Fiche is a town in 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 ...

. It is the administrative centre of the Kaba Shewa Zone of

Oromia 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 ...

and separate

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. It is located about three km from the main

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 ...

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 Plac ...

road, Fiche has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation between 2,738 and 2,782 metres above sea level. Notable landmarks in Fiche include the churches Fiche Giyorgis Bete Kristiyan and Fiche Medhane Alem Bete Kristiyan. The town is also home to several notable Ethiopian painters of religious themes:

Alaqa The title Aleqa ("Master", also transliterated Alaqa) is a honorific title used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It is used as the title of a chief priest, the head of a monastery, as well as being an honorific for a highly educated mem ...

Gebre Selassie Adil (1881–1975), Emealaf Hiruy (1907–1971), and Alefelege Selam (1924– ).

History

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 ...

Kassa Haile Darge '' Leul Ras'' Kassa Hailu KS, GCVO, GBE, (Amharic: ካሣ ኀይሉ ዳርጌ; 7 August 1881 – 16 November 1956) was a Shewan Amhara nobleman, the son of Dejazmach Haile Wolde Kiros of Lasta, the ruling heir of Lasta's throne and younge ...

ruled the former province of

Selale Selale (also known as Selalesh), was a sub-province of the Ethiopian Empire located in modern day Shewa in or neighboring Grarya and associated with Bulga prior to the Oromo expansion into the region. The region was home to the important Debre L ...

from Fiche in the early 20th century. The deposed ''Lij'' Iyasu was imprisoned in Ras Kassa's house until he escaped in 1931. W.E.D. Allen passed through Fiche in 1941, and describes the town as having "the usual character of Abyssinian country towns: an agglomeration of huts standing in rather dreary eucalyptus groves and dominated by a fort and the European villa of the Ras."Allen
"Ethiopian Highlands", ''Geographical Journal''
Vol. 101, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), p. 6 He also noted that "Fiche has a certain strategic importance in the feudal politics of Abyssinia since it lies across the main line of communication between the capital and Gojjam; and in the period of ''coup d'etats'' in the '20s the lord of Salale was always in the position to intervene suddenly in the capital only 70 miles away." In 1936, after Ras

Hailu Tekle Haymanot Hailu Tekle Haymanot (1868 – 1950), also named Hailu II of Gojjam, was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite who were often at odds with the Ethiopian central government ...

convinced them to surrender at the beginning of the Italian Occupation, Ras Kassa's two sons Aberra and Asfawossen were executed in Fiche. By 1958, Fiche was one of 27 places in Ethiopia officially ranked as a First Class Township. The army base of the 1st brigade of the Ethiopian Territorial Army, located at Fiche, was used by the

Derg The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...

to put conscripts of the People's Militia (reconstituted in the spring of 1977 as the "Red Army") through a twelve-week basic training with modern weapons. The municipality announced in February 2009 that it had begun various development works totaling 5.6 million birr, which included construction of alleys, ditches, an abattoir, and expansion of water, health and electric power services.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Fiche of 27,493, of whom 12,933 were men and 14,560 were women. The majority of the inhabitants (94.42%) reported that they practiced

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 3.61% 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 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, Fiche has an estimated total population of 37,861 of whom 18,446 are men and 19,415 women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.3 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 21,187 of whom 10,004 were men and 11,183 were women. And

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Populated places in the Oromia Region