Shendi is a town in western 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 in the Mirab Gojjam Zone

Mirab Gojjam Zone

Mirab Gojjam is a Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Mirab Gojjam is named after the former province of Gojjam was divided in to two administrative zones by EPRDF...

 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....

, this town has a latitude and longitude of 10°38′N 36°56′E with an elevation of 2050 meters above sea level.

In 1964 it was the administrative center of Wemberma and Gwagussa woreda. Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of a primary school in Shendi during the year 1968.

Demographics

Based on figures published 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...

 in 2005, Shendi has an estimated total population of 9,293, of whom 4,444 are men and 4,849 are women. It is one of two towns in Bure Wemberma

Bure Wemberma

Bure Wemberma is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Its name is created from a combination of its largest town, Bure, and the historic district of Wemberma , which lay north of the Abay River between its tributaries the Zingini and Fatam...

 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...

.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this town of 5,377, of whom 2,338 were men and 3,039 were women; 18,814 or 8.76% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Shendi were the Amhara

Amhara people

Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...

 (96.58%), and the Awi

Awi people

The Awi people are an ethnic group in Ethiopia, and are grouped as one of the Agaw people. The Awis live in Agew Awi Zone in Central Gojjam, and have a few communities in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region.- Population :...

 (2.9%) a subgroup of the 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...

; all other ethnic groups made up 0.52% of the population. Amharic

Amharic language

Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...

 was spoken as a first language by 97%, and 2.42% speak Awngi

Awngi language

The Awngi language, in older publications also called Awiya , is a Central Cushitic language spoken by the Awi people, living in Central Gojjam in northwestern Ethiopia...

; the remaining 0.58% spoke all other primary languages reported.