Bilo is a town 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...

. Located in the Misraq (East) Welega Zone

Misraq Welega Zone

Misraq Welega is one of the 12 Zones in the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. This zone acquired its name from the former province of Welega...

 of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, it has a longitude and latitude of 8°40′N 37°35′E with an elevation of 2505 meters above sea level. Bilo is the administrative center of Wama Bonaya

Wama Bonaya

Wama Bonaya is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Misraq Welega Zone, Wama Bonaya is bordered on the southwest by Nunu Kumba, on the west by Guto Wayu, on the northwest by Sibu Sire, on the north by Bila Seyo, on the northeast by the Mirab Shewa Zone, and on the...

 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

Overview

Local landmarks in Bilo include the Medhane Alem church.

The Russian explorer Alexander Bulatovich

Alexander Bulatovich

Alexander Ksaverievich Bulatovich tonsured Father Antony was a Russian military officer, explorer of Africa, writer, hieromonk and the leader of imiaslavie movement in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.-Biography:...

 visited Bilo 8 November 1896, which he described as a crossroads for caravans travelling between southwestern Ethiopia and Gojjam

Gojjam

Gojjam was a kingdom in the north-western part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. This region is distinctive for lying entirely within the bend of the Abbay River from its outflow from Lake Tana to the Sudan...

. Bulatovich further notes that while Bilo was in the territory of Dejazmach Demissew Nassibu it was not part of it; instead it was under the rule of a nagadras or governor of its marketplace. Dunlop mentions Bilo in his memoirs of travelling through western Ethiopia with Captain R.H.R. Taylor in 1935, as where they watched women spin thread and a man weave cloth to be sold at Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

. Dunlop describes Bilo as a "village of some size" east of the Dodu pass between Mount Konchi and Mount Sodu

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central 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...

in 2005, Bilo has an estimated total population of 2,401 of whom 1,108 are men and 1,293 are women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 1,346 of whom 601 were men and 745 women.