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Gish Abay 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 Mirab (West) Gojjam Zone 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 is the administrative center of Sekela woreda. The town is named after the nearby Mount Gish and the Abay River (Blue Nile) whose source is in the foothills of the mountain. It is the administrative center of Sekela
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 ...
. Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Gish Abay has an estimated total population of 3,385 of whom 1,615 are men and 1,770 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 1,959 of whom 850 were men and 1,109 were women.


Source of the Blue Nile

Gish Abay is best known as the source of the Abay, or
Blue Nile The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...
, also known as ''Felege Ghion'' in Ge'ez, the liturgical language of Ethiopia. Felege Ghion consists of three small springs found within a diameter of about 20 meters. These waters are believed to have a healing power and considered holy by the
Ethiopian Church 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 ...
. The first European recorded as having visited the source of Blue Nile at Gish Abay is
Pedro Páez Pedro Páez Jaramillo, S.J. ( pt, Pêro Pais; 1564 – 20 May 1622) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be the most effective Catholic missionary in Ethiopia. He is believed to be the ...
, a Spanish missionary, who arrived at these springs 21 April 1618. In the 18th century, the culture and religion of the local people of Gish Abay was chronicled in detail by the 18th century explorer,
James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Eur ...
. The British Consul Robert Cheesman was one of the later discoverers who published a geographical description of the area."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 27 April 2008)
A more recent expedition is made by a group of American navigators who navigate the river from its source at Gish to the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
, led by geologist
Pasquale Scaturro Pasquale is a masculine Italian given name and a surname mainly found in southern Italy. It is a cognate of the French name Pascal, the Spanish Pascual, the Portuguese Pascoal and the Catalan Pasqual. Pasquale derives from the Latin ''pascha ...
, whose adventure was related in the film ''
Mystery of the Nile ''Mystery of the Nile'' is a 2005 IMAX film documenting the first successful expedition to navigate the entire length of the Blue Nile and Nile from its source in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. The expedition was led by geologist A geolo ...
''. About 100 meters north of the source of Abay is the church of Gish Abay Felege Ghion Abune Zerabruk Monastery, which has been one of the most respected centers for church education over the past centuries. Although local inhabitants believe the monastery was founded in the 17th century by a local saint called ''Abune Zerabruk'', whose memory is honored with a celebration at the church each year on ''Tir'' 13 (January 20), Cheesman speculated that the name of the saint is a corruption of the explorer James Bruce. There is also another church in the town, dedicated to Saint Mary, with considerable spiritual significance. Together with other sites in Sekela woreda, like Fasildes Castle and Lake Gudera, Gish Abay is now identified as a notable tourist destination in Gojjam.


History

The town is founded in a place called ''Yideb'', a mountainous area where Italian occupation forces fortified during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. During the war, the Italian fort was under constant attack from the local
Arbegnoch The Arbegnoch () were Ethiopian resistance fighters in Italian East Africa from 1936 until 1941. They were known to the Italians as shifta. Organisation The Patriot movement was mostly based in the rural Shewa, Gondar and Gojjam provinces, ...
groups, most notably Dejazmach Zelleke Desta, and the Italians left the fort before the arrival of
Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
and
British forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, su ...
. Then, the area was used as a base for the liberation forces, which attracted the local people to settle at Yideb. The settlement led to the foundation of Gish Abay which soon became an important market center for cereals and cattle. Its development continued until the lack of suitable space on the mountainous area of Yideb limited further expansion, and led in 1987 to the town being re-established at a location much closer to Mount Gish and the source of Abay. Modern education was introduced in 1952 with the opening of Dejazmach Zelleke Desta Elementary School. Now there are another two schools serving the town: the Gish Abay Elementary and Junior High School, and the Abay Minch Secondary and Preparatory High School. The town is connected by a 39 km gravel road to Tilili, which is located on 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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
road. Another road, which will connect Gish Abay to
Adet Adet (Amharic: አዴት) ,also known as Adet Medhanialem is a town in northwestern Ethiopia. Located south of Bahir Dar in the Mirab Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Region (or ''kilil''), this town has a latitude and longitude of with an altitude of ...
is also under construction, which will make the distance with Bahir Dar less than 100 km.


Notes

{{coord, 10, 59, N, 37, 13, E, display=title, region:ET_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in the Amhara Region Blue Nile