Adama ( Oromo: ' or ', Amharic: አዳማ), formerly Nazreth ( am, ናዝሬት), is a city in the central

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benis ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. Located in the

East Shewa Zone East Shewa ( om, Shawaa Bahaa) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Shewa is located at centre of oromia Oromia, connecting the western regions to the eastern ones. This zone is bordered on the south by the West Arsi Zone, on the southw ...

southeast of the capital,

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, the city sits between the base of an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

to the west, and the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it ...

to the east.

Overview

Adama is a busy transportation center. The city is situated along the road that connects

with Dire Dawa. A large number of trucks use this same route to travel to and from the

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

s of

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

and

Asseb Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches ...

(though the latter is not currently used by Ethiopia, following the Eritrean-Ethiopian War). Additionally, the new

Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway Addis may refer to: Places *Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia **Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest un ...

runs through Adama. Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) (formerly Nazareth Technique College) is located in Adama.

Adama Stadium Adama Stadium ( oromo: ''Istaadiyamii Adaaamaa''), officially known as Adama Abebe Bikila Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Adama, Oromia, Ethiopia. It is used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varyin ...

is the home of

Adama City FC Adama City Football Club ( oromo: ''Garee Kubbaa Miilaa Magaalaa Adaamaa''; Amharic: አዳማ ከትማ እግር ኳስ ክለብ), is an Ethiopian professional football club based in Adama. They play in the Ethiopian Premier League, the top di ...

, a member of the

Ethiopian Football Federation The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ እግር ኳስ ፌዴሬሽን) is the governing body of football in Ethiopia. It organizes all tiers of the national football league and the national team. It was one of the ...

league.

History

The city name Adama may have been derived from the Oromo word ', which means a cactus or a cactus-like tree. More specifically, ' means ''

Euphorbia candelabrum ''Euphorbia candelabrum'' is a succulent species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, one of several plants commonly known as candelabra tree. It is endemic to the Horn of Africa and eastern Africa along the East African Rift system. It is kno ...

'', a tree of the spurge family, while ' would mean Indian fig. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

renamed the town after Biblical Nazareth, and this name was used for the remainder of the twentieth century. In 2000, the city officially reverted to its original Oromo name, Adama, though Nazareth is still widely used. In 2000, the government moved the regional capital of Oromia from

to Adama, sparking considerable controversy. Critics of the move believed that the Ethiopian government wished to deemphasize Addis Ababa's location within Oromia. On the other hand, the government maintained that Addis Ababa "has been found inconvenient from the point of view of developing the language, culture and history of the Oromo people". On 10 June 2005, the

Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization The Oromo Democratic Party ( om, Paartii Demokraatawaa Oromoo, ODP) was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples ...

(OPDO), part of the ruling

EPRDF The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...

coalition, officially announced plans to move the regional capital back to Addis Ababa.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this city has a total population of 220,212, an increase of 72.25% over the population recorded in the 1994 census, of whom 108,872 are men and 111,340 women. With an area of 29.86 square kilometers, Adama has a population density of 7,374.82; all are urban inhabitants. A total of 60,174 households were counted in this city, which results in an average of 3.66 persons to a household, and 59,431 housing units. The four largest ethnic groups reported in Adama were the Oromo (39.02%), the Amhara (34.53%), the

Gurage The Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia.G. W. E. Huntingford, "William A. Shack: The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture" They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in c ...

(11.98%) and the Silte (5.02%); all other ethnic groups made up 9.45% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 59.25%, 26.25% spoke Oromo and 6.28% spoke Guragiegna; the remaining 8.22% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants said they practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chri ...

, with 63.62% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 24.7% of the population were Muslim, and 10.57% were

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 127,842 of whom 61,965 were males and 65,877 were females.

Transport

Adama is a busy transportation center. The city is situated along the road that connects

with Dire Dawa. A large number of trucks use this same route to travel to and from the

s of

and

(though the latter is not currently used by Ethiopia, following the Eritrean-Ethiopian War). Additionally, the new

runs through Adama.

Education

The

Adama University Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) is a public university first established in 1993 as Nazareth Technical College (NTC) and one of the two Science And Technology Universities of Ethiopia. It is located in Adama, a city in the Oromia Re ...

was founded in 1993.

Places of worship

Among the

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

, they are predominantly Christian churches and temples ( Oriental Orthodox: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church,

Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY; also called Mekane Yesus Church) is a Lutheran denomination in Ethiopia. It is the largest individual member church of the Lutheran World Federation. It is a Lutheran denomination with some ...

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

: Kale Heywet Word of Life Church, Full Gospel Believers Church,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts o ...

). There are also Muslim mosques.

Sport

is the home of

, a member of the

league.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as tropical wet and dry (Aw).

Twin towns – sister cities

Adama is twinned with: *

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, United States *

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

, TurkeyUzaklar Yakinlaşti - Sivas Twin Towns

References

External links

Adama Chamber of Commerce
* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Oromia Region