Adigrat

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Coordinates: 14°16′N 39°27′E / 14.267, 39.45
Adigrat
Adigrat in 2006
Adigrat Location within Ethiopia
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Tigray
Zone	Misraqawi (Western)
Elevation	2,457 m (8,061 ft)
Population (2005)
- Total	65,237
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Adigrat is a city in the Tigray Region (or kilil) of Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi Zone at longitude and latitude 14°16′N, 39°27′E with an elevation of 2457 meters above sea level, below a high ridge to the west, Adigrat is the last important Ethiopian city south of the border with Eritrea, and is considered to be a strategically important gateway to Eritrea and the Red Sea.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Adigrat has an estimated total population of 65,237 of whom 32,586 were males and were 32,651 females;^[1]another published estimate offers a population of 84,769 people for Adrigrat.^[2] The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 37,417 of whom 17,352 were males and 20,065 were females. It is the largest settlement in Ganta Afeshum woreda.

Dej Desta's castle in Adigrat.

1 Sites of Interest
2 History
3 Notable inhabitants
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Sites of Interest

Adigrat, the capital of the Agame district, has an interesting aristocratic history. In town are the remnants of two castles from the Zemene Mesafint ("Era of Princes"), one (pictured) owned by Dej Desta, the other by the Ras Sebhat Aregawi. Other sites of interest:

19th century Adigrat Chirkos - was strategically built on a hill near Dej Desta's castle, so that Desta could see the church from his bedroom balcony.
Holy Saviour Catholic Cathedral was completed in 1916. It has an Italian design, but incorporates work by Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle.^[3]
Italian War cemetery commemorates some 765 Italian soldiers who died between 1935 and 1938.^[3]
Adigrat also hosts a market, and a newly constructed community park.

Medhani Alem Catholic Church.

[edit] History

Adrigrat first acquired importance when Ras Sabagadis made it his capital in 1818; it declined in importance after his death in 1831, although the missionary Samuel Gobat had joined countless Ethiopians in fleeing there for safety following Sabagadis' death. According to Sven Rubenson, 1868, Ras Kassai (later the Emperor Yohannes IV), met with Sir Robert Napier at Adigrat, where he agreed to provide support for the British expeditionary force.^[4]

During the First Italian-Abyssinian War, the Italians occupied Adigrat on 25 March 1895, and used it as a base to support their advance south to Mek'ele. General Antonio Baldissera refortified the settlement after the Italian defeat at the Battle of Adowa, but Emperor Menelik II insisted on its surrender at the beginning of the peace talks that concluded the war; Baldissera was ordered to evacuate Adigrat, which he did 18 May 1896. Augustus Wylde a few years later described Adigrat as having a Saturday market of medium size.^[4]

The Italians again occupied Adigrat, without resistance, at the beginning of the Second Italian-Abyssinian War 7 October 1935. The Italians were met there on the 11th by Ras Haile Selassie Gugsa, who had been courted by the Italians to ignite a widespread defection of the Tigrean aristocracy; instead, he had been soundly defeated a few days before by Dejazmach Haile Kebbede of Wag, and presented himself to the invaders with only 1200 followers. Anthony Mockler notes that despite the fact the young Ras shook Ethiopian morale, "this was the first and last open defection to the Italians of an important noble and his men."^[5]

Adigrat was captured by rebels in the Woyane rebellion 25 September 1943, who forced the Ethiopian administrators to flee to neighboring Eritrea. By 1958 the city was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as a First Class Township.^[4]

By the 1970s, Adigrat possessed the only high school east of Adwa and north of Mek'ele, Agazi Comprehensive High School, and together with the town's Catholic junior high school, they became centers of anti-government dissent. The presence outside of town of a large military base, served as a focus for protesting students, and also as a source for their hopes of a military coup. During the first years of the Ethiopian Civil War, the fledgling Tigrayan People's Liberation Front drew support from these groups. Derg forces took Adigrat during the summer 1988 counter-offensive. On 9 August seven women were raped there. The government troops and officials evacuated in February 1989; according to Africa Watch they caused widespread destruction before they left.^[4]

[edit] Notable inhabitants

Yohannes Haile-Selassie, paleoanthropologist

[edit] Notes

^ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.3
^ Butler, Rhett A. (2004). 2005 population estimates for cities in Ethiopia. Mongabay.com. Retrieved on 28 February, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Frances Linzee Gordon, Jean Bernard Carillet Ethiopia and Eritrea (Lonely Planet, 2003) pp. 168f.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Local History in Ethiopia" (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 16 December 2007)
^ Mockler, Anthony [1984] (2003). Haile Selassie's War. New York: Olive Branch. ISBN 1-56656-473-5.