Dergajen (or ''Derge Agen'') was 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 Enderta Province, in

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray ...

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 ...

. Its administrative center was Kwiha; now is a tabia (municipality) located 19 kilometers east of

Kwiha Qwiha (also Kuha or Kwiha) is a town located in Tigray, Ethiopia. The name comes from the local word for willows, which are abundant in the area.Nathaniel Pearce, (J.J. Halls, editor), ''The Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce'' (London, 18 ...

. The administrative center of the tabia is located in the village of Aragure. A weekly market is organized in Aragure. According to the 2007 census, 9524 people were living in the tabia, which results in a population density of 68 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Geography

Dergajen is located on the hydrographic divide between the Tekeze catchment in the west and the endoreic Afar basin to the east. The western part of Dergajen consists of gentle slopes descending in a western direction. These slopes have an elevation of 2400 to 2600 meters above sea level. The eastern part of the tabia consists of steep slopes, descending into the Afar lowlands. The administrative center is located in Aragure, a village which is centrally located in the tabia. In 1938, Araguren counted approximately 700 inhabitants (including 5 Italians). At that time, there was a shop, a fountain, a telephone office and a health post. Araguren is located on the left bank of a river starting in the higher May Serakit reservoir and drains to the south-southwest to the large

Chichat Chichat is a reservoir located in the Inderta ''woreda'' of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The 482-metres long earthen dam that holds the reservoir was built in 1985 by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. The catchment of the reservoir is ...

reservoir, which was built in 1984. The dam for the Mai Serakit reservoir was built between 2006 and 2009. In the southern part of the tabia a second large reservoir exists: the Hashenge reservoir which was built in 1996-97. A last reservoir, at the west, is

Arato Arato is a reservoir located in the Inderta woreda of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The earthen dam that holds the reservoir was built in 1997 by SAERT. Dam characteristics * Dam height: 20 metres * Dam crest length: 443 metres * Spillway wi ...

Geology and soils

The following geological formations are present in this locality: * Agula Shale * Mekelle

Dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

Antalo Limestone The Antalo Limestone, also known as the Antalo Sequence, is a geological formation in Ethiopia. It is between 300 and 800 metres thick and comprises fossiliferous limestones and marls that were deposited in a reef. Marine microfossils have shown ...

* Quaternary

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

and freshwater

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertin ...

The main

geomorphic Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...

unit, with corresponding soil types is: * Gently undulating Agula shale plateau with

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

** Dominant soil type: stony, dark cracking

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

s with good natural fertility (Vertic

Cambisol A Cambisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a soil in the beginning of soil formation. The horizon differentiation is weak. This is evident from weak, mostly brownish discolouration and/or structure formation in the soil pr ...

) ** Associated soil types *** rock outcrops, stony and shallow soils (Lithic

Leptosol A Leptosol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is a very shallow soil over hard rock or a deeper soil that is extremely gravelly and/or stony. Leptosols cover approximately 1.7 billion hectares of the Earth's surface. They are ...

) *** red-brownish loamy soils with good natural fertility (Chromic

Luvisol Luvisols are a group of soils, comprising one of the 32 Reference Soil Groups in the international system of soil classification, the World Reference Base for Soil Resources The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is an international so ...

) ** Inclusions *** deep, dark cracking

s on calcaric material with good fertility but poor drainage (

Vertisol A vertisol, or vertosol, is a soil type in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternate ...

)

Economy

The area gets relatively larger quantities of precipitation, due to its location on 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 . ...

. The economy is based on agro-pastoral

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. The main crops are

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

. Secondary crops are

teff ''Eragrostis tef'', also known as teff, Williams lovegrass or annual bunch grass, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the Horn of Africa, notably to both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is cultivated for its edible seeds, also known as ...

and

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

s. The wheat and teff is mostly traded in

Mekelle Mekelle ( ti, መቐለ, am, መቀሌ, mäqälle, mek’elē) or Mekele is a special zone and capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta awraja in Tigray. It is located around north of the Ethiopi ...

. From January to August, barley and wheat are imported from Mekelle.
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), 2006. Tigray Livelihood Zone Reports. The livestock of the people living in the tabia usely grazes in the Afar lowlands.

Administrative divisions

With an area of approximately 139 square kilometers, Dergajen used to be a district of the Enderta province already in Imperial times. In those times, Qwiha functioned as administrative center for the district ''Dergajen'', while

was the capital of the Enderta province. Nowadays, the administrative divisions have changed. The Enderta province became obsolete and the Enderta name only denotes the former core area of the province, the actual Enderta woreda. As the former center, Mekelle, was carved out of this district and given its proper Special Zone, Qwiha became the center of the remaining Enderta district. Just as with Enderta, Dergajen is not a district (or woreda) anymore, but just a municipality (although one of the largest of the Enderta district).

References

{{coord, 13, 30, , N, 39, 41, , E, type:municipality, display=title Populated places in the Tigray Region