The Kingdom of Aksum, the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century BC. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time.[2] It was in the early 4th century AD that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and eventually converted king Ezana to Christianity, thereby making it official.[3] For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama" ("Father of peace"). At various times, including a period in the 6th century, Axum controlled most of modern-day Yemen and some of southern Saudi Arabia just across the Red Sea, as well as controlling northern Sudan, northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and northern Somalia.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EthiopiaAccording to the 1994 national census[22], Christians make up 61.6% of the country's population, Muslims 32.8%, and adherents of traditional faiths 5.6%. According to the 2006 CIA World Factbook the breakup is 45%-50% Muslim, 35-40% Ethiopian Orthodox, 12% animist, and 3-8% other. [4]