Dangila

Dangila is a town in northwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Agew Awi Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 11°16′N 36°50′E / 11.267°N 36.833°E / 11.267; 36.833Coordinates: 11°16′N 36°50′E / 11.267°N 36.833°E / 11.267; 36.833 with an elevation of 2137 meters above sea level. It is the largest of three towns in Dangila woreda.

History

One of the earliest mentions of Dangila was when the Emperor Susenyos passed through the town in 1620.

As late as the 1930s, Dangila was an important center of the African slave trade. Nagadras Habtewerq, director of customs in the town during the early 1930s, achieved a measure of success in liberating slaves despite the determined opposition of influential Gojjame figures like the slaver Fitawrari Zelleqe.

The British maintained a consulate in Dangila in the 1920s and 1930s, manned by R.E. Cheesman, who spent a considerable amount of energy mapping Agawmeder and nearby Gojjam.

Dangila has played a role in Ethiopian literature. As a young man, Haddis Alemayehu, who was to become the foremost Amharic fiction writer, served for two years as a customs clerk at Dangila in the early 1930s. When consul Cheesman left, the consulate building was turned into a primary school, and Haddis Alemayehu became its headmaster for a year. Another author is Abbe Gubennya, who attended grades 1-8 at the Bitwedded Mengesha Jembere school in the 1950s.

Dangila (woreda)

Dangila is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named after the former district, Dangila, which James Bruce notes was in his day known for its breed of sheep. Part of the Agew Awi Zone, Dangila is bordered on the south by Faggeta Lekoma, on the southwest by Guangua, on the northwest by the Jawi, and on the northeast by the Mirab Gojjam Zone. Towns in Dangila include Addis Alem, Dangila and Dek. Part of the Dangila was separated to create Jawi woreda.

Dangila was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as an area for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas. Along with Lay Armachiho and Qwara in the Amhara Region, and Tsegede in the Tigray Region, became the new homes of 8,671 families. This was reportedly accompanied with almost 68 million Birr in infrastructure development.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 158,688, an increase of 6.44% over the 1994 census, of whom 80,235 are men and 78,453 women; 27,001 or 17.02% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 918.40 square kilometers, Dangila has a population density of 172.79, which is greater than the Zone average of 107.44 persons per square kilometer. A total of 35,610 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.46 persons to a household, and 34,635 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 97.9% reporting that as their religion, and 1.88% of the population said they were Muslim.