Chole is one of the

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 ...

s in 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 ...

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 ...

. Part of the

Arsi Zone Arsi ( om, Godina Arsii) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo, who inhabit in the area. Arsi is bordered on the south by Bale Zone, on the southwest by the West Arsi Zone, on the northwest by East Shewa Zone, ...

, Chole is bordered on the south by

Amigna Aminya is one of the Aanaas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Arsi Zone, Amigna is bordered on the south by Seru, on the southwest by Robe, on the west by Sude, on the northwest by Chole, on the north by Gololcha, and on the east by ...

, on the southwest by Sude, on the northwest by

Merti Merti is one of the Aanaas in the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. Part of the Arsi Zone, Merti is bordered on the south by Sude, on the west by Jeju, on the northwest by the East Shewa Zone, on the north by the Afar Region, on the east by A ...

, on the north by Aseko, and on the east by Gololcha. Towns in Chole include Chole and Moye.

Overview

The highest point in this woreda is

Mount Gugu Mount Gugu is a mountain in central Ethiopia. Located in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation of 3623 meters.Elevation per Ethiopian Mapping Authority2010 National Statistics (Abstract): climate ...

(3626 meters). Construction on the 99 kilometer road between Chole and

Dera Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is 'camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Mohali ...

was completed and opened for traffic 15 August 2009, at a cost of over 146 million Birr. The

Ethiopian Roads Authority The Ethiopian Road Transport Authority (RTA) is a public transport authority based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic ...

reported that the new road would reduce the distance between the two towns by half.

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

is an important

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...

of this woreda. Between 2,000 and 5,000 hectares are planted with this crop.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 89,291, of whom 45,018 were men and 44,273 were women; 6,747 or 7.56% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, with 49.42% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 46.51% of the population practised

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 ...

, and 1.78% of the population were

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. Based on figures published 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 ...

in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 111,831, of whom 56,029 are men and 55,802 are women; 7,557 or 6.76% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the Zone average of 12.3%. With an estimated area of 765.94 square kilometers, Chole has an estimated population density of 146 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 132.2. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 80,131, of whom 40,197 were men and 39,934 women; 4,233 or 5.28% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Chole were the Oromo (63.91%), and the Amhara (35.69%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.4% of the population.

Oromiffa Oromo ( or ; Oromo: ''Afaan Oromoo''), in the linguistic literature of the early 20th century also called Galla (a name with a pejorative meaning and therefore rejected by the Oromo people), is an Afroasiatic language The Afroasiatic languag ...

was spoken as a first language by 58.21%, and 41.1% spoke

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 ...

; the remaining 0.69% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed

, with 50.85% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 48.03% of the population said they were

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.20 (accessed 6 April 2009).

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Districts of Oromia Region