Ambo (Hāgere Hiywet)
Ambo (Amboo) is a town in west-central Ethiopia. Located in the West Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, west of Addis Ababa, this town has a latitude and longitude of 8.98333°N, 37.85°W and an elevation of 2,101 meters.
Ambo is known for its mineral water, which is bottled outside of town; it is reportedly the most popular brand in Ethiopia. Nearby attractions include Mount Wenchi to the south with its crater lake, and the Guder and Huluka Falls. Ambo is also the location of a research station of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research; initiated in 1977, this station hosts research in protecting major crops in Ethiopia. The town's market day is Saturday.
After Lij Iyasu was captured, he was held for a while at Ambo, before being transferred to house arrest at Fiche. In the early 1930s, Mahtama Selassie Walda Mesqal, who had studied agriculture in France and Spain, started an agricultural station near the town. By 1933, Ambo had started to be a recreation place with the construction of some bath cabins with cisterns of concrete, and a couple of European-type hotels, as well as simple villas for the Emperor and important persons.
By 1938, the Guida dell'A.O.I. described improvements to Ambo which included a post office, telephone service, a clinic for outpatients, restaurants, and a projected hotel. Two Italian forts were constructed, and in a cave the Italians had erected a monument for casualties of the Pusteria Division. The approach to Ambo was still over an old bridge, and below it a natural bridge used by caravans.
When the Allies reached Ambo with a South African armored car patrol in early 1941, they had to evacuate 140 "utterly panicked Italians". The British operated an improvised camp for prisoners-of-war at Ambo until 1942.
At least as early as 1955, there was a 170 kW hydro-electric power station in the town; by 1965 the installed electrical capacity was 210 kVA, with annual production of 132,000 kWh. In 1958 Ambo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. That same year, the Ambo Agricultural School and Ambo Forestry School had 150 students. A light earth tremor was felt in the evening of 23 January 1968; its epicenter was somewhere near Ambo but no damage occurred.
In the last weeks of the Ethiopian Civil War, military units of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front captured Ambo on 25 April 1991 from the disintegrating units of the Derg. This was part of their strategy to avoid a direct assault on the capital, Addis Ababa, and instead surround the city and isolate it from the rest of the country.
A prominent Oromo businessman, Daraaraa Kafani, was murdered in front of his home; eyewitnesses said he was slain by a man wearing a military uniform. His funeral was attended by thousands of Oromos in Ambo; police arrested more than 37 people, stating that they were supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front on 3 September. In the following February, 70 year old Oromo elder Dandana Gurmu was arrested on the accusation that he was a supporter of the OLF.
On 24 April 2003, a Tigrayan student was shot and killed and two others injured in a clash between Oromo and Tigrayan students at the Ambo Agricultural College. The killing was believed to be retaliation for the severe beating of an Oromo student in Mek'ele in December 2002. By the year's end, five persons were in police custody awaiting trial.
Ambo is known for its mineral water, which is bottled outside of town; it is reportedly the most popular brand in Ethiopia. Nearby attractions include Mount Wenchi to the south with its crater lake, and the Guder and Huluka Falls. Ambo is also the location of a research station of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research; initiated in 1977, this station hosts research in protecting major crops in Ethiopia. The town's market day is Saturday.
After Lij Iyasu was captured, he was held for a while at Ambo, before being transferred to house arrest at Fiche. In the early 1930s, Mahtama Selassie Walda Mesqal, who had studied agriculture in France and Spain, started an agricultural station near the town. By 1933, Ambo had started to be a recreation place with the construction of some bath cabins with cisterns of concrete, and a couple of European-type hotels, as well as simple villas for the Emperor and important persons.
By 1938, the Guida dell'A.O.I. described improvements to Ambo which included a post office, telephone service, a clinic for outpatients, restaurants, and a projected hotel. Two Italian forts were constructed, and in a cave the Italians had erected a monument for casualties of the Pusteria Division. The approach to Ambo was still over an old bridge, and below it a natural bridge used by caravans.
When the Allies reached Ambo with a South African armored car patrol in early 1941, they had to evacuate 140 "utterly panicked Italians". The British operated an improvised camp for prisoners-of-war at Ambo until 1942.
At least as early as 1955, there was a 170 kW hydro-electric power station in the town; by 1965 the installed electrical capacity was 210 kVA, with annual production of 132,000 kWh. In 1958 Ambo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. That same year, the Ambo Agricultural School and Ambo Forestry School had 150 students. A light earth tremor was felt in the evening of 23 January 1968; its epicenter was somewhere near Ambo but no damage occurred.
In the last weeks of the Ethiopian Civil War, military units of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front captured Ambo on 25 April 1991 from the disintegrating units of the Derg. This was part of their strategy to avoid a direct assault on the capital, Addis Ababa, and instead surround the city and isolate it from the rest of the country.
A prominent Oromo businessman, Daraaraa Kafani, was murdered in front of his home; eyewitnesses said he was slain by a man wearing a military uniform. His funeral was attended by thousands of Oromos in Ambo; police arrested more than 37 people, stating that they were supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front on 3 September. In the following February, 70 year old Oromo elder Dandana Gurmu was arrested on the accusation that he was a supporter of the OLF.
On 24 April 2003, a Tigrayan student was shot and killed and two others injured in a clash between Oromo and Tigrayan students at the Ambo Agricultural College. The killing was believed to be retaliation for the severe beating of an Oromo student in Mek'ele in December 2002. By the year's end, five persons were in police custody awaiting trial.
Map - Ambo (Hāgere Hiywet)
Map
Country - Ethiopia
Flag of Ethiopia |
Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period. Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasiatic language family. In 980 BCE, the Kingdom of D'mt extended its realm over Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia, while the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region for 900 years. Christianity was embraced by the kingdom in 330, and Islam arrived by the first Hijra in 615. After the collapse of Aksum in 960, a variety of kingdoms, largely tribal confederations, existed in the land of Ethiopia. The Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts until being overthrown by Yekuno Amlak in 1270, inaugurating the Ethiopian Empire and the Solomonic dynasty, claimed descent from the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba under their son Menelik I. By the 14th century, the empire grew in prestige through territorial expansion and fighting against adjacent territories; most notably, the Ethiopian–Adal War (1529–1543) contributed to fragmentation of the empire, which ultimately fell under a decentralization known as Zemene Mesafint in the mid-18th century. Emperor Tewodros II ended Zemene Mesafint at the beginning of his reign in 1855, marking the reunification and modernization of Ethiopia.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
ETB | Ethiopian birr | Br | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
AM | Amharic language |
EN | English language |
OM | Oromo language |
SO | Somali language |
TI | Tigrinya language |