Dejen (also transliterated Dajen) is a town in west-central
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
Misraq Gojjam Zone
East Gojjam (Amharic: ምሥራቅ ጎጃም), also called Misraq Gojjam, is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Its capital is Debre Markos. East Gojjam is named after the former province of Gojjam.
East Gojjam is bordered on the south by the ...
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 Reg ...
on the edge of the canyon of the
Abay, it has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation between 2421 and 2490 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of
Dejen
Dejen (also transliterated Dajen) is a town in west-central Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Region on the edge of the canyon of the Abay, it has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation between 2421 and 2490 meters ...
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 ...
.
Between 1954 and 1967, the town acquired telephone service. Dejen is a checkpoint for traffic crossing regional boundaries. Because of the enforced waiting time, there are several restaurants and hotels catering to waiting travellers.
["Local History in Ethiopia"]
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 8 August 2009) 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 ...
announced 22 July 2009 that it had paved the 41 kilometers of road between Dejan and
Gohatsion in
Wara Jarso
Wara Jarso ( om, Warra Jaarsoo) is a woreda in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Part of the North Shewa Zone, Wara Jarso is bordered on the south by Kuyu, on the west by the Muger River which separates it from the East Welega Zone, on the north by the ...
.
In August 2008, the Derba
MIDROC
MIDROC-Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies is a company owned by Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi. It has operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Through its Corral Petroleum Holdings AB, MIDROC has ...
Company opened a small cement factory on the outskirts of the town, which produces 4,000 qtls of cement per day. Some of the output of this factory will be used in the construction of the larger
Derba
The Derba (russian: Дерба), also known as Derbe (russian: Дербе; sah, Дьэрбэ, ''Cerbe'') or Dzherba (russian: Джерба), is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Lena with a length of — co ...
Midroc Cement Factory, which will be located 70 kilometers north of
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 ...
and is expected to be the largest cement factory in Ethiopia. North Holdings Investment announced 17 October 2009 that it had completed a feasibility study for its own cement factory at Dejen, which would be built on 450 hectares of land. Construction of the factory will cost around US$1.6 billion, and once completed it would have a production capacity of nine million tons a year.
History
Dejen is named after the traditional district it lies in, Dejen, which is best known as where Admas Mogasa, the widow of Emperor
Menas, raised the future Emperor
Susenyos and instructed him in "the doctrine of the holy books."
P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, who camped there in March 1900, described Dejen as "a little village of a dozen huts or so perched on the steep side of the valley of the Mogga, and only remarkable as being the first village on the Gojam side" of the Abay.
The town was subjected to long-distance shelling on 16 April 1991, after its capture by the
, and six people were killed.
[
By the end of August 2021, an internal note of the EU delegation in Ethiopia mentioned that the ]Oromo Liberation Army
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA; , WBO) is an armed opposition group active in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The OLA consist primarily of former armed members of the pre-peace deal OLF who refused to disarm out of skepticism of the peace deal, ...
had established itself around the Blue Nile gorge, with a check point on the main road between 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 ...
and Bahir Dar
Bahir Dar ( amh, ባሕር ዳር, 3=sea shore) is the capital city of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The ci ...
near the bridge at Dejen.
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 growth ...
in 2005, Dejen has an estimated total population of 15,483, of whom 7,688 are men and 7,795 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
Table B.3 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 8,930 of whom 4,045 were men and 4,885 were women.
Notes
{{reflist
Populated places in the Amhara Region