Ethiopia is a landlocked country in eastern Africa east of Sudan and west of Somalia. For very many centuries, it was known as Abyssinia and was ruled by the Solomonic Dynasty who claim to have descended from King Solomon and Sheba.
After the Scramble for Africa, only Liberia and Abyssinia were left as independent countries in Africa, with all other territories under rule of a European power. Italy was a latecomer during the scramble and had only secured Italian Somaliland and Eritrea, places of little interest to other powers as they had little resources. Therefore, the Italians laid their eyes on Abyssinia and waged the First Abyssinian War in 1895 which it lost in a humiliating defeat. King Menelik II of Abyssinia was victorious and secured the territory for decades to come.
In 1931 Abyssinia was renamed to Ethiopia, after the old Greek name of the region. In 1935 Italy, now under Fascist rule, waged the Second Abyssinian War which it won and included the country into Italian East Africa. In 1941, a British force drove the Italians out and Ethiopia became an independent country again, now merged with Eritrea.
King Haile Selassie ruled until he was disposed and went into exile in 1974. The communist-inspired Derf movement took over. Due to internal struggles (including the 1978 Ogaden War with Somalia) and severe drought in the 80's there was a huge famine which inspired Bob Geldoff to start the charity organisation Live Aid. Despite these events the population of Ethiopia double during the past 3 decades.
In 1993 Eritrea seceded and became an independent country, leaving remaining Ethiopia a landlocked country.
Ethiopia used Maria Theresa Thalers (MTT's) extensively in the 19th century that it became the basis of its own currency named Birr (meaning 'silver' in Amharic) or Talari or Dollar. It was a 28 grams .833 silver coin worth 4s5d, $1.06 or 5.60 French Francs of the LMU standard. It was subdivided in 20 Guersh or 40 Bessa. In 1903 a new coinage of Birr was subdivided in 16 Ghersh or 32 Bessa. Gold coinage was introduced denominated in Werk which was worth 16 Birr. From 1931 the Birr was decimalised into 100 Matonnyas.
The Italian Occupiers forced the Italian Lira on the Ethiopians, for a ridiculous rate of 3 Lire per Birr. The paper Birr had devalued to around 2 Shillings but this was still worth around 6 Lire in those days, and silver Birrs were worth at least 20. Ethiopians refused to comply and hoarded silver and gold, even though the Italians gradually moved the rate to less greedy levels but with no success.
The British drove the Italians out in 1941 and introduced the East African Shilling at 24 Lire per Shilling or 1 Shilling 10.5 Pence per Birr. In 1944 a new Birr was introduced for 2 East African Shillings.
The Birr remained relatively stable for African monetary standards. Where in 1944 the exchange rate was 10/£ and 2.16/$ in 2015 this is around 30/£ and 20/$.
Ethiopian coins of 1944 and later are quite easy to find and have nice designs. Also the Matonnya coins of the 1930's are not too hard to get and have a special design showing King Menelik II. Older silver coins are quite rare though.
Ethiopian dates are marked with EE and they are 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar, so 1936EE is equal to 1944AD.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/ethiopie-1.html