Tippi, Ethiopia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tepi is a town in southern 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...

. The vowels in the name are pronounced as in the English words tape and pea. Located in the Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho Zone

Keficho Shekicho is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . While in their latest population estimates the Central Statistical Agency includes it as a single Zone, the list of second administrative level bodies maintained by the United Nations Geographic...

of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of the former Regions 7-11 following the 1994 elections...

(SNNPR), this town has a latitude and longitude of 7°12′N 35°27′E with a mean elevation of 1,097 meters above sea level. The town is said to be named after a Majangir

Majangir

The Majang people, or Majangir, live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed settlements , their actual total number is undoubtedly...

man who once had a bee hive in the large tree that stood in the marketplace.

Overview

Tepi hosts an airport

Tippi Airport

Tippi Airport is an airport in Tippi, Ethiopia . Located at an elevation of 335 meters above sea level, this airport has one unpaved runway 1302 meters long....

(ICAO code TIE IATA code HATP) with a long, smooth but unpaved runway, the destination of scheduled flights by Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines , formerly Ethiopian Air Lines, often referred to as simply Ethiopian, is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It serves as the country's flag carrier, and is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia...

since the 1960s. Since 1966, the town has had a medical clinic and the same year the road to Tepi was improved. Electricity became available in 1984. The town also has postal service. This town has long been a market and commercial center for the area. Construction of all-weather roads were begun in the late 1970s, and by 1988 they extended from Tepi in three directions: south to Mizan Teferi

Mizan Teferi

Mizan Tefere is a town in southern Ethiopia. The largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of...

(built with Cuban help), southeast to Shishinda (toward Bonga

Bonga

Bonga is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located southwest of Jimma in the Keficho Shekicho Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level...

), and north to Gore

Gore, Ethiopia

Gore is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located south of Metu in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2085 meters....

. An elementary school was begun in Tepi about the time the Italians left, and the town has had a high school since about 1980.

Near the city is the Tepi Coffee Plantation Project, which is the second-largest coffee plantation in Ethiopia covering 6,205 hectares. Run by the state, it produces over 2,500 tonnes of raw arabica

Coffea arabica

Coffea arabica is a species of Coffea originally indigenous to the mountains of Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, hence its name, and also from the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is also known as the "coffee shrub of Arabia", "mountain coffee" or "arabica coffee"...

beans each year. The surrounding area is very hilly and was densely forested. The area claims to be Ethiopia’s center for turmeric

Turmeric

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...

, and also exports cardamom

Cardamom

Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

, ginger

Ginger

Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....

, corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

, beeswax

Beeswax

Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...

, timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

, sugar cane, banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s, mango

Mango

The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...

es, and other fruit. Due to the fly-borne disease trypanosomiasis

Trypanosomiasis

Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma. Approximately 500,000 men, women and children in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa suffer from human African trypanosomiasis which is caused by...

, cattle do poorly in the area, so none are used for plowing. The disease also prevents equines (horses, donkeys, and mules) from being raised there.

The town has Ethiopian Orthodox churches, a mosque, and Protestant churches. There is also a strong following of a local spirit cult following Bulafo and Ginabo. Northeast of the town is an inactive shield volcano

Shield volcano

A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...

2728 meters in height, which volcanologists call Tepi.

History

People report that there had been a small Italian military presence there during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The countryside around Tepi has long been multiethnic, including significant numbers of Majangir

Majangir

, Shakacho, Sheko, Kafficho, and Oromo

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

. Most of the city's residents (or their parents) are from other parts of Ethiopia, adding even more ethnic groups to the mix. In the 1980s, because of famine

Famines in Ethiopia

Traditionally the Economy of Ethiopia was based on subsistence agriculture, with an aristocracy that consumed the surplus. Due to a number of causes, the peasants lacked incentives to either improve production or to store their excess harvest; as a result, they lived from harvest to harvest.Despite...

, many people from other provinces were resettled

Resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia

Resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia has been an issue since the late nineteenth century, due to the overcrowded population of the Ethiopian highlands...

nearby. These acts have led to conflicts under ethnic federalism, since no ethnic group comprises a majority.

There has been occasional armed conflict in the area since 1991, involving people from the surrounding area dividing along ethnic lines.

In March 2002 between 600 and 800 persons were killed during clashes between the Majangir, Sheko, and Bench-Maji in and around the town of Tepi. Government officials reported 128 deaths; however, the Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Coalition reported more than 1,700 deaths. More than 2,000 homes were destroyed and 5,800 persons were displaced as a result of the violence. The clashes involved local officials and members of each of these communities, and resulted from the dissatisfaction of many Sheko and Majangir who had wanted autonomy following an unsuccessful attempt in 1993 to move the Shekecho Zone from the SNNPR to the Gambela Region

Gambela Region

Gambela is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. Previously known as "Region 12", its capital is Gambela. Lying between the Baro and Akobo Rivers, the western part of Gambela includes the Baro salient....

. While the Federal Government claimed to have arrested 41 policemen, 39 militia members, and 11 administrative officials for their participation in the clashes, it refused to allow an independent investigation of the incident and put the Federal 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...

in charge of the government's internal investigation.

One campus of the new Mizan - Tepi University

Mizan - Tepi University

Mizan - Tepi University is one of the new public universities in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , which has more than 5,000 students and more than 200 lecturers....

is located in Tepi.

Demographics

The population of the immediate area has greatly increased since the 1970s and, based on 2005 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...

, this town has an estimated total population of 19,231, of whom 10,113 were males and 9,118 were females. Tepi is the largest settlement in Yeki

Yeki

Yeki is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Keficho Shekicho Zone, Yeki is bordered on the south by the Bench Maji Zone, on the west by the Gambela Region, on the north by Masha Anderacha, on the northeast by Gesha, 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...

Overview

History

Demographics

Further reading