Mek'ele
Encyclopedia
Mek'ele also transliterated as Makale, is a city 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...
and the capital 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...
. It is located some 650 kilometers north of the capital, Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
, at latitude and longitude 13°29′N 39°28′E with an elevation of 2084 meters above sea level. Administratively, Mek'ele is considered a Special Zone, which is divided into two 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...
s; this places Mek'ele midway between Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
and Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia . This chartered city is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura....
which are organized as chartered cities (astedader akabibi, equivalent to a kilil), and cities like Axum
Axum
Axum or Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia which was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. Population 56,500 . Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century...
and 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...
, which are organized as woredas.
Overview
Mek'ele is one of Ethiopia's principal economic and educational centers. Intercity bus service is provided by the Selam Bus Line Share CompanySelam Bus Line Share Company
Selam Bus Line S.C. is one of Ethiopia's largest long distance bus companies. It was founded in 1996 by the Tigray Development Association to address the nation-wide need for public transportation, and commenced operations 9 April, 1996 with a fleet of 25 IVECO buses...
. A new international standard airport, Alula Aba Nega Airport (ICAO code HAMK, IATA MQX), was recently opened. Local industry includes Mesfin Industrial Engineering, a steel fabrication and manufacturing factory, and Messebo Cement Factory, northern Ethiopia's principal cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
production facility; both are companies owned and managed by the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT). In May 2000, Mekelle University
Mekelle University
Mekelle University is located in Northern Ethiopia , at a distance of 783 kilometers from the Ethiopian capital city, Addis Ababa...
was created by the merger of Mekelle Business College and Mekelle University College.
There are two primary local landmarks in this city. The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front
Tigrayan People's Liberation Front
The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front , known more commonly and sometimes pejoratively in Ethiopia as Woyane or Weyane is a political party in Ethiopia...
(TPLF) monument commemorating the struggle against and overthrow of the Derg, is visible from most of the city - pictured below.
The other is the palace of Yohannes IV
Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
Yohannes IV , born Lij Kassay Mercha Ge'ez, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1872 until his death.-Early life:...
at the northern edge of Mek'ele. It was built at the Emperor's command by Giacomo Naretti
Giacomo Naretti
Giacomo Naretti was an Italian architect. He migrated to Ethiopia as a carpenter, and he become the official architect at the court of Emperor Yohannes....
, who had served Yohannes already at Debre Tabor, with the assistance of William Schimper, and completed in 1884. The complex still stands and now serves as a museum, where the Emperor’s throne, royal bed, ceremonial dress, rifles and many other valuable historical collections can be seen.
Other notable landmarks include the churches Enda Gabir, Enda Yesus Mek'ele Bete Mengist, Mek'ele Iyesus, Mek'ele Maryam, Mek'ele Selassie, and Mek'ele Tekle Haymanot. Trans Ethiopia
Trans Ethiopia
Trans Ethiopia is an Ethiopian football club based in north Mek'ele, Tigray. They are a member of the Ethiopian Football Federation national league. Their home stadium is Tigray Stadium also known as Balloni...
is the local soccer team. A local market has been held every Monday since at least 1890.
History
According to local historians Mek'ele was founded in the 13th century. Mek'ele was one of the major cities of Enderta provinceEnderta province
Enderta province or Inderta province, also known as Enderta Awraja as well as 70 Enderta is located in the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands. Enderta is bordered on the west by Tembien, on the southeast by Wag of Gondar, the south by Raya and Azebo, on the east by Afar and Aseb, and on the...
alongside Antalo. Mek'ele's heyday came later during the late nineteenth century, after Yohannes IV was crowned as King of Kings of Ethiopia, and chose Mek'ele as the capital of his realm. It was here that his son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie
Araya Selassie Yohannes
Araya Selassie Yohannes was an army commander and a member of the Royal family of the Ethiopian Empire.- Biography :Leul Araya Selassie Yohannes was born in Enderta, Tigray in 1867, the legitimate son of Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia...
, died of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in June 1888 while assembling an army to support his father. After Yohannes' death at the Battle of Metemma, his successor Emperor Menelik II came to Mek'ele 23 February 1890, where he accepted the submission of the nobles of Tigray—except for Mangesha Yohannes who had made an appointment to submit 20 days later.
The Italians occupied Mek'ele from the beginning of the First Italo-Abyssinian War
First Italo-Abyssinian War
The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. Ethiopia's military victory over Italy secured it the distinction of being the only African nation to successfully resist European colonialism with a decisive show of force.-Background:On March 25, 1889, the...
(late 1895) until they surrendered their half-completed fort built on the graveyard of the church of Inda Iyesus in January 1896 following the conclusion of the Siege of Mek'ele. The telegraph line the Italians constructed between 1902 and 1904 from Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
south to Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
passed through the town, giving it a local telegraph office. Writing in the 1890s, Augustus B. Wylde described the Mek'ele market, held on Mondays, as large in size, with the "largest salt market in all Abyssinia", and cattle of all sorts available.
During the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, the Italian forces of General Emilio De Bono
Emilio De Bono
Emilio De Bono was an Italian General, fascist activist, Marshal, and member of the Fascist Grand Council . De Bono fought in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.-Early life:De Bono was born in Cassano d'Adda...
captured Mek'ele on 8 November 1935.
Mek'ele was held by the rebels during the "Woyane Rebellion," following their capture of Qwiha
Qwiha
Qwiha is a town located in northern Ethiopia. The name comes from the local word for willows, which are abundant in the area. Located in the Debubawi Zone of the Tigray Region, it lies 9 kilometers east of Mek'ele straddling the highway that leads to Addis Ababa...
on the main Asmera - Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
highway 17 September 1943, and after government troops evacuated their fortified position at Inda Iyesus a few days later. The government recovered Mek'ele on 14 October, following their defeat of the Woyane in the Battle of Amba Alagi, but the fighting was so intense that when Thomas Pakenham visited the city in 1954, he found it "a bleak town in a bleak landscape. I was disturbed by the atmosphere. ... Many of the buildings were in ruins; and there were no new buildings to compensate as there had been in Gondar. I asked an old man in a bar why there was so much damage. He said that I should know; it was we who had bombed it."
In 1957, Yohannes IV School was one of 9 provincial secondary schools in Ethiopia (excluding Eritrea; that same year a 100-number telephone swtichboard had been installed at Mek'ele. The next year, Mek'ele was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as a First Class Township.
When the Ethiopian Revolution exploded, Ras Mengesha Seyoum
Mangasha Seyum
Ras Mengesha Seyoum GCVO is a member of the imperial family of the Ethiopian Empire. In 1974, the monarchy was abolished by the Derg, a communist military junta.- Biography :...
was governor in Mek'ele. The Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
ordered him on October 1974 to the capital to face charges of corruption; instead he fled to the hills, where he founded a group that eventually became the Ethiopian Democratic Union.
During the 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia
1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia
A widespread famine affected the inhabitants of today's Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985. In northern Ethiopia, famine led to more than 400,000 deaths; over half this mortality can be attributed to human rights abuses that caused the famine to come earlier, strike harder, and extend further...
, Mek'ele was notorious for the seven "hunger camps" around the city. These housed 75,000 refugees with 20,000 more waiting to enter; during March 1985, 50-60 people died in these seven camps every day. In February 1986, the TPLF released 1,800 political prisoners from the Mek'ele prison in a daring military action. The operation was named "Agazi" after one of the founder fighters of the TPLF, who had been killed in the second year of the Ethiopian Civil War
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War began on September 12, 1974 when the Marxist Derg staged a coup d'état against Emperor Haile Selassie, and lasted until the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front , a coalition of rebel groups, overthrew the government in 1991. The war overlapped other Cold War...
.
Maychew
Maychew is a town in northern Ethiopia. Located 190 kilometers north of Dessie on the Addis Ababa - Asmara highway in the Debubawi Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2479 meters...
, Korem
Korem
Korem is a town in northern Ethiopia. Located on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the Debubawi Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2539 meters above sea level.Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Korem...
and other places along the Dessie-Mekele road, and by June 1988 TPLF controlled all of Tigray except the town of Mek'ele and the territory a radius of 15 kilometers around the city. In response, the Derg had a number of villages around Mek'ele burned 4–5 June, which included Addi Gera, Bahri, Goba Zena, Grarot, Issala, and Rabea. It was not until 25 February 1989 that Mek'ele was also occupied by the TPLF, after the government position in Tigray had collapsed.
On 5 June 1998 the Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
n Air Force bombed Ayder School in Mek'elē during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War
Eritrean-Ethiopian War
The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, forming one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa...
killing twelve. A monument commemorates this event.
On 29 December 2002, a riot broke out between Ethiopian Orthodox and Adventist
Adventist
Adventism is a Christian movement which began in the 19th century, in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was started by William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites...
worshippers, over an Adventist prayer service being conducted in a stadium. Some Ethiopian Orthodox believers, upset by the display of public Adventist preaching, reportedly sparked the clashes by first throwing stones at Adventists gathered in the stadium, then by looting Adventist offices in the city. Police
Law enforcement in Ethiopia
Law enforcement in Ethiopia has been since a reorganization in October 2000, the responsibility of the national police which is overseen by the Federal Police Commission. This commission reports to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, which in turn is responsible to the parliament; however, this...
intervened to break up the riots, which resulted in five dead and three seriously injured. The police reported that 10 people were detained, but independent sources reported that the number was much larger.
UN Intervention
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and EritreaUnited Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea was established by the United Nations Security Council in July 2000 to monitor a ceasefire in the border war that began in 1998 between Ethiopia and Eritrea....
(UNMEE) headquarters was established in Mek'ele in 2000 following the end of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War
Eritrean-Ethiopian War
The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, forming one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa...
. Currently, tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea are still high; therefore the UNMEE is still alert and active in Mek'ele, as well as out of Mekele.
Demographics
Based on figures from the Central Statistical AgencyCentral 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, Mekele has an estimated total population of 169,207, of whom 85,876 are men and 83,331 are women. The woreda has an estimated area of 24.44 square kilometers, which gives Mekele a density of 6,923.40 people per square kilometer. Mekele is the largest city 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...
and sixth largest in Ethiopia.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for Mek'ele of 96,938, of whom 45,729 were men and 51,209 were women. The two largest ethnic groups reported in this town were the Tigrayan
Tigray-Tigrinya people
Tigray-Tigrinya are an ethnic group who live in the southern, central and northern parts of Eritrea and the northern highlands of Ethiopia's Tigray province. They also live in Ethiopia's former provinces of Begemder and Wollo, which are today mostly part of Amhara Region, though a few regions...
(96.5%), the Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
(1.59%), foreigners from Eritrea (0.99%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.98% of the population. Tigrinya
Tigrinya language
Tigrinya , also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrnia, Tigrina, Tigriña, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea , where it is one of the two main languages of Eritrea, and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia , where it...
was spoken as a first language by 96.26%, and 2.98% spoke Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
; the remaining 0.76% spoke all other primary languages reported. 91.31% of the population practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 7.66% were Muslim
Islam in Ethiopia
According to the latest 2007 national census, Islam is the second most widely practised religion in Ethiopia after Christianity, with over 25 million of Ethiopians adhering to Islam according to the 2007 national census, having arrived in Ethiopia in 615...
. Concerning education
Education in Ethiopia
Education in Ethiopia has been dominated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for many centuries until secular education was adopted in the early 1900s. Prior to 1974, Ethiopia had an estimated illiteracy rate well above 90% and compared poorly with the rest of Africa in the provision of schools and...
, 51.75% of the population were considered literate, which is more than the Zone average of 15.71%; 91.11% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school; 17.73% of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school; and 52.13% of the inhabitants aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions
Water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia
Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from external aid, much still remains to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of people...
, about 88% of the urban houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census, and about 51% had toilet facilities.
External links
- Ethiopian Treasures - The castle of Emperor Yohannes IV
- Cities of Ethiopia: Mekelle by John Graham (Addis Tribune, 12 October 2001)