Dembidollo (), also spelled Dembi Dolo, is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

and separate

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 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 ...

. It is the capital of

Kelam Welega Zone Kellem Wollega (Oromo language, Oromo: ''Qeellam Wallaggaa'') is one of the zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. This zone is named after the former province of Welega Province, Wollega, whose western part lay in the area Kellem Wollega now oc ...

of the

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 ...

. This town, which is at an elevation of between and above sea level, was originally known as Sayo. Dembidollo is known for

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

work and for '' tej'' production. The town is served by Dembidollo Airport (

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

code HADD,

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

DEM).

History

Originally known as Sayo, after the semi-autonomous kingdom that had ruled in this area in the years after 1900, by 1920 this town served as the seat of the governors of this part of south-western Ethiopia until the Italian conquest. Richard Pankhurst notes that during this period Dembidolo was "a great commercial centre for coffee, where by the 1930s perhaps 500,000 kilos of beans, besides large quantities of wax and skins, were exported every year to the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

." Emperor

Iyasu V ''Lij'' Iyasu (; 4 February 1895 – 25 November 1935) was the designated Emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. His baptismal name was Kifle Yaqob (ክፍለ ያዕቆብ ''kəflä y’aqob''). Ethiopian emperors traditionally chose their regna ...

visited Dembidolo around 1912, and was welcomed by

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 ...

Jote The calimocho or kalimotxo (, ) is a drink consisting of equal parts red wine and a cola-based soft drink. Red wine and cola were combined in Basque Country as early as the 1920s, but Coca-Cola was not widely available. That changed in 1953, ...

."Local History of Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 2022 April 2022). By 1958 Dembi Dollo became one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. That same year, the

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is the largest commercial bank in Ethiopia. As of June 2021, it had about 1.1 trillion birr in assets and held approximately 67% of deposits and about 53% of all bank loans in the country. The bank has aroun ...

opened a branch in the town. Etfronte

The last military action of the

Oromo Liberation Front The Oromo Liberation Front (, abbreviated: ABO; English abbreviation: OLF) is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination and the independence for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromi ...

(OLF) before the demise of the

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

in 1991 occurred at Dembi Dollo, when some of its units reportedly killed more than 700 government soldiers. Afterwards, the OLF assumed civilian control of Dembi Dollo and its surrounding territory. However, when the OLF found that their efforts to field candidates in the rest of the Oromia region were frustrated by the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization the OLF withdrew from the government in 1992. This proved to be a disaster for the OLF, as EPRDF forces captured Dembi Dollo and forcibly drove the OLF membership into exile. A modern water supply system was expected to be completed in the town by October 2017.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for this town of 29,448, of whom 15,144 were men and 14,304 were women. The majority of the inhabitants were

Protestants 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 ...

, with 58.23% reporting that as their religion, while 30.14% observed

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 ...

, 8.81% observed

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, and 2.07% were

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

.''2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.5, 3.4 .. Retrieved 13 January 2012 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 19,587 of whom 9,832 were males and 9,755 were females. It is the largest settlement in Sayo

Climate

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dambi Dollo Populated places in the Oromia Cities and towns in Ethiopia

History

Demographics

Climate

See also

Notes