Butajira is a town in south-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 at the base of the Zebidar massif in the Gurage Zone

Gurage Zone

Gurage is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . This zone is named for the Gurage people, whose homeland lies in this zone. Gurage is bordered on the south by Hadiya on the west north and east by the Oromia Region, and on the southeast by Silte. Its highest...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 8°07′N 38°22′E and an elevation of 2131 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of the Meskanena Mareko

Meskanena Mareko

Meskanena Mareko is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Gurage Zone, Meskanena Mareko is bordered on the south by Silte, on the southwest by Gumer, on the west by Ezhana Wolene, on the northwest by Kokir Gedebano Gutazer, 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

According to the Gurage Zone government, Butajira is one of 12 towns with electrical power, one of 11 with telephone service and one of nine that have postal service. drinkable water

Water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia

Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from external aid, much still remains to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of people...

 is provided by 4 boreholes. The town has a weekly market on Fridays. Notable landmarks in the town include a fountain on the south side of the town, which is fed from a sacred spring dedicated to saint Tekle Haymanot

Tekle Haymanot

Tekle Haymanot or Takla Haymanot was an Ethiopian monk who founded a major monastery in his native province of Shewa...

. The zone authorities mention another local landmark is the local mosque, which was completed in AD 1979 (1972 EC

Ethiopian calendar

The Ethiopian calendar , also called the Ge'ez calendar, is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and also serves as the liturgical calendar for Christians in Eritrea belonging to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church and Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea...

), and has two large praying halls, each with room for 2500 individuals: the hall on the ground floor is for women while the hall on the second floor is for men.

Butajira was founded between 1926 when a missionary Pere Azaiz found nothing there, and 1935 when a German ethnographic expedition found a town laid out in straight lines and square shapes to serve as the administrative center of the Gurage people. After Ras Desta Damtew

Desta Damtew

Ras Desta Damtew was an Ethiopian noble, an army commander, and a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie I.-Biography:...

 was taken prisoner on 24 February 1937 in the small village of Eya he was brought to Butajira where, after a perfunctory trial, he was executed that evening. British patrols, acting as part of the East African Campaign

East African Campaign (World War II)

The East African Campaign was a series of battles fought in East Africa during World War II by the British Empire, the British Commonwealth of Nations and several allies against the forces of Italy from June 1940 to November 1941....

, found that arbegnoch groups had dispersed the local Italian positions, leading to both the British and Ethiopian flags being raised over the town on 21 April 1941.

Demographics

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, Butajira has an estimated total population of 37,163 of whom 17,749 are men and 19,414 are women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 20,509 of whom 9,827 were men and 10,682 were women.