Bedele (also called Buno Bedele) is a town and separate

Aanaa Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after '' zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of wards call ...

in south-western

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Located in the

Buno Bedele Zone Buno Bedele (also Buno Bedelle; ) is one of the zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Located in western Oromia, Buno Bedele is bordered on the south by Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, on the west by the Ilu Aba Bora Zone, o ...

of the

Oromia Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, this town has a longitude and latitude of and an elevation between above sea level.

History

Ras

Tessema Nadew ''Ras Bitwoded'' Tessema Nadew (died 10 April 1911; horse name Abba Qamaw) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who on 28 October 1909 was proclaimed as Ethiopia's future ''Balemulu Enderase'' (Regent Plenipotentiary)''Bālemulu'' li ...

made his capital near Bedele in the early 1900s. Henry Savage Landor passed through the town in 1906. The map attached to C. W. Gwynn's account of his 1908/09 triangulation survey of southern Ethiopia shows that Bedele had a telegraph station, connected by way of

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

. The Buno Bedele Health Center was built in 1966 with a majority of Swedish donations. The road connecting Bedele to

Agaro Agaro () is a town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it sits at an elevation of 1,560 meters above sea level. Overview The road that originally connected Jimma to Agaro was "better k ...

, long, was completed in 1968 at a cost of 12 million dollars (Ethiopian), by the French company Razel Frères. Construction on a road to

Metu Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey. As Turkey’s top ranked university, they focus on r ...

began around 1970."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 22 April 2022) In February 2009, Regional President

Abadula Gemeda Abadula Gemeda (; ; born 5 July 1958) is an Ethiopian politician who was the speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament, from 2010 to 2018. Previously, from 2005 to 2010, he was President o ...

laid the cornerstone for a new cultural center in Bedele. At the same time, he officially opened the new technical and vocational college in the town.

Bedele Brewery

Bedele is the headquarters for the Bedele Brewery. Founded in 1993, Bedele is a formerly government-owned corporation, producing about 75 million bottles of beer each year for domestic and export customers; it was bought by

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

in August 2011.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Bedele of 19,517, of whom 9,837 were men and 9,680 were women. The majority of the inhabitants practised

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

, with 52.9% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 24.98% of the population said they were

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, and 21.44% were

Moslem Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham (or ''Allah'') as it ...

. Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, Bedele has an estimated total population of 21,289 of whom 10,556 are men and 10,733 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 11,907 of whom 5,725 were males and 6,182 were females. 90% of the residents are ethnic Oromo.

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Populated places in the Oromia Cities and towns in Ethiopia