Qwiha
Encyclopedia
Qwiha is a town located in northern 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...
. The name comes from the local word for willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
s, which are abundant in the area. Located in the Debubawi (Southern) Zone
Debubawi Zone
Debubawi is one of five Zones in the Ethiopian Region of Tigray. Debubawi is bordered on the south and west by the Amhara Region, on the northwest by Mehakelegnaw , the north by Misraqawi and on the east by the Afar Region...
of the Tigray Region
Tigray Region
Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...
, it lies 9 kilometers east of Mek'ele
Mek'ele
Mek'ele , also transliterated as Makale, is a city in northern Ethiopia and the capital of the Tigray Region. It is located some 650 kilometers north of the capital, Addis Ababa, at latitude and longitude with an elevation of 2084 meters above sea level...
straddling the highway that leads to Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. It has a latitude and longitude of 13°28′37"N 39°32′42"E with an elevation of 2247 meters above sea level.
Overview
Qwiha is the administrative center of the EndertaEnderta (woreda)
Enderta is one of the 36 woredas in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It was named for the former Enderta province, which was later merged into Tigray Province...
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...
. It had telephone service at least as early as 1956, when it is reported that the only hotel in town had the only telephone.
The airport of Mekelle, Alula Aba Nega Airport is located within the administrative boundaries of Qwiha. In Qwiha, the main paved road from Addis Ababa takes a sharp turn left to Mek'ele
Mek'ele
Mek'ele , also transliterated as Makale, is a city in northern Ethiopia and the capital of the Tigray Region. It is located some 650 kilometers north of the capital, Addis Ababa, at latitude and longitude with an elevation of 2084 meters above sea level...
. The old road to Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...
, still bearing the "National road n°1" label, keeps heading north to the village of Maymagden and Wukro
Wukro
Wukro is a town in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi zone of the Tigray region on the Asmara-Addis Ababa highway, it is the administrative center of the district named after the town.- Overview :The rock-hewn churches around Wukro are the town's most distinctive landmarks; in the early...
but is not asphalted. A local road starts in Qwiha linking the eastern tabia
Kebele
A kebele is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia similar to ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people...
s of Arato and Derge Agen to the woreda center. Seven kilometers south of Qwiha a regional road heading to Shiket and the Afar Region
Afar Region
Afar is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people. Formerly known as Region 2, its current capital is Asayita; a new capital named Semera on the paved Awash - Asseb highway is under construction....
diverts from the national highway.
History
On the northern edge of town are ruins, including a set of monolithic pillars. The ruins were first described by Nathaniel Pearce in the early 19th century, which included the presence of inscriptions. he also mentions the presence of a sacred spring whose waters "afflicted with disease resort from far and near to bathe." There is also a tradition that the ruins were part of a church dedicated to the Ethiopian saint Chirqos and destroyed by ImamImam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
Ahmad Gragn. Although no other remains of this structure has been recorded, a more recent church stands nearby and "grave digging has exposed rough walls and possibly Aksumite pottery."
The Guido describes Qwiha in 1938, during 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...
, as having a small Italian settlement below the center of town, and little north of the pass a small church of San Francesco da Páola built by an Italian military unit. The town was occupied by the Woyane during their rebellion against the Ethiopian government in late 1943.
Demographics
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Qwiha has an estimated total population of 12,543, of whom 5,644 were males and 6,899 were females. The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 9,867 of whom 4,336 were males and 5,531 were females. It is one of two towns in EndertaEnderta (woreda)
Enderta is one of the 36 woredas in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It was named for the former Enderta province, which was later merged into Tigray Province...
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...
.