Maji 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...

. It is located on the Boma Plateau

Boma Plateau

The Boma Plateau is a region in the east of South Sudan, located in the Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria provinces. It is inhabited by the Anuak, Murle and Toposa peoples. It contains important wetlands for birdlife in the region...

, lying in the Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji is one of the 13 Zones of the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . Bench Maji is bordered on the south by the Ilemi Triangle, on the west by Sudan, on the northwest by the Gambela Region, on the north by Keficho Shekicho and on the east by Debub Omo...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, and has a longitude and latitude of 6°12′N 35°35′E with an elevation variously given as 2104, 2258 and 2430 meters above sea level. The town is the administrative center for the Maji Zone and Dizi

Dizi (woreda)

Dizi is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the Dizi people, whose homeland lies in the northern part of this district; a different ethnic group, the Surma, inhabit the southern part...

 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...

.

Postal service in Maji started at some time between 1923-1932. From the 1930s the town had a customs post and a telephone station. The town is served by Tume Airport (ICAO code HAMJ).

History

Maji was founded around 1897 when Ras Welde Giyorgis stationed a garrison of Ethiopian soldiers near the lands of the ture, a personage Garretson describes as "the most powerful and respected religious figure in the area." Garretson explains how an administrative center for the region soon followed: "Built on a commanding hill were a fortified encampment of gibbi (the personal headquarters of the governor), a church and a market. All were carefully observed and guarded by the governor and his retinue of soldiers." Richard Pankhurst

Richard Pankhurst (academic)

Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE is a British academic with expertise in the study of Ethiopia.-Early life and education:...

 records that its governor, Dejazmach Taye, amazed by the growing trade at Gambela

Gambela, Ethiopia

Gambela is a city in Ethiopia and the capital of the Gambela Region or kilil. Located in Administrative Zone 1, at the confluence of the Baro River and its tributary the Jajjaba, the city has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 526 meters....

 to the west of him, during the 1920s attempted to develop exports of coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

, rubber, hides and ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 through the port town.

Before the Italian occupation

Italian East Africa

Italian East Africa was an Italian colonial administrative subdivision established in 1936, resulting from the merger of the Ethiopian Empire with the old colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea. In August 1940, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa...

, the British had a consulate in Maji. The town was occupied by the Italians 18 March 1937, and liberated from them by May 1941. During this period, the occupiers built roads so that vehicles could be driven to Maji and a Catholic Mission operated there which ran at least one school. An American Mission was established in 1948 near Maji, and provided education and medical care until it was closed in 1977.

When the Maji Zone was created in the mid-1990s, Maji became its administrative center.

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 Maji has an estimated total population of 2,930 of whom 1,302 were males and 1,628 were females. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 1,617 of whom 721 were males and 896 were females.