Debre Werq ( Amharic: ደብረ ወርቅ) is a small town in western

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 Gojjam of 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 Re ...

, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2489 meters above sea level. The settlement is known for its church and a hilltop monastery dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, around which the community grew. It is the larger of two towns in

Enarj Enawga Enarj Enawga ( Amharic: እናርጅ እናውጋ) is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Misraq Gojjam Zone, Enarj Enawga is bordered on the south by Enemay, on the southwest by Debay Telatgen, on the west by Hulet Ej ...

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 ...

History

An early mention of Debre Werq is during the reign of 1559 when, according to explorer

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

, the emperor Mar Gelawdewos had been supervising it's restoration. Around 1620, the Tulema Oromo were said to have devastated Gojjam as far as Debre Werq."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 11 March 2009) Its next mention is in 1684, in an itinerary of Emperor

Iyasu I Iyasu I ( Ge'ez: ኢያሱ ፩; 1654 – 13 October 1706), throne name Adyam Sagad (Ge'ez: አድያም ሰገድ), also known as Iyasu the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 19 July 1682 until his death in 1706, and a member of the Solomonic ...

. Cardinal

Guglielmo Massaia Guglielmo Massaia (9 June 1809 - 6 August 1889), born Lorenzo Massaia, was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who was also a missionary and Capuchin friar. His baptismal name was Lorenzo; he took Guglielmo as religious name. His ...

met with Ras Ali II here in the mid-19th century, describing the town as sitting on a round hill with the church at its summit; the town encircling the church almost extended down to the base of the hill. A

debtera A debtera (or dabtara; Ge'ez/Tigrinya/Amharic: ደብተራ (''Däbtära)''; plural, Ge'ez\Tigrinya: ''debterat'', Amharic: ''debtrawoch'' ) is an itinerant religious figure among the Beta Israel and in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahe ...

, who was head of the church, also appeared to be the civil head of the town. Charles Beke, who visited Debre Werq 25 April 1842, described the town was not only located "on a conical eminence", located the hill at "the fork of two small streams Tazza and Zinjut." (Both of these streams are tributaries of the Chee.) Paul B. Henze describes visiting the church at Debre Werq in the early 1970s, an event which included finding the church being rebuilt from the foundations, and an unpleasant encounter with a monk over wanting to view the church's collection of manuscripts.

Demographics

Based on figures from 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 ...

in 2005, Debre Werq has an estimated total population of 13,908, of whom 6,643 are men and 7,265 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 8,048 of whom 3,495 were men and 4,553 were women.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Amhara Region