Ayikel is a town in western 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 Semien Gondar Zone

Semien Gondar Zone

Semien Gondar is a Zone in the Ethiopian Amhara Region. This Zone is named for the city of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia until the mid-19th century, which has often been used as a name for the 20th century province of Begemder....

 of the Amhara Region

Amhara Region

Amhara is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar....

, this town has a latitude and longitude of 12°33′N 37°04′E with an altitude of 2146 meters above sea level. Located on the east-west road connecting Gondar

Gondar

Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...

 with Metemma

Metemma

Metemma is a town in northwestern Ethiopia, on the border with Sudan. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Metemma has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 685 meters above sea level. Across the border is the corresponding Sudanese village of Gallabat...

, Ayikel is the administrative center of Chilga

Chilga

Chilga is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named after its chief town Chilga , an important stopping point on the historic Gondar-Sudan trade route...

 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...

.

Ayikel is mentioned, by its older name of "Chilga", by James Bruce

James Bruce

James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...

, as a marketplace on the border between the Kingdom of Sennar and Ethiopia which was under their shared administration, and over which Emperor Susenyos

Susenyos of Ethiopia

Susenyos was of Ethiopia...

 in 1606 appointed the deposed king of Senaar, Abd al-Qadir

Abd al-Qadir II

Abd al-Qadir II was a ruler of the Kingdom of Sennar . According to James Bruce, he was the son of Unsa I, whom Bruce describes as "a weak and ill-inclined man" While he was ruler of Sennar, Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia sent to Abd al-Qadir a nagarit, or kettle-drum, richly decorated with gold,...

 as governor.

Demographics

Based on figures from 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...

in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 14,480 of whom 7,063 are men and 7,417 are women. The 1994 census reported Dengel Ber had a total population of 8,364 of whom 3,716 were men and 4,648 were women.