Debre Berhan Zuria or Basona Werana ("Baso and Werana") is a

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

in the

Amhara Region The Amhara Region ( am, አማራ ክልል, Åmara Kilil), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the Reg ...

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 at the eastern edge of the

Ethiopian highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...

in the Semien Shewa Zone, Basona Werana is bordered on the south by

Angolalla Tera Angolalla Tera ( Amharic: አንጎለላ ጠራ) is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named in part after one of the capitals of the former principality of Shewa, Angolalla. Located at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian ...

, on the southwest by the

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 Benish ...

, on the west by Siyadebrina Wayu, on the northwest by

Moretna Jiru Moretna Jeru ( Amharic ሞረትና ጅሩ "Moret and Jeru") is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named in part after the historic district of Shewa, Moret, which lay between the Jamma River and the district of Shewa Med ...

, on the north by

Mojana Wadera Mojana Wedera (Amharic: ሞጃና ወደራ ) is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Shewa Zone, Mojana Wadera is bordered on the south by Basona Werana, on the northeast by Menz Lalo Midir, on the north by Menz ...

, on the northeast by

Termaber Tarmaber (Amharic: ጣርማበር) is a woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. It includes a homonymous mountain pass and road tunnel. Located at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian Highlands in the Semien Shewa Zone, Termaber is bordered on the south ...

, and on the east by

Ankober Ankober (), formerly known as Ankobar, is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, it's perched on the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands at an elevation of about . It is to the east of Debr ...

. The town and woreda of

Debre Berhan Debre Birhan () is a city in central Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, about 120 kilometers north east of Addis Ababa on Ethiopian highway 2, the town has an elevation of 2,840 meters, which makes it the highest to ...

is an enclave inside this woreda. Towns in this woreda include Gudoberet. This woreda was originally named Debre Berhan Zuria ("Greater Debre Berhan"), the name used in the 1994 national census, but it was changed before the Ethiopian Agricultural Sample Survey in October 2001, which used the present name. The

Battle of Segale The Battle of Segale was a civil conflict in the Ethiopian Empire between the supporters of Empress regent Zewditu and Lij Iyasu on 27 October 1916, and resulted in victory for Zewditu. Paul B. Henze states that "Segale was Ethiopia's greatest ba ...

was fought on 27 October 1916 in this woreda. In this battle, the supporters of

Lij Iyasu ''Lij'' Iyasu ( gez, ልጅ ኢያሱ; 4 February 1895 – 25 November 1935) was the designated Emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. His baptismal name was Kifle Yaqob (ክፍለ ያዕቆብ ''kəflä y’aqob''). Ethiopian emperors tradition ...

were defeated, which secured the outcome of the palace coup the previous month, in which

Zewditu , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Zewditu ( gez, ዘውዲቱ, born Askala Maryam; 29 April 1876 – 2 April 1930) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 193 ...

had been proclaimed Empress.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national 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 growth ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 120,930, an increase of 7.81% over the 1994 census, of whom 61,924 are men and 59,006 women; 1,219 or 1.01% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 1,208.17 square kilometers, Basona Werana has a population density of 100.09, which is less than the Zone average of 115.3 persons per square kilometer. A total of 27,753 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.36 persons to a household, and 26,918 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants 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 Chris ...

, with 99.93% reporting that as their religion. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 112,173 in 24,307 households, of whom 56,868 were men and 55,305 were women; the census reported no urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Basona Werana was the Amhara (99.46%), and

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

was spoken as a first language by 99.33%. The majority of the inhabitants practiced

, with 99.96% reporting that as their religion.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)

Notes

{{Districts of the Amhara Region Districts of Amhara Region