Dila (Dīla)
Dila (ዲላ) is a market town and separate woreda in southern Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR), it is located on the main road from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. The town has a longitude and latitude of 6.40833°N, 38.30833°W, with an elevation of 1570 meters above sea level. It was part of Wenago woreda and is currently surrounded by Dila Zuria woreda.
Until the completion in the early 1970s of the tarmac road to the Kenya border, Dilla had been located at the southern end of the all-weather road from Addis Ababa and thus became the major transfer and marketing point for coffee grown farther south, particularly of the much-prized Yirga Cheffe varietal (see coffee varietals). It remains a major center of the coffee trade.
According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Dilla's amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, numerous banks, and a hospital. Dilla is the site of the Dilla University, which was founded in 1996 and was part of Debub University. The college become a full flagged University since 2007 and composed of more than 30 programs to Masters and bachelor's degree. A number of archeologically significant stelae fields are in the surrounding area, the most notable groups being those at Tutu Fella and Tutiti.
Around 1930, groups of Guji Oromo migrated into the area, and by the time a German ethnological expedition arrived, they had begun the process of becoming settled farmers. Shortly after the capture of Shashemene in May 1941, a mobile force, consisting of one company of the Natal Mounted Rifles and the 6th KAR, with light tanks and armoured cars, moved forward towards Dilla. Almost to its own surprise, this scouting operation cut off the retreat of the 21st and 24th Italian Divisions, pinning them against the east side of Lake Abaya.
By 1958 Dilla was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. The Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia carried out surveys for extending the railway with a 310 km line from Adama to Dilla between 1960 and 1963. The government formed a Nazareth-Dilla Railway Development Corporation to support this new branch. Although the French government offered a loan to fund this new branch in 1965, and Yugoslav experts had studied and thought the project would be worthwhile, this project was never carried out.
Outside Dilla is Michille (ሚችሌ) hill, where a peasant uprising by the Gedeo people was crushed in 1960. Gedeo elders, invited by Afanegus Eshate Gada to meet him and discuss their grievances with the feudal system they lived under, were ambushed and slaughtered by the army.
On 22 July 1998 there were violent clashes near Dila. The press published conflicting statements about who the parties were and how many had been killed. Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse said that about 140 people were killed and large numbers at least temporarily displaced.
On October 12, 2008, Bekele Girma, an All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) activist, left AEUP's head office in Addis Ababa to open an office in Dila. Despite having a letter from the National Election Board of Ethiopia requesting regional government officials to assist him in opening a local office, Dilla police chief Obsa Hundessa detained Bekele and refused to allow him to open an office in that town. Bekele was released in November.
Until the completion in the early 1970s of the tarmac road to the Kenya border, Dilla had been located at the southern end of the all-weather road from Addis Ababa and thus became the major transfer and marketing point for coffee grown farther south, particularly of the much-prized Yirga Cheffe varietal (see coffee varietals). It remains a major center of the coffee trade.
According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Dilla's amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, numerous banks, and a hospital. Dilla is the site of the Dilla University, which was founded in 1996 and was part of Debub University. The college become a full flagged University since 2007 and composed of more than 30 programs to Masters and bachelor's degree. A number of archeologically significant stelae fields are in the surrounding area, the most notable groups being those at Tutu Fella and Tutiti.
Around 1930, groups of Guji Oromo migrated into the area, and by the time a German ethnological expedition arrived, they had begun the process of becoming settled farmers. Shortly after the capture of Shashemene in May 1941, a mobile force, consisting of one company of the Natal Mounted Rifles and the 6th KAR, with light tanks and armoured cars, moved forward towards Dilla. Almost to its own surprise, this scouting operation cut off the retreat of the 21st and 24th Italian Divisions, pinning them against the east side of Lake Abaya.
By 1958 Dilla was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. The Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia carried out surveys for extending the railway with a 310 km line from Adama to Dilla between 1960 and 1963. The government formed a Nazareth-Dilla Railway Development Corporation to support this new branch. Although the French government offered a loan to fund this new branch in 1965, and Yugoslav experts had studied and thought the project would be worthwhile, this project was never carried out.
Outside Dilla is Michille (ሚችሌ) hill, where a peasant uprising by the Gedeo people was crushed in 1960. Gedeo elders, invited by Afanegus Eshate Gada to meet him and discuss their grievances with the feudal system they lived under, were ambushed and slaughtered by the army.
On 22 July 1998 there were violent clashes near Dila. The press published conflicting statements about who the parties were and how many had been killed. Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse said that about 140 people were killed and large numbers at least temporarily displaced.
On October 12, 2008, Bekele Girma, an All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) activist, left AEUP's head office in Addis Ababa to open an office in Dila. Despite having a letter from the National Election Board of Ethiopia requesting regional government officials to assist him in opening a local office, Dilla police chief Obsa Hundessa detained Bekele and refused to allow him to open an office in that town. Bekele was released in November.
Map - Dila (Dīla)
Map
Country - Ethiopia
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| 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 |