Maji

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For the rebellion in German East Africa, see Maji Maji Rebellion.
For the ancient Persian people, see Magi.

Maji is a town in southern Ethiopia. It is located on the Boma plateau, lying in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, and has a longitude and latitude of 6°12′N, 35°35′E with an elevation variously given as 2104, 2258 and 2430 meters above sea level. The town is the administrative center for Bench Maji Zone and Dizi woreda.

Postal service in Maji started at some time between 1923-1932. From the 1930s the town had a customs post and a telephone station.[1] The town is served by Tume Airport (ICAO code HAMJ).

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency, in 2005 Maji has an estimated total population of 2930, of whom 1302 were males and 1628 were females.[2]

[edit] History

Maji was founded around [1700s|1780] when [Ras (title)|Ras] [Welde Giyorgis] stationed a garrison of Ethiopian soldiers near the lands of the ture, a personage Garretson describes as "the most powerful and respected religious figure in the area." Garretson explains how an administrative center for the region soon followed: "Built on a commanding hill were a fortified encampment of [gebbar|gibbi] (the personal headquarters of the governor), a church and a market. All were carefully observed and guarded by the governor and his retinue of soldiers."[3] Pankhurst records that its governor, Dejazmach Taye, amazed by the growing trade at Gambela to the west of him, during the 1920s attempted to develop exports of coffee, rubber, hides and ivory through the port town.[4]

Before the Italian occupation, the British had a consulate in Maji. The town was occupied by the Italians 18 March 1937, and liberated from them by May 1941.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Local History in Ethiopia" (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 14 February 2008)
  2. ^ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4
  3. ^ Peter P. Garretson "Vicious cycles: ivory, slaves, and arms on the new Maji frontier", in Donald L. Donham and Wendy James (editors) The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 201.
  4. ^ Richard Pankhurst, Economic History of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1968), p. 451
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