Weldiya

Weldiya (also spelled Woldia or Woldiya) is a hillside market town, capital of the Semien Wollo Zone, and woreda in northern Ethiopia. Located north of Dessie and southeast of Lalibela in the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2112 meters above sea level.

A notable landmark is the church Weldiya Gebri'el. Travertine for use in building has been worked on a minor scale nearby.^[1]

History

When the missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf passed through Weldiya in April 1842, it was the headquarters of Dejazmach Faris Aligas and his brother Birru. They were absent at the time of Krapf's visit, raiding the territories of Imam Liban of the Were Himano.^[2]

As early as 1890, Weldiya was the administrative center of Yejju Province. Its Tuesday market was well known for its mules.^[1] Weldiya was attacked in 1948 by the Yejju Oromo as part of the "Woyane Rebellion." Revolting after their appeals over their loss of land, they seized the prison in Weldiya and freed the prisoners. Despite this success, the revolt was eventually put down.^[3] On 16-17 November 1988 Weldiya was subjected to an aerial attack by the Derg, but no deaths were reported.^[4]

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 42,710 of whom 22,216 are men and 20,494 are women.^[5]

The 1994 national census reported a total population for Weldiya of 24,533 in 5,413 households, of whom 11,689 were men and 12,844 were women. The two largest ethnic groups reported in this were the Amhara (93.92%), and the Tigrayan (4.32%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.76% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.2%, and 3.75% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.05% spoke all other primary languages reported. 79.75% of the population practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 19.44% of the population said they were Muslim.^[6]

Notes

External links

• MSN Map