Shashamane

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Shashamane (or Shashemene, ሻሸመኔ) is a town in central Ethiopia. It is located in the Misraq Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, about 150 miles from the capital of Addis Ababa. It has a latitude of 7° 12' north and a longitude of 38° 36' east.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 93,156, of whom 46,882 were males and 46,274 were females.^[1] According to the 1994 census, the latest official population count, Shashamane had a population of 52,080.

The resort of Wondo Genet lies near the Shashamane, as does the Senkele Wildlife Sanctuary. It has been described as the archetypical junction town.

[edit] Rastafari and Shashamane

In 1963 Emperor Haile Selassie I donated 500 hectares of land to allow Rastafari movement settlers from Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean to return to their ancestral homeland in Africa, though when Selassie I was deposed in 1974 the new government of Mengistu Haile Mariam confiscated all but 11 hectares.

In January 2005 there were reports in the media that Bob Marley's remains were to be exhumed and then reburied at Shashamane. His wife Rita Marley described Ethiopia as his spiritual home, provoking controversy in Jamaica, where his remains lie.

At the beginning of the following month, thousands of fans gathered in Shashamane for a month of celebrations for what would have been Marley's 60th birthday. Until 2005 his birthday celebrations were always held in Jamaica. These recent events brought Shashamane to wider prominence throughout the world.

The Rastafarian settlement in Shashamane was recently reported to exceed two hundred individuals.^[2] In January 2007 it organized an exhibition & bazaar in the city.