Irgalem is a town in southern 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 260 kilometers south of Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

 and 40 kilometers south of Awasa

Awasa

Awasa is a city in Ethiopia, on the shores of Lake Awasa in the Great Rift Valley. Located in the Sidama Zone 270 km south of Addis Ababa via Debre Zeit, 130 km east of Sodo, 75 km north of Dilla and 1125 km north of Nairobi, Awasa is the capital of the Southern Nations,...

 in the Sidama Zone

Sidama Zone

Sidama is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . It is named for the Sidama people, whose homeland is located in this zone...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (or kilil), the town has a latitude and longitude of 6°45′N 38°25′E and an elevation of 1776 meters. It is the largest settlement in Dale

Dale (woreda)

Dale is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Sidama Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Dale is bordered on the south by the Oromia Region, on the southwest by Lake Abaya, on the west by the Wolayita Zone, on the north by...

 woreda.

Postal service is provided by a main branch; electricity and telephone service are also available.

History

Irgalem was occupied by the Italians 1 December 1936 during their campaign against the remaining Ethiopian Army of Sidamo under 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:...

. The town was capital of Sidamo Province

Sidamo Province

Sidamo was a province in the southern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Irgalem, and after 1978 at Awasa. It was named after an ethnic group native to Ethiopia, called the Sidamo, or more particularly, Sidama, who are located in the south-central part of that country...

 until after the 1975 takeover by the Derge regime, when it was moved to Awassa.

Around 1957 there was no telephone landline connecting Irgalem; telecommunications were provided by a radio station. The next year, the town was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. Installation of the landline between Irgalem and Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

 was completed in late 1960. By that time a branch of the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority had started operation at Irgalem.

The Mekane Yesus Church held its Eighth General Assembly at Irgalem in 1973. The Assembly passed a resolution requesting land reform in Ethiopia

Land reform in Ethiopia

The problem of Land reform in Ethiopia has hampered that country's economic development throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. Attempts to modernize land ownership by giving title either to the peasants who till the soil, or to large-scale farming programs, have been tried under imperial...

 - a reform which was in fact put into action a couple of years later, as a result of the Ethiopian Revolution.

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...

of Ethiopia published in 2005, Iragalem has an estimated total population of 43,815 of whom 21,840 are men and 21,975 women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 24,183 of whom 12,092 were men and 12,091 were women.