Debre Birhan
Debre Birhan
ደብረ ብርሃን | |
---|---|
City | |
UTC+3 (EAT ) |
Debre Birhan (
History
Origins
Debre Birhan was founded by
Historian
While his son
16th-18th century
While little more than a large village, Debre Birhan is mentioned a few times in the 16th century, the first time as a mustering center by Emperor
19th century
The village regained importance in the reign of
When then
The Debre Birhan market in the 1880s was considered important for mules and horses. The Selassie church was rebuilt by Emperor Menilek in 1906 and contains many mural paintings.[12] David Buxton believes that it was inevitable that Debre Berhan would regain importance, "Although a somewhat cold and inhospitable place," he writes about the town, "it has an obvious advantage as commanding what must always have been an important focus of routes. Even in modern times it was inevitable that the Asmara road should be brought through this easy passage, avoiding the impassable gorges on the other."[13]
20th century
Debre Berhan received electricity in 1955 when a 90 kW hydro-electric power station was put into service; by 1965, the installed electrical capacity in the town was 125 kVA and annual production 103,000 kWh. On 26 April 1957, Emperor
On 2 July 1994 it was broadcast that nine people were killed and eleven captured in an exchange of fire with security forces in Asagirt woreda. The people were alleged to have broken into the Debre Berhan prison before that, setting a number of prisoners free. According to the police, Andale Melaklu, the Debre Berhan representative of the All-Amhara People's Organization was one of the "bandits" killed in the fire exchange.[12]
Demographics
Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the
The 1994 national census reported a total population for Debre Birhan of 38,717 in 8,906 households, of whom 17,918 were men and 20,799 were women. The five largest ethnic groups reported in the town were the
Climate
Debre Birhan is one of the coolest cities found in the subtropical zone of Ethiopia. The city has a typical
Climate data for Debre Birhan | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 19.5 (67.1) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.9 (69.6) |
22.1 (71.8) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.5 (74.3) |
19.9 (67.8) |
20.5 (68.9) |
20.9 (69.6) |
19.6 (67.3) |
19.1 (66.4) |
18.9 (66.0) |
20.7 (69.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 12.3 (54.1) |
13.2 (55.8) |
14.4 (57.9) |
15.5 (59.9) |
16.9 (62.4) |
16.9 (62.4) |
14.6 (58.3) |
16.5 (61.7) |
15.3 (59.5) |
13.5 (56.3) |
13.0 (55.4) |
12.0 (53.6) |
14.5 (58.1) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.1 (41.2) |
6.8 (44.2) |
8.0 (46.4) |
8.9 (48.0) |
10.1 (50.2) |
10.3 (50.5) |
9.3 (48.7) |
10.7 (51.3) |
9.8 (49.6) |
7.4 (45.3) |
7.0 (44.6) |
5.1 (41.2) |
8.2 (46.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 9 (0.4) |
21 (0.8) |
57 (2.2) |
45 (1.8) |
41 (1.6) |
72 (2.8) |
319 (12.6) |
249 (9.8) |
104 (4.1) |
28 (1.1) |
15 (0.6) |
4 (0.2) |
964 (38) |
Source: [17] |
Local economy
Debre Birhan is located along
The Debre Birhan Wool Factory, the first wool factory in Ethiopia, started production was 1 January 1965 with 120 spindles and 6 looms, having the capacity to process one metric ton of wool daily. In its first six months, the factory produced 7,065 blankets in a single-shift operation with a labor force of about 200, of whom 45% were women. The Derg government announced 3 February 1975 that the Debre Birhan Wool Factory was among 14 textile enterprises to be fully nationalised.[12]
Debre Birhan is also a famed center of rug making.
Education
Landmarks
Despite its historical importance, none of the buildings Emperor Zara Yaqob built exist today due to the fact that the sixteenth century Adal leader
International relations
Debre Birhan is twinned with (sister city of)
Notes
- ^ a b Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region Archived November 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.
- ^ "Population Projection Towns as of July 2021" (PDF). Ethiopian Statistics Agency. 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 86.
- ^ Pankhurst, Richard K. P. (1982). History of Ethiopian Towns. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 37.
- ^ Pankhurst, Ethiopian Towns, p. 41
- ^ Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader, Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia, translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), p. 59.
- ^ Sihab ad-Din Ahmad, Futuh al-Habasa, pp. 337f.
- ^ Pankhurst, Ethiopian Towns, pp. 188f
- ^ Pankhurst, Ethiopian Towns, p. 280
- ^ Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855). London: Longmans. pp. 152f.
- ISBN 1-56902-010-8.
- ^ a b c d "Local History in Ethiopia"[permanent dead link] The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 16 December 2007)
- ^ D. R. Buxton, "The Shoan Plateau and Its People: An Essay in Local Geography", Geographical Journal, 114, (1949), p. 162
- ^ "Opens Debre Berhan Teacher Training Center", Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, New York : One Drop Books, 2000, pp.76-79
- ^ 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region, Vol. 1, part 1 Archived November 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)
- ^ "Climate: Debre Berhan". Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ "Climate: Debre Birhan". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ "42-km Debrebirhan-Ankober road being maintained"[permanent dead link], Ethiopian News Agency, 29 May 2009 (accessed 30 May 2009)
- ^ Dabra Birhan. Encyclopedia Aethiopica. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2022.