Alitena is a town in northern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, located in the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone

Misraqawi Zone

Misraqawi is a Zone in the Ethiopian Region of Tigray. Misraqawi is bordered on the east by the Afar Region, on the south by Debubawi , on the west by Mehakelegnaw and on the north by Eritrea. Its highest point is Mount Asimba...

 of the Tigray Region

Tigray Region

Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...

. Alitena was the administrative center of Irob

Irob (woreda)

Irob is one of the 36 woredas in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named after the Irob people, who are the predominant ethnic group living there...

 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

 until Dawhan was made the new center prior to 2003.

Overview

Alitena is connected by a 35 kilometer road to Zalambessa, which was constructed under the inspiration and leadership of the local Roman Catholic

Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia

The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.The Ethiopian Catholic Church, the primary organization of Catholicism in the country, is especially close to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose doctrine and...

 priests, and opened 5 December 1974.

Alitena has been an important Roman Catholic center in northern Ethiopia as early as 1845, when disciples of Justin de Jacobis

Justin de Jacobis

Saint Justin de Jacobis was an Italian Lazarist missionary who became Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia and titular Bishop of Nilopolis.-Biography:He was born at San Fele, Province of Potenza in southern Italy...

 converted some of the local residents from the Ethiopian Church. At Easter 1847 the Catholic missionaries de Jacobis and Guglielmo Massaia

Guglielmo Massaia

Guglielmo Massaia was an Italian Catholic missionary, Capuchin and Cardinal. His baptismal name was Lorenzo; he took Guglielmo as religious name.-Life:...

, together with four Ethiopian priests recently ordained by them, celebrated mass there in 1847. Although lacking churches, de Jacobis was fond of the people there, and considered Alitena as a possible place of refuge if there should be persecutions against the Catholics. Since 1934 the Lazarist Mission in Tigray had its main center at Alitena.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

, this town has a total population of 4,905, of whom 2,431 are men and 2,474 are women. A total of 975 households were counted in this town, resulting in an average of 5.03 persons to a household, and 927 housing units. The 1994 census reported the town had a total population of 857, of whom 447 were men and 410 were women.