Negele Arsi (or Arsi Negele) is a town in southeastern 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 Misraq Shewa Zone

Misraq Shewa Zone

Misraq Shewa is one of the 12 Zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa. Misraq Shewa is located in the middle of Oromia, connecting the western regions to the eastern ones...

 of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

 on the paved highway north of Shashamane

Shashamane

Shashamane is a town in central Ethiopia. It is located in the Misraq Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region. The city lies on the Trans-African Highway 4 Cairo-Cape Town, about from the capital of Addis Ababa...

, this town has a longitude and latitude of 7°21′N 38°42′E and an elevation of 2043 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Arsi Negele

Arsi Negele (woreda)

Arsi Negele is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is named after its administrative center, Arsi Negele. Part of the Misraq Shewa Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Arsi Negele is bordered on the south by Shashamene, on the southwest by Lake Shala which separates it...

 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...

.

Negele Arsi has had electrical power since the 1950s, as well as telephone and postal service by 1967. The town's economic catchment extends beyond the woreda, attracting peasants from Shashamene

Shashamene (woreda)

Shashamene is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the administrative center of the woreda, Shashamene. Part of the Misraq Shewa Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Shashamene is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples...

 woreda who trade cereal and potatoes for cattle and seeds at the weekly market, which is held each Monday.

Prince Sahle Selassie

Prince Sahle Selassie

Prince Sahle Selassie was the youngest child of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw of Ethiopia. His full title was "His Imperial Highness, Prince Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie"....

 was a very substantial landowner around Negele Arsi. By the early 1970s, half of Arsi Negele wereda was owned by his descendants. The town was used as a mobilization point for units of the regular army during 1971, from whence they responded to the disorders that followed evictions when landowners mechanised farms.

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, Negele Arsi has an estimated total population of 42,054, of whom 21,120 are men and 20,934 are women. According to the 1994 national census, the town had a population of 23,512, of whom 11,425 were men and 12,058 were women.