Tenta is a town in northern

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

Debub Wollo Zone South Wollo (Amharic: ደቡብ ወሎ) is a zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It acquired its name from the former province of Wollo. South Wollo is bordered on the south by North Shewa and the Oromia Special Zone (Amhara), on the west b ...

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 ...

, Tenta has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of above sea level. It is one of three towns in Tenta

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 ...

. A notable landmark in this town is the church dedicated to

St. Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

, which was constructed at the patronage of

Negus ''Negus'' is the word for "king" in the Ethiopian Semitic languages and a Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, title which was usually bestowed upon a regional ruler by the Ethiopian Emperor, Negusa Nagast, or "king of kings," in pre-1974 Et ...

Mikael around 1899, who made this town his headquarters. It is unusual for having three altars: one dedicated to St. Michael, another to St. Tekle Haymanot, and the third to the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

. Three different masses are said to be celebrated simultaneously in this church. In a nearby mausoleum Negus Mikael is buried with his second wife Zennebech and two sons by his first wife, Ali and Desta.

History

The missionary

Johann Ludwig Krapf Johann Ludwig Krapf (11 January 1810 – 26 November 1881) was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the firs ...

visited Tenta 22 March 1842, when it was the residence of Imam Liban of the Were Himano, a "House" or a sub-group of the

Wollo Oromo The Wollo people are a group inhabiting the historic Wollo Province of northern Ethiopia. Language The Wollo Oromo speak an Oromo dialect. However, linguistic descriptions of the Wollo and nearby Raya Oromo areas are still lacking. Alleged ...

. The settlement was surrounded by a ditch and wall, with a single entrance for security. As for the size of Tenta, Krapf states it was "a small village, containing about 600 inhabitants. A market is held here every week, and many articles are brought for sale." Tenta is also the birthplace of the unlucky 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 ...

, the son of Negus Mikael, who was born there 4 February 1895 or 1896. A Swedish missionary who visited Tenta in the early 1930s found the settlement to be a strange little "king's town" surrounded by meter-high stone walls in three curves inside each other. On one side having a steep rock face, no wall was necessary."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 16 December 2007) The settlement had an Italian garrison until 19 May 1941 when it surrendered to Colonel Anderson, but in its final months it was under siege by ''

arbegnoch The Arbegnoch () were Ethiopian anti-fascist World War II resistance fighters in Italian East Africa from 1936 until 1941 who fought against Fascist Italy's occupation of the Ethiopian Empire. The Patriot movement was primarily based in the ru ...

'' fighters. Tenta was subjected to an air attack during the

Ethiopian Civil War The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991. The Derg overthre ...

in November 1989 but escaped fatalities; however, in a second air attack on 4 January 1990, two were killed.

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, Tenta has an estimated total population of 4,022 of whom 1,996 are men and 2,206 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
Table B.3 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 2,320 of whom 1,050 were men and 1,270 were women.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Amhara Region