Metehara
| Metehara | |
|---|---|
 Metehara
|
|
| Coordinates: 8°54′N 39°55′E / 8.9°N 39.917°E | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Region | Oromia |
| Zone | Misraq (East) Shewa |
| Elevation | 947 m (3,107 ft) |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 21,348 |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Metehara is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 08°54′N 39°55′E / 8.9°N 39.917°ECoordinates: 08°54′N 39°55′E / 8.9°N 39.917°E with an elevation of 947 meters above sea level.
Access to Metehara includes a station on the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway. There is a Tuesday livestock market.[1] Notable local landmarks include Metehara Mikael Bet church, Mount Fentale to the north and Lake Basaka to the south of the town.
[edit] History
Visitors to the area in the first decades of the 20th century frequently described the area a volcanic no-man's land between the Afar, Karayu Oromo and Amhara settlers.[2] On the eve of the Italian invasion, a German by the name of Neitzel had been granted a concession to cultivate cotton and coffee.[3] Despite that, few people lived in the area until the arrival of the Dutch corporation Handelsvereeningung Amsterdam (HVA), which established a factory to process sugar at Metehara, after it had been expelled from Indonesia in 1954.[4]
In 1970, the Karayu staged an armed demonstration in Metehara which destroyed fences and buildings at the HVA plantation. The Derg announced 3 February 1975 that the sugar plantation, including the Dutch investments, would be fully nationalized.[2]
During the 2002 drought, a Karayu leader was killed in Metehara, which increased tensions between the Karayu and Afar peoples. As a result the Afar, who traded at the Tuesday market, did not go to the market during that drought.[5]
[edit] Demographics
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Metehara has an estimated total population of 21,348 of whom 10,763 were men and 10,585 were women.[6] The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 11,934 of whom 5,837 were males and 6,097 were females. It is the largest town in Fentale woreda.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Afar and Kereyu pastoralists in and around Awash National Park struggle with deteriorating livelihood conditions" UN-Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, July 2002, p. 8 (accessed 14 January 2009)
- ^ a b "Local History in Ethiopia" (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 3 January 2008)
- ^ Richard Pankhurst, Economic History of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1968), p. 209
- ^ Bahru Zewde (2001). A History of Modern Ethiopia (second ed.). Oxford: James Currey. ISBN 0-85255-786-8.
- ^ "Afar: insecurity and delayed rains threaten livestock and people" UN-Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, July 2002, p. 4
- ^ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4
