Mankush 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 Metekel Zone

Metekel Zone

Metekel is one of the three Zones in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, named after the former Metekkel province. It is bordered on the south by Kamashi, on the southwest by Asosa, on the west by Sudan, and on the north and east by the Amhara Region...

 of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Mankush is the largest settlement in Guba

Guba (woreda)

Guba is one of the 21 woredas in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the former Sultanate of Gubba. Part of the Metekel Zone, Guba is bordered by the Abay River on the south which separates it from the Asosa Zone, Sudan on the west, Dangur on the north and east, and on the...

 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...

.

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 1,255 of whom 664 were males and 591 were females. According to the 1994 national census, its total population was 729 of whom 384 were males and 345 were females.

Near the town, the palaces of two local rulers and slave traders are still preserved. The oldest one is built on top of a hill to the south of Gubba. It belonged to Manjil Hamdan Abu Shok and it was bombed by the British in 1940, as a prelude to the invasion of Ethiopia by the Allies. The palace had been occupied by the Italians, who had established a military base there. The other palace, in the plain, was built by his son, who had the same name. The palace was lavishly built: it had several rooms for Abu Shok's many wives and a mosque. Dutch explorer Juan Maria Schuver

Juan Maria Schuver

Juan Maria Schuver was a Dutch explorer who was a native of Amsterdam....

 visited the town in the 1880s and reported on a visit to the Shinasha

Shinasha

The Shinasha, also known as Bworo or Boro, are an ethnic group of Ethiopia. Their language belongs to the North Omotic family . They live north of the Blue Nile in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region and number around 33,000 individuals. Their neighbors in the area include Gumuz and...

 people living in the nearby mountains.

The British explorer Charles Beke

Charles Tilstone Beke

Charles Tilstone Beke was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic. Born in Stepney, London, the son of a merchant in the City of London, for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursuits...

passed through this town in March 1842. He notes its principal point of interest then was the monastery of St. Michael.