Hosaena

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Hosaena
Wachamo
Hosaena (Ethiopië )
Hosaena
Hosaena
Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates: 7°35′N 37°53′E / 7.583, 37.883
Country Ethiopia
Region Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples'
Zone Hadiya
Elevation 2,277 m (7,470 ft)
Population (2005)
 - Total 57,439
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)

Hosaena (an older name is Wachamo) is a town in central Ethiopia, and the capital of the Hadiya Zone. Located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR), this town has a latitude and longitude of 7°35′N, 37°53′E with an elevation of 2277 meters above sea level.

A nearby landmark is the rock-hewn Dawabelo Cave, whose rock-hewn pillars suggest that it is an unfinished monolithic church.[1]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Hosaena has an estimated total population of 57,439 of whom 28,163 were males and 29,276 were females.[2] The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 31,701 of whom 15,593 were males and 16,108 were females. It is the largest town in Limo woreda.

[edit] History

In 1910 Hosaena became the administrative center of the province of Kambata, succeeding Angacha. The town was occupied by the Italians on 11 February 1937. By 1958 Hosaena was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township.[3]

In 1929, a pair of missionaries settled in the town, their efforts leading to Hosaena becoming a center of Protestant Christianity in southern Ethiopia; as early as December 1949, the town hosted a Bible conference, attended by 800 persons. In April 1970, the administrative center of the Kembata Synod of the Mekane Yesus Church was officially moved from Durame to Hosaena; the synod was later renamed the "South Central Synod."[3]

Hosaena currently is one of the nineteen reform cities of the SNNPR.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Philip Briggs, Ethiopia: the Bradt Travel Guide, third edition (London: Bradt, 2002), p. 378
  2. ^ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4
  3. ^ a b "Local History in Ethiopia" (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 3 December 2007)