Dembiya is a historic region of 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...

, intimately linked with Lake Tana

Lake Tana

Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...

. According to the account of Manuel de Almeida

Manuel de Almeida

Manuel de Almeida was a native of Viseu, who entered at an early age into the Society of Jesus, and went out as a missionary to India...

, Dembiya was "bounded on East by Begemder

Begemder

Begemder was a province in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. There are several proposed etymologies for this name...

, on South by 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...

, on West by Agaw

Agaw

The Agaw are an ethnic group in Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea.-History:The Agaw are perhaps first mentioned in the 3rd c. AD Aksumite inscription recorded by Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century...

s of Achefer

Achefer

Achefer is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the historic district of Achefer, which was first mentioned in the 16th century...

 and Tangha. Lake Tsana

Lake Tana

Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...

, formerly called Dambaya, is in this region." Alexander Murray

Alexander Murray (linguist)

Alexander Murray was a Scottish linguist and professor of Oriental languages in Edinburgh University Murray was born at Dunkitterick, Kirkcudbrightshire, and after graduating from Edinburgh University, became parish minister of Urr in his native shire...

, in his preface to the third volume of Bruce's

James Bruce

James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...

 account, further describes it as "on the east it includes Foggora

Fogera

Fogera is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Fogera is bordered on the south by Dera, on the west by Lake Tana, on the north by the Reb which separates it from Kemekem, and on the east by Farta. The administrative center for this woreda is...

, Dara

Dera (woreda)

Dera is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Debub Gondar Zone, Dera is bordered on the south by the Abbay River which separates it from the Misraq Gojjam Zone, on the west by Lake Tana, on the north by Fogera, and on the east by Este...

, and Alata; on the north-east Gondar

Gondar

Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...

, the metropolis, and the rich district beneath it; on the southwest, the district of Bed (the plain barren country) and, on the west, the lands around Waindaga and Dingleber

Dengel Ber

Dengel Ber is a town in western Ethiopia. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Tana in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of . Access to this town includes track roads to both Shawra and Kunzela and weekly service by the Bahir Dar-Gorgora ferry...

."

Dembiya was incorporated into the Begemder

Begemder

Begemder was a province in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. There are several proposed etymologies for this name...

 province (which previously only included lands to the east of Lake Tana) during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, and in 1996 became a woreda

Dembiya (woreda)

Dembiya is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the former province of Dembiya, which was located roughly in the same location. Part of the Semien Gondar Zone, Dembiya is bordered on the south by Lake Tana, on the southwest by Alefa, on the west by Chilga, on the...

 of the Amhara Region

Amhara Region

Amhara is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar....

.