Chagni (also known as Kedamawi Haile Selassie Ber) is a town in North 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
Agew Awi Zone
Agew Awi () is a zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the Awi sub-group of the Agaw people, some of whom live in this Zone. Agew Awi Zone is bordered on the west by Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the north by North Gondar Zone ...
of the
Amhara Region
The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...
, this town has a longitude and latitude of and an elevation of 1583 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of
Guangua
Guangua (Amharic: ጓንጓ) is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Agew Awi Zone, Guangua is bordered on the south and west by the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the north by Dangila, on the northwest by Faggeta Lekoma ...
woreda
Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''.
These districts are f ...
; in the past Chagni was the administrative center of the Metekel ''awraja''.
History
The British explorer
Charles Beke
Charles Tilstone Beke (10 October 1800 – 31 July 1874) was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic.
Biography
Born in Stepney, London, the son of a merchant in the City of London, for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursuit ...
visited Chagni on its market day, 17 March 1842, and found the town inhabited mostly by "
Shánkalas (the Nubas of the maps), who are negroes", who fled at his appearance out of fear: "fine tall muscular men, armed with spear and knife, hurrying away and hiding themselves among the bushes as I approached".
In the 1950s, Chagni was administered by ''Fitawrari'' Embiale Gessess, whom witnesses state incorporated the current city of Chagni, and he is the father of Gebeyaw Embiale. Chagni was on the frontier between two ethnic groups who were frequently in conflict: the
Gumuz and the
Amhara. The Gumuz reportedly rebelled against Ethiopian rule four separate times between 1950 and 1990. However once the border between the two regions was drawn in 1992, dividing the former Metekel ''awraja'' between them, tensions lessened and local elders were able to negotiate peaceful reconciliations between the two groups. Around 1957, the primary school in Chagni was at the westernmost end of the telephone lines in
Gojjam
Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical provincial kingdom in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Markos.
During the 18th century, G ...
.
Famous people born in Chagni include the Ethiopian singer
Gigi, as well as Gebeyaw Embiale, the Ethiopian mechanical engineer known in Ethiopia for designing components used in the
Airbus 380 aircraft.
Demographics
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, Chagni has an estimated total population of 30,938, of whom 16,035 are men and 14,903 are women.
CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 17,777 of whom 8,437 were men and 9,340 were women.
Climate
Notes
{{reflist
Populated places in the Amhara Region