Sodo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Ethiopian town. For the language, see Soddo language. For the neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, see Sodo, Seattle, Washington.
| Sodo | |
  Sodo
|
|
| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Region | Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' |
| Zone | Wolaita |
| Elevation | 1,600 m (5,249 ft) |
| Population (2005) | |
| - Total | 65,737 |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Sodo or Wolaita Sodo is a town in south-central Ethiopia. Located the Wolaita Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, Sodo has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 1600 and 2100 meters above sea level. It is the largest settlement in the woreda of Sodo Zuria.
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 65,737 of whom 34,069 were males and 31,668 were females.[1] The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 36,287 of whom 18,863 were males and 17,424 were females.
Sodo is served by an airport (ICAO code HASD, IATA SXU). It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Sodo-Hosaena.
[edit] History
In the early 1930s, Sodo was the only locality in Welamo district deserving to be called a town. It had a Saturday market, a telephone line to the capital and a weekly mail courier. Italian ground troops captured Sodo on 27 January 1937; it was there that two Italian generals with their divisions -- Liberati with his 25th Division, and Bacarri with his 101st Division -- surrendered on 22 May 1941, after a minimum of resistance. The British also captured the remnants of the 21st Division, who had escaped around the north end of Lake Abijatta. The loot included more than 4,000 officers and men, 6 medium tanks, 4 light tanks, 100 machine guns, ammunition and supplies.[2]
By 1958 Sodo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. A branch of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was established between 1965-68.[2] The administrator of Sodo woreda and one-time student activist, Melaku Gebre Egziahber, was arrested in 1975 for encouraging peasants and the urban poor to rise up against "exploiters" in the town.[3] In 1984, a refugee camp was established in the town for the victims of that year's famine.[2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.3
- ^ a b c "Local History in Ethiopia" (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 16 November 2007)
- ^ Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana Publishing, 1978), p. 125
| Cities of Ethiopia |
|
Adama (Nazret) | Addis Ababa | Adigrat | Adwa | Ambo | Arba Minch | Asella | Awasa | Axum | Bahir Dar | Debre Berhan | Debre Marqos | Debre Tabor | Debre Zeyit | Degehabur | Dembidolo | Dessie | Dila | Dire Dawa | Gambela | Goba | Gode | Gondar | Harar | Irgalem | Jijiga | Jimma | Kebri Dahar | Kombolcha | Mek'ele | Negele Arsi | Negele Boran | Nekemte | Shashamane | Sodo | Weldiya | Wukro | Ziway |
