Metehara (Metahāra)
Metehara (መተሐራ, Mataharaa) is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 8.9°N, 39.91667°W 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. Notable local landmarks include Metehara Mikael Bet church, Mount Fentale to the north, Awash National Park to the northeast, and Lake Basaka to the south of the town.
The town is inhabited by the Karrayyu Oromo, Afar, Somali Dir clans (Issa and Gadabuursi) and Amhara.
Visitors to the area in the first decades of the 20th century frequently described the area as land between the Karrayyu Oromo, Afar, Somali Dir clans (Issa and Gadabuursi) and Amhara. Somali settlers from the Issa and Gadabuursi migrated to this region towards the end of the era of Emperor Menelik II. Later their numbers increased as relatives and kinsmen took permanent settlement there. On the eve of the Italian invasion, a German named Neitzel had been granted a concession to cultivate cotton and coffee. 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.
In 1970, the Karrayyu Oromo 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.
During the 2002 drought, a Karrayyu Oromo leader was killed in Metehara, which increased tensions between the Karrayyu Oromo and Afar peoples. As a result the Afar, who traded at the Tuesday market, did not go to the market during that drought.
Access to Metehara includes a station on the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway. There is a Tuesday livestock market. Notable local landmarks include Metehara Mikael Bet church, Mount Fentale to the north, Awash National Park to the northeast, and Lake Basaka to the south of the town.
The town is inhabited by the Karrayyu Oromo, Afar, Somali Dir clans (Issa and Gadabuursi) and Amhara.
Visitors to the area in the first decades of the 20th century frequently described the area as land between the Karrayyu Oromo, Afar, Somali Dir clans (Issa and Gadabuursi) and Amhara. Somali settlers from the Issa and Gadabuursi migrated to this region towards the end of the era of Emperor Menelik II. Later their numbers increased as relatives and kinsmen took permanent settlement there. On the eve of the Italian invasion, a German named Neitzel had been granted a concession to cultivate cotton and coffee. 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.
In 1970, the Karrayyu Oromo 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.
During the 2002 drought, a Karrayyu Oromo leader was killed in Metehara, which increased tensions between the Karrayyu Oromo and Afar peoples. As a result the Afar, who traded at the Tuesday market, did not go to the market during that drought.
Map - Metehara (Metahāra)
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 |