the Imperial Abeshian Athletics Federation, which regulates all sports; and the Abeshian Football Federation (AFF), which deals specifically with football in the country.