Dembecha is a town in northwestern

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 ...

349 km 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 ...

. Located in the

Mirab Gojjam Zone West Gojjam (Amharic: ምዕራብ ጎጃም) or Mirab Gojjam is a Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the former province of Gojjam. West Gojjam is bordered on the south by the Abay River which separates it from the Oromia R ...

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 ...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2083 meters above sea level. It is one of three towns in

Dembecha Dembecha is a town in northwestern Ethiopia 349 km north of Addis Ababa. Located in the Mirab Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2083 meters above sea level. It is one of three towns in ...

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 ...

. Located near Dembecha are hot springs, which were well known and popular throughout

Gojjam Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical province in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. Gojjam's earliest western boundary ex ...

. Other landmarks include a venerable monastery.

History

Dembecha is mentioned as one of the places which the Emperor Yohannes passed through between 8 May and 18 July 1683 on his journey from Yebaba to

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...

. Dembecha was included as one of the stages of the Gondar- Boso trade route of the 1840s, according to a list compiled by

Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie d'Arrast (3 January 1810 – 19 March 1897) was an Irish-born French explorer, geographer, ethnologist, linguist and astronomer notable for his travels in EthiopiaAlthough referred to as Ethiopia here, the region that ...

in his ''Geodesie d'Ethiopie''. The British traveller C.T. Beke stayed several times in this town during 1842, beginning with several days during February 1842 while he waited for ''

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, ...

Goshu Zewde Goshu Zewde of Gojjam (1783 or 1788-1852) was the governor of Damot, Metcha and Ybaba, the most of Gojjam was, indeed, under the government of his son Birru Goshu. He was elevated to the personal titles of Dejazmatch in 1825 and Ras by Empero ...

to complete his homage to ''

Ras Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

and return. Beke described the town at the time as a "large town" located "on the slope of another ridge of the mountains coming from the N.E." He also notes its importance due to its location on one of the principal caravan routes through

. As part of the East African Campaign of

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 opposin ...

Gideon Force Gideon Force was a small British and African special force, a with the Sudan Defence Force, Ethiopian regular forces and ( for Patriots). Gideon Force fought the Italian occupation in Ethiopia, during the East African Campaign of the Secon ...

encountered a vastly superior Italian force under Colonel Natale near the fort at Dembecha on 5 March 1942. Although defeated in the battle, the British force inflicted such heavy casualties that three days later the Italian garrison was forced to withdraw to

Debre Marqos Debre Markos ( am, ደብረ ማርቆስ, Däbrä Marḳos lit: ''Mount of St. Mark'') is a city, separate woreda, and administrative seat of the East Gojjam Zone in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Etymology Originally named Manqwarar (lit: Cold Place ...

. Seizing this fort allowed the British to isolate Debre Marqos from the rest of the Italian forces.

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, Dembecha has an estimated total population of 15,008, of whom 7,384 are men and 7,624 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 8,663 of whom 3,885 were men and 4,775 were women.

Notes

{{reflist, 2 Populated places in the Amhara Region see more: