What is the capital of Ethiopia?

Addis Ababa, meaning new flower, founded in 1886 by Empress Taytu Betul, who chose the site for its hot springs and persuaded her husband Menelik II to move the court there. It sits at around 2,400 metres, which makes it one of the highest capitals in the world.

It nearly failed within a decade for a mundane reason: the surrounding forest was cut down for firewood and construction faster than it could regrow, and the court considered moving again, as Ethiopian capitals traditionally had. The solution was eucalyptus, imported from Australia in the 1890s because it grows extremely fast - the hills around the city are still covered in it, and a capital exists because of an introduced tree.

It is also the diplomatic centre of the continent, headquarters of the African Union and of the UN Economic Commission for Africa - which follows directly from Ethiopia never having been colonised, so it could host the pan-African institutions without any member feeling it was choosing a former imperial client. The AU headquarters was built and paid for by China, which is its own comment on where influence sits now.