Holeta ( Oromo: ''Holataa'') is a town in the special zone of

Oromia Region 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 ...

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 ...

. It has a latitude and longitude of and an altitude of 2391 meters above sea level.

History

Holeta came into existence with the construction of the Addis Ababa - Addis Alem road, and houses in the latter town were dismantled and brought to this new settlement. It became the new "country retreat" for Emperor

Menelik II Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...

and Empress

Taytu Betul Taytu Betul ( ''Ṭaytu Bəṭul'' ; baptised as Wälättä Mikael; 1851 – 11 February 1918) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and the third wife of Emperor Menelik II. An influential figure in the anti-colonial resistance during th ...

According to Richard Pankhurst, when the couple were in residence, its population would mushroom from about 2,400 to as many as 15,000. It was the first place in Ethiopia to have a permanent water mill, built in 1909 on the Holetta River. Holeta is best known as the location of the Holeta Military Academy. Opened in January 1935, and staffed by five Swedish officers, the first class of 120 cadets did not complete their studies due to the

Second Italo-Ethiopian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Fascist Italy, Italy against Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is oft ...

. It was reopened once Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

returned to Ethiopia, and celebrated its 25th anniversary 20–30 April 1960."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 18 November 2007) After the murder of Hadush Araya on 14 February 1996, the academy was renamed for him. Hadush Araya was one of the military leaders of the

Tigray People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing Ethnic nationalism, ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a ter ...

Economy

Like much of Ethiopia, the economy is mainly based on agriculture but industry is growing. Habesha Cement has announced that it is constructing a new cement plant within the city limits of Holeta. The town hosts a research station of the

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) is a research institute for agricultural study in Ethiopia. has evolved through several stages since its initiation during the late 1940s, following the establishment of the agricultural and ...

. Founded in 1963, this station is the national center for research to improve the yield of

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, highland oil crops,

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es, and

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

products.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported Holeta's population as 25,593, of whom 12,605 were men and 12,988 women. The majority of the inhabitants said they 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 73% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 20.44% of the population 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 5.43% 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 ...

.''2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.5, 3.4 (accessed 13 January 2012) According to the 1994 national census, the town's population was 16,785, of whom 8,040 were males and 8,745 females. It is the largest of three towns in the Walmara

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 ...

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Populated places in the Oromia