Why it looks like this

Empress Taytu chose this spot by hot springs in the Ethiopian highlands in 1886, and Emperor Menelik II made it his capital. The city grew from scattered compounds and villages — each noble's camp becoming a district — instead of from one plan drawn on paper.

Ethiopia was never colonized for long, so Addis Ababa missed the colonial grid that shapes many African capitals. The result is a web of streets following ridges and stream valleys at about 2,300 metres, one of the highest capital cities in the world.