Wuchale is a town 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...

. Located about 40 kilometers north of Dessie

Dessie

Dessie is a city and a woreda in north-central Ethiopia. Located on the Addis Ababa - Asmara highway in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, this city has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 2,470 and 2,550 meters above sea level.Dessie has postal service , and telephone...

 in the Debub Wollo Zone

Debub Wollo Zone

Debub Wollo is one of 10 Zones in the Ethiopian Amhara Region. It acquired its name from the former province of Wollo.Debub Wollo is bordered on the south by Semien Shewa and the Oromia Region, on the west by Mirab Gojjam, on the northwest by Debub Gondar, on the north by Semien Wollo and on the...

 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 latitude and longitude of 11°30′N 39°36′E and an elevation of 1711 meters. It is the largest settlement in Ambassel

Ambassel

Ambassel is one of the 105 woredas of the Amhara Region in Ethiopia, and an amba, or mountain fortress, located in the woreda; the woreda is named for this feature...

 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...

.

History

In 1889, when it was a fief of Queen Taytu

Taytu Betul

thumb|Taytu BetulTaytu Betul was an Empress of the Ethiopian Empire and the wife of Emperor Menelek II.-Biography:...

, Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 ambassador Count Pietro Antonelli met with Emperor Menelik II at Wuchale shortly after the death in battle of Emperor Yohannes IV. The two countries came to an agreement known as the Treaty of Wuchale

Treaty of Wuchale

Treaty of Wuchale was a treaty signed by King Menelik II of Shewa, later the Emperor of Ethiopia with Count Pietro Antonelli of Italy in the town of Wuchale, Ethiopia, on 2 May 1889...

, which was signed on 2 May. Differences between the two versions, one written in 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 other in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, led to the First Italo–Ethiopian War.

Writing a few years later, Augustus B. Wylde described the Wuchale market, held on Mondays, as a small one.

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...

 and Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement reported that they had killed 703 government troops and captured 168 in fighting at Wuchale on 29–30 January 1990. However, 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...

 announced on 2 February that their troops had retaken the town.

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, Wuchale has an estimated total population of 6,811 of whom 3,326 are mens and 3,485 are women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 3,934 of whom 1,750 were men and 2,184 were women.