Eli5: Why is the calendar in Ethiopia 7 to 8 years behind

Question

Good afternoon, everyone ! I would like to know why is the Ethiopian calendar 7 to 8 years behind the American (or otherwise known as the gregorian) calendar.

In: 8

Answer 1

So the main reason everyone uses the same calendar is that one time when a couple of European countries colonized basically everyone and told them to use it or else. Or slightly more charitably it followed the spread of Christianity.

Ethiopia was never properly colonized so no one forced them to switch their calendar.

So were a lot of other places but given the prevalence of the Gregorian calendar most switched over to the one in majority use to make international trade easier. Ethiopia just didn’t.