Gamo Gofa is a Zone in the 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...

n Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). It is named for the Gamo

Gamo people

Gamo is the name of the Ethiopian ethnic group who speak the Gamo language. The name "Gamo" means a lion, which refers to their legacy; along with the Goffa, they gave their names to the former Gamo-Gofa province of Ethiopia. The 2007 Ethiopian national census reported that 1,107,163 people ...

 and Gofa peoples, whose homelands lie in this Zone. Gamo Gofa is bordered on the south by the Dirashe special woreda

Dirashe special woreda

Dirashe is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. Because Dirashe is not part of any Zone in the SNNPR, it is considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area...

, on the southwest by Debub (South) Omo

Debub Omo Zone

Debub Omo is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . Debub Omo is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the southwest by the Ilemi Triangle, on the west by Bench Maji, on the northwest by Keficho Shekicho, on the north by Semien Omo, on the northeast by the...

 and the Basketo special woreda, on the northwest by Dawro

Dawro Zone

Dawro is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . it is named for the Welayta people, whose homeland lies in this Zone...

, on the northeast by Wolayita

Wolayita Zone

Wolayita is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . it is named for the Welayta people, whose homeland lies in this Zone...

, on the northeast by the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

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

, and on the southeast by the Amaro special woreda

Amaro special woreda

Amaro is one of the 79 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. Because Amaro is not part of any Zone in the SNNPR, it is considered a special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area...

. The administrative center of Wolayita is Arba Minch

Arba Minch

Arba Minch is a city in southern Ethiopia; less common names for this city include Ganta Garo and Minghi. Located in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region about 500 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, at an elevation of 1285 meters above sea level...

.

Gamo Gofa has 431 kilometers of all-weather roads and 122 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 45 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. The highest point in this Zone is Mount Argun (3418 meters).

Originally Gamo Gofa was part of the Semien (North) Omo Zone

Semien Omo Zone

Semien Omo was a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . It was named after the Omo River, which flows in the western area of the former zone...

, and the 1994 national census counted its inhabitants as part of that Zone. However friction between the various ethnic groups in Semien Omo, which was often blamed on the Welayta

Welayta people

Wolayta is the name of an ethnic group and its former kingdom, located in southern Ethiopia. According to the most recent census , they number 1.7 million people or 2.31 percent of the country's population, of whom 289,707 are urban inhabitants...

 for "ethnic chauvinism" and despite the efforts of the ruling party to emphasize the need to co-ordinate, consolidate, and unify the smaller ethnic units to achieve the "efficient use of scarce government resources", eventually led to the division of the Zone in 2000, resulting with the creation of not only the Gamo Gofa, but also the Dawro and Wolayita Zones and two special woredas.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by 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...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 1,593,104, of whom 793,322 are men and 799,782 women; with an area of 11,010.99 square kilometers, Gamo Gofa has a population density of 144.68. While 157,446 or 9.88% are urban inhabitants, a further 480 or 0.03% are pastoralists. A total of 337,199 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.72 persons to a household, and 324,919 housing units.