Mega (Mēga)
Mega is a town in southern Ethiopia. Located between Moyale and Yabelo on the paved highway south to Kenya, in the Borena Zone of the Oromia, this town has a latitude and longitude of 4.01667°N, 38.25°W with an elevation of 1740 meters above sea level. Named for a nearby mountain, this town is the administrative center of Dire woreda.
This town is reported to have telephone service and a post office, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school and financial institutions.
Mega came under Ethiopian control in 1897 when Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis built a fort was nearby. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was important as the residence for Sir Arnold Weinholt Hodson, British Consul for Southern Ethiopia between 1914-1923. The British manned the consulate at least as late as the 1950s.
Mega was captured by the Italians on 25 June 1936, then occupied by a South African Brigade in February 1941 after prolonged fighting with the Italian garrison. During the Italian occupation, Mega became an important hub of communications for this part of Ethiopia, but when David Buxton passed through in the later 1940s after the Italians had been defeated, he found that "there is little traffic in these days, and Mega has almost reverted to the sleepy remoteness of pre-Italian times."
After a lack of success in Moyale, in 1951 the Norwegian Lutheran Mission moved their station from that town north to Mega, which continued at least as late as the 1970s. Travellers going from Mega to Moyale were ambushed at a place named Karbete Bonaya Wale on 2 February 1999 by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front. Amongst the six killed was a commander Abdulla Mohammed alias Aliyyi Mohammed.
This town is reported to have telephone service and a post office, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school and financial institutions.
Mega came under Ethiopian control in 1897 when Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis built a fort was nearby. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was important as the residence for Sir Arnold Weinholt Hodson, British Consul for Southern Ethiopia between 1914-1923. The British manned the consulate at least as late as the 1950s.
Mega was captured by the Italians on 25 June 1936, then occupied by a South African Brigade in February 1941 after prolonged fighting with the Italian garrison. During the Italian occupation, Mega became an important hub of communications for this part of Ethiopia, but when David Buxton passed through in the later 1940s after the Italians had been defeated, he found that "there is little traffic in these days, and Mega has almost reverted to the sleepy remoteness of pre-Italian times."
After a lack of success in Moyale, in 1951 the Norwegian Lutheran Mission moved their station from that town north to Mega, which continued at least as late as the 1970s. Travellers going from Mega to Moyale were ambushed at a place named Karbete Bonaya Wale on 2 February 1999 by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front. Amongst the six killed was a commander Abdulla Mohammed alias Aliyyi Mohammed.
Map - Mega (Mēga)
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 |