Yechila 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 in the Mehakelegnaw Zone

Mehakelegnaw Zone

Mehakelegnaw is a Zone in the Ethiopian Region of Tigray. Mehakelegnaw is bordered on the east by Misraqawi , on the south by Debubawi , on the west by Mirabawi and on the north by Eritrea...

 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...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of 13°17′N 39°00′E with an elevation of 1571 meters above sea level. It is located in the Mearey-tabia

Kebele

A kebele is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia similar to ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people...

 and is the administrative center of Abergele

Abergele (woreda)

Abergele or Tanqua Abergele is one of the 36 woredas in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Mehakelegnaw Zone, Abergele is bordered on the south and west by the Amhara Region, then by the Tekezé River on the west, on the north by Kola Tembien, on the east by Degua Tembien 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...

.

Records provided at the Nordic Africa Institute website mention a rock-hewn church dedicated to Abuna Aregawi

Abuna Aregawi

Abuna Aregawi is a sixth century Syrian monk, whom tradition holds founded the monastery Debre Damo, said to have been commissioned by Emperor Gebre Mesqel. He is one of the Nine Saints of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church who claims he came from various parts of the Roman Empire to escape persecution...

 in the town. The British explorer Henry Salt

Henry Salt (Egyptologist)

Henry Salt was an English artist, traveller, diplomat, and Egyptologist.-Biography:Salt, the son of a physician, was born in Lichfield. He trained as a portrait painter, first in Lichfield and then in London under Joseph Farington and John Hoppner. In 1802 he was appointed secretary and...

 camped overnight outside this town during his second journey through Ethiopia in 1809. Salt (who calls the settlement "Shela") records entering the province of Abergele the next day -- apparently the town was not part of the province at the time -- as well as finding a species of water cress growing in the area.

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, Yechila has an estimated total population of 2,833 of whom 1,371 are men and 1,462 are women. The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 1,556 of whom 697 were men and 859 were women.