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Amhara (Amharic: አማራ^?) is one of the nine ethnic divisions (kililoch) of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar.

Ethiopia's largest inland body of water, Lake Tana, which is the source of the Blue Nile river is located in Amhara, as well as the Semien Mountains National Park, which includes the highest point in Ethiopia, Ras Dashan.

Amhara is bordered by Tigray Region to the north Sudan to the west, the Afar Region to the east, and the Benishangul-Gumuz to the west and southwest, Oromo Region to the south.

During Ethiopia's imperial era, Amhara included several provinces (such as Dembiya, Gojjam, Begemder, Angot, Wollo, Shewa and Lasta), most of which were ruled by native Ras or Negus. The Amhara Region now incorporated most of the former provinces of Begemder, Dembiya, Angot, bete Amhara or Wollo, Gojjam, and Shewa. When Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took over Ethiopia most of The Amhara Region land especially in Gonder became part of Tigray Region.

The Blue Nile Falls is a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. It is known as Tis Abay in Amharic, meaning "smoking water". It is situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 km downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The falls are considered one of Ethiopia's best known tourist attractions.

The falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45 metres high, consisting of four streams that originally varied from a trickle in the dry season to over 400 metres wide in the rainy season. Regulation of Lake Tana now reduces the variation somewhat, and since 2003 a hydro-electric station has taken much of the flow out of the falls except during the rainy season. The Blue Nile Falls isolate the ecology of Lake Tana from the ecology of the rest of the Nile, and this isolation has played a role in the evolution of the endemic fauna of the lake.

A short distance downstream from the falls sits the first stone bridge constructed in Ethiopia, built at the command of Emperor Susenyos in 1626. According to Manuel de Almeida, stone for making lime had been found nearby along the tributary Alata, and a craftsman who had come from India with Afonso Mendes, the Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia, supervised the construction.

Ethiopia (/ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/; Amharic: ኢትዮጵያ^?, ʾĪtyōṗṗyā,  listen (help·info)), officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With over 91,000,000 inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populated nation on the African continent. It occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi), and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa.

Africa is a continent comprising 62 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward projections from the main mass of Earth's surface. It includes, within its remarkably regular outline, an area of 30,368,609 km² (11,725,385 sq mi), including adjacent islands.

Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, Africa is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the Isthmus of Suez (which is transected by the Suez Canal), 130 km (81 mi) wide. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa. From the most northerly point, Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia, in 37°21′ N, to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in South Africa, 34°51′15″ S, is a distance approximately of 8,000 km (5,000 mi); from Cape Verde, 17°33′22″ W, the westernmost point, to Ras Hafun in Somalia, 51°27′52″ E, the most easterly projection, is a distance (also approximately) of 7,400 km (4,600 mi). The length of coast-line is 26,000 km (16,000 mi) and the absence of deep indentations of the shore is shown by the fact that Europe, which covers only 10,400,000 km² (4,000,000 sq mi), has a coastline of 32,000 km (20,000 mi).

A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states. No landlocked countries are found on North American, Australian, and inhospitable Antarctic continents. The general economic and other disadvantages experienced by landlocked countries makes the majority of these countries Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). Nine of the twelve countries with the lowest HDI scores are landlocked.

The Horn of Africa (Amharic: የአፍሪካ ቀንድ^?, Arabic: القرن الأفريقي‎, Somali: Geeska Afrika, Oromo: Gaaffaa Afriikaa, Tigrinya: ቀርኒ ኣፍሪቃ^?) (alternatively Northeast Africa or Somali Peninsula; shortened to HOA) is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred to in ancient and medieval times as Bilad al Barbar ("Land of the Berbers"), the Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the countries of Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia.

It covers approximately 2,000,000 km² (770,000 sq mi) and is inhabited by roughly 100 million people (Ethiopia: 85 million, Somalia: 9.3 million, Eritrea: 5.2 million, and Djibouti: 0.86 million). Regional studies on the Horn of Africa are carried out, among others, in the fields of Ethiopian Studies as well as Somali Studies.