Dengel Ber is a town in 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 on the south-western shore of

Lake Tana Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...

in the

Semien Gondar Zone North Gondar (Amharic: ሰሜን ጎንደር; or Semien Gondar) is a zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. This zone is named for the city of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia until the mid-19th century. Geography North Gondar is bordered on the ...

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 latitude and longitude of . Access to this town includes track roads to both Shawra and Kunzela and weekly service by the

Bahir Dar Bahir Dar () is the capital city of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The city is known for its wide avenues li ...

Gorgora Gorgora ( Amharic: ጎርጎራ ''Gōrgōrā'', also, especially formerly, ጐርጐራ ''Gʷargʷarā'', modern pronunciation ''Gʷergʷerā'') is a town and peninsula in northwestern Ethiopia. It is located south of Gondar on the north shore o ...

ferry on Lake Tana. While the name of the town is indisputably

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

, there is some disagreement over the meaning of its name: while "Pass of the Virgin" has been the most common interpretation since at least the days

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the fir ...

visited Ethiopia, Huntingford and Beckingham state that it means "pass of ''canna'' plants". C.F. Beckingham and

G.W.B. Huntingford George Wynn Brereton Huntingford (19 November 1901 – 19 February 1978) was an English linguist, anthropologist and historian. He lectured in East African languages and cultures at SOAS, University of London from 1950 until 1966.

, ''Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646'' (London: Hakluyt Society, 1954), p. 233

History

Located on shore on the western shore of Lake Tana opposite

Dek Island Dek Island (Amharic: ደቅ ደሴት ''Däq Däset'') is the biggest island (approximately 16 square kilometers in size) on Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It is administratively included in the Bahir Dar Zuria woreda of the Mirab Gojjam Zone. To the so ...

, Dengel Bar is dominated by a tall rock which leaves only a narrow passage, controlling access between

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 ...

and

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

on the west side of the lake. For example, Ras

Mikael Sehul Mikael Sehul (born Blatta Mikael; 1692 – 1784) was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of emperors. He was also a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748–71 and again from 1772 until his death. He was a major ...

accompanied by Emperor

Tekle Haymanot Abune Tekle Haymanot ( Ge'ez: አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት; known in the Coptic Church as Saint Takla Haymanot of Ethiopia; 1215–1313) was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit. He was the Abuna of Ethiopia who fou ...

camped here on their march south against

Fasil of Damot Fasil (or Fasıl, Faisal) may refer to: Music * ''Fasıl The ''fasıl'' is a suite in Ottoman classical music. It is similar to the Arabic '' nawba'' and '' waslah''. A classical ''fasıl'' generally includes movements such as '' taksim'', ...

, whom they defeated in the

Battle of Faggeta The Battle of Faggeta was fought in Ethiopia at Faggeta Lekoma on 9 December 1769. Ras Mikael Sehul, Emperor Tekle Haymanot II and Wand Bewossen fought and defeated Fasil of Damot in a large, costly battle. Tekle Haymanot Abune Tekle ...

on 9 December 1769. When he faced an attack from Ras Ali II at the beginning of 1852,

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( , modern transcription , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper ...

Kasa (the future Emperor

Tewodros II Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...

) moved from

Agawmeder Agawmeder (Amharic: አገው ምድር) was a historical region in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. Its most likely etymology is from ''Agew'' (አገው ägäw), a people living in the area, plus ''meder'' (land), thus meaning "Land of the Agaw ...

to a fortified position near Dengel Ber. Ali's officers found the position too strong to attack, so they bypassed it and proceeded north to

Dembiya Dembiya ( Amharic: ደምቢያ ''Dembīyā''; also transliterated Dembea, Dambya, Dembya, Dambiya, etc.) is a historic region of Ethiopia, intimately linked with Lake Tana. According to the account of Manuel de Almeida, Dembiya was "bounded on ...

. Despite this history, by the time P. H. G. Powell-Cotton visited the town in May 1900, he reported finding only ruined stone houses. According to the materials on the Nordic African Institute, Dengel Bar was the administrative center of Alefa woreda, prior to Shawra; it also provides details of a primary school in this town during the year 1968.

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, this town has an estimated total population of 2,439 of whom 1,252 are men and 1,187 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported Dengel Ber had a total population of 1,403 of whom 659 were men and 744 were women. It is one of four towns in

Alefa Alefa (Amharic: ዐለፋ) is one of the ''woredas'' in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Gondar Zone, Alefa is bordered on the southwest by the Agew Awi Zone, on the west by Qwara, on the north by Takusa, on the east by Lake Tana ...

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 ...

Notes

{{reflist, 2 Populated places in the Amhara Region Populated places on Lake Tana