Raya Kobo {Kobo} is a town in northern Wollo 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 Wollo Zone

Semien Wollo Zone

Semien Wollo is a Zone in the Ethiopian Amhara Region. Semien Wollo acquired its name from the former province of Wollo. Semien Wollo is bordered on the south by Debub Wollo, on the west by Debub Gondar, on the north by Wag Hemra, and on the northeast and east by the Afar Region; part of its...

 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 longitude and latitude of 12°09′N 39°38′E with an elevation of 1468 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Kobo

Kobo (woreda)

Kobo is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the northeast corner of the Semien Wollo Zone, Kobo is bordered on the south by the Logiya River which separates it from Habru and Guba Lafto, on the west by Gidan, and on the north and east by the Afar Region...

 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...

.

Kobo is located on the Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

-Adigrat

Adigrat

Adigrat is a city in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi Zone at longitude and latitude with an elevation of 2457 meters above sea level, below a high ridge to the west, Adigrat is the last important Ethiopian city south of the border with Eritrea, and is considered to be a...

 highway, 189 kilometers south of Mekele. A road from Kobo west to Lalibela

Lalibela

Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia, known for its monolithic churches. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian...

 has existed since the 1930s, but , it is usable only in good weather by four-wheel vehicles.

History

In January 1942 a clash at Kobo between locals and soldiers collecting taxes led to three British officers and nine Ethiopian soldiers killed. The Ethiopian government responded with an aerial bombardment of the town. This skirmish was one of the opening events of the Woyane rebellion.

In mid-1972, a young District Development Officer, Ababuhme Kohsole, sent a full report concerning conditions in the district to the Ministry of Community Development; this was the first warning of what became the brutal 1974 famine which set off the Ethiopian Revolution and led to the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie. Ababuhme was severely reprimanded and told never to send such a negative report again.

In May 1983 the Church Relief Services made its first grant distributions from the Agency for International Development at Kobo, By the next year, with the famine clearly underway, several thousand Afar people had come to the Catholic mission in Kobo in search of help; they had fled the lowlands after losing all their livestock. Between 15 October and 2 November 1989 Kobo was subjected to four air attacks by the government

People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was the official name of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991, as established by the Communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Workers' Party of Ethiopia...

 forces. Casualties are not known, but the clinic was strafed by helicopter gunships.

In March 2007, the Amhara Regional Rehabilitation and Development Agency announced the creation of a state-owned cotton

Cotton production in Ethiopia

Cotton is grown throughout Ethiopia at elevations above 1000 meters and below 1400 meters. Because most of the lowlands lack adequate rainfall, cotton cultivation depends largely on irrigation.-History:...

 processing factory, and a cotton plantation on 305 hectares to supply it, with a capitalization of 63 million Birr

Ethiopian birr

The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....

. The next month the Ethiopian Catholic Church

Ethiopian Catholic Church

The Ethiopian Catholic Church is a Metropolitan sui iuris Eastern particular Church within the Catholic Church. Established in 1930, its membership includes inhabitants of Ethiopia and Eritrea....

 announced the completion of a modern hospital with 50 beds.

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 36,147 of whom 18,552 are men and 17,595 women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 20,788 of whom 9,761 were men and 11,027 women. The majority of its inhabitants belong to the Azebo and Wolo Oromo.