Adama
Encyclopedia
Adama better known as Nazret or Nazreth (ናዝሬት nāzrēt), is a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in central Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and the previous capital of the Oromia Region
Oromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
. It is located in the Misraq Shewa Zone
Misraq Shewa Zone
Misraq Shewa is one of the 12 Zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa. Misraq Shewa is located in the middle of Oromia, connecting the western regions to the eastern ones...
of Oromia, at 8.55°N 39.27°E at an elevation of 1712 meters, 99 km southeast of Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. The city sits between the base of an escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
to the west, and the Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
to the east.
Overview
Adama is a busy transportation center. The city is situated along the road that connects Addis AbabaAddis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
with Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia . This chartered city is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura....
. A large number of trucks use this same route to travel to and from the seaport
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
s of Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...
and Asseb (though the latter is not currently used by Ethiopia, following the Eritrean-Ethiopian War
Eritrean-Ethiopian War
The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, forming one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa...
). Additionally, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad
Ethio-Djibouti Railways
The Ethio-Djibouti Railways, also Ethio-Djibouti Railway Enterprise, is the successor of the Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia and jointly owned by the governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti. It was formed after Djibouti gained independence in 1977 and received the French shares of the Imperial...
runs through Adama.
Adama University
Adama University
Adama Science and Technology University is a university with branches in Adama city and a branch in Asella, and Debre Zeyit cities, Oromia Region, Ethiopia and also in Addis Ababa .- Overview :Established in September 1993, Adama...
(formerly Adama Technical Teachers College) is located in Adama. Adama Stadium
Adama Stadium
Adama Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Adama, Ethiopia. It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium of Adama City. The stadium has a capacity of 4,000 people.-External links:*...
is the home of Adama City FC
Adama City FC
Adama City FC is an Ethiopian football club based in Adama. They are a member of the Ethiopian Football Federation national league. Their home stadium is Adama Stadium....
, a member of the Ethiopian Football Federation
Ethiopian Football Federation
The Ethiopian Football Federation is the governing body of football in Ethiopia. It was founded in 1943, affiliated to FIFA in 1953 and to CAF in 1957. It organizes the national football league and the national team....
league.
History
Following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Haile Selassie renamed the town after Biblical Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, and this name was used for the remainder of the twentieth century. In 2000, the city officially reverted to its original Oromo language
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
name, Adama, though "Nazareth" is still widely used.
In 2000, the government moved the regional capital of Oromia from Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
to Adama, sparking considerable controversy. Critics of the move believed that the Ethiopian government wished to deemphasize Addis Ababa's location within Oromia. On the other hand, the government maintained that Addis Ababa "has been found inconvenient from the point of view of developing the language, culture and history of the Oromo people."
On June 10, 2005, the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization
Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization
The Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization is an ethnic-based political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front that forms the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary...
(OPDO), part of the ruling EPRDF
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front is the ruling political coalition in Ethiopia. It is an alliance of four other groups: the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization , the Amhara National Democratic Movement , the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's...
coalition, officially announced plans to move the regional capital back to Finfinne (the Oromo name for Addis Ababa). This announcement occurred during the aftermath of Ethiopia's most democratic elections to date, in which the governing coalition lost all of its seats in Addis Ababa's municipal administration (see Ethiopian general elections, 2005
Ethiopian general elections, 2005
Ethiopia held general elections on May 15, 2005, for seats in both its national and in four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic...
). The opposition parties speculated that the move was intended as a way to split them along ethnic lines by inciting the largely non-Oromo residents of Addis Ababa to oppose the return of the Oromia government to the Ethiopian capital. The only comments from the opposition that the move inspired, however, was that the original move to Adama had been a massive waste of money, not to mention lives, as the government had cracked down on Oromo students who had protested the move from Finfinne to Adama. In any event, non-Oromo groups did not oppose the return of Oromia government offices to Addis Ababa.
Demographics
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical AgencyCentral Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)
The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...
of Ethiopia (CSA), this city has a total population of 220,212, an increase of 72.25% over the population recorded in the 1994 census, of whom 108,872 are men and 111,340 women. With an area of 29.86 square kilometers, Adama has a population density of 7,374.82; all are urban inhabitants. A total of 60,174 households were counted in this city, which results in an average of 3.66 persons to a household, and 59,431 housing units. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 127,842 of whom 61,965 were males and 65,877 were females.
Further reading
- Briggs, Philip. Guide to Ethiopia. Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 1995. ISBN 1-56440-814-0