Guangua (

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 ...

: ጓንጓ) is one of the

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 ...

s in 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 ...

of Ethiopia. Part of 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 ...

, Guangua is bordered on the south and west by the

Benishangul-Gumuz Region Benishangul-Gumuz () is a regional state in northwestern 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 Er ...

, on the north by

Dangila Dangila (Amharic: ዳንግላ) is a town in northwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Agew Awi Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2137 meters above sea level. It is the largest of three towns in ...

, on the northwest by

Faggeta Lekoma Faggeta Lekoma (Amharic: ፋግታ ለኮማ) is a woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The woreda is named in part after two former districts: Faggeta, best known as the location for the Battle of Faggeta (9 December 1769), where Ras Mikael Sehu ...

and

Banja Shekudad Banja Shekudad is a woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. It is named after a significant mountain located in the woreda, Mount Banja, where Fasil crushed a revolt of the Agaw in the late 18th century. Part of the Agew Awi Zone, Banja Shekudad is b ...

, and on the east by Ankasha Guagusa; the Dura River, a tributary of the

Abay River Abay may refer to: People * Abay (name) Places * Abay District, East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan * Abay District, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan ** Abay (town), the province's administrative center * Abay, Almaty, Kazakhstan * Abay, Aktobe, a villag ...

, defines part of its western border. The administrative center of this woreda is Chagni; other towns in Guangua include Kilaj, and Menta Wuha.

Overview

High points in this woreda include Mount Gum (1506 meters), which R E Cheesman described as a prominent landmark near the Zakas ford on the Abay. MIDROC Gold reported in 2009 that it was exploring the area around Menta Wuha for gold deposits. Originally the two adjacent woredas in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Dibate and Mandura, were subunits of Guangua but in the 1960s were split off to form separate woredas in order to strengthen government control over the local

Gumuz people The Gumuz (also spelled Gumaz and Gumz) are an ethnic group speaking a Nilo-Saharan language inhabiting the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in western Ethiopia, as well as the Fazogli region in Sudan. They speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the N ...

. These two woredas were transferred to Benishangul-Gumuz when that region was organized in the 1992.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by 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 ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 223,066, an increase of 51.10% over the 1994 census, of whom 111,172 are men and 111,894 women; 31,489 or 14.12% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 2,305.44 square kilometers, Guangua has a population density of 96.76, which is less than the Zone average of 107.44 persons per square kilometer. A total of 47,759 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.67 persons to a household, and 46,471 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced

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 81.81% reporting that as their religion, 14.59% of the population said they were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, and 1.64% practiced traditional beliefs. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 170,974 in 34,553 households, of whom 84,893 were men and 86,081 were women; 7,767 or 4.54% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Guangua were the Awi (62.02%) one of the

Agaw The Agaw or Agew (, modern ''Agew'') are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the northern highlands of Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. They speak the Agaw languages, also known as the Central Cushitic languages, which belong to the Cushitic bran ...

peoples, the Amhara (31.93%), and the Gumuz (4.55%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.5% of the population. Awngi was spoken as a first language by 61.33%, 32.83%

, and 4.55% spoke Gumuz; the remaining 1.29% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants practiced

, with 74.3% reporting that as their religion, while 20.98% were

, and 0.77% observed traditional religions.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)

Notes

{{Districts of the Amhara Region Districts of Amhara Region