Hayq or Haik ( Amharic: ሐይቅ) is a town in northern

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 named after Lake Hayq, which lies two kilometers east of the city and is the home of

Istifanos Monastery Istifanos Monastery (or St Stephen Monastery) is a monastery in Ethiopia, located in Lake Hayq. (The Stephen commemorated at the monastery is not the Saint Stephen of Acts.) The church structure was built around the 9th century by the Aksumite k ...

, an important landmark in

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 ...

history. Located 28 kilometers north of

Dessie Dessiè City which is politically oppressed by the past Ethiopian government systems due to the fact that most of the population follow Islamic religion. Dessie ( am, ደሴ, Däse; also spelled Dese or Dessye) is a town in north-central Ethiopia ...

in the

Tehuledere Tehuledere (Amharic: ተኹለደሬ) is a woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Located at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the Debub Wollo Zone, Tehuledere is bordered on the south by Dessie Zuria, on the southwest by Kutaber, on th ...

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 ...

of the

Debub Wollo Zone South Wollo ( Amharic: ደቡብ ወሎ) is a zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It acquired its name from the former province of Wollo. South Wollo is bordered on the south by North Shewa and the Oromia Region, on the west by East Gojjam, ...

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 ...

, the town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of above sea level. Telephone service reached the town of Hayq at some point between 1954 and 1967."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf), The Nordic Africa Institute website (last accessed 25 March 2008) Notable landmarks include the churches Hayq Timhirt and Hayq Yohannis. Near the town is the church of Hayq Tekle Haymanot, founded according to tradition in 862 by Saint Kalae Salama during the reign of king

Dil Na'od Dil Na'od was the last King of Aksum before the Zagwe dynasty. He lived in either the 9th or 10th century. Dil Na'od was the younger son of Ged'a Jan (or Degna Djan), and succeeded his older brother 'Anbasa Wedem as ''negus''. According to E. ...

History

In the late 1930s, the Italian occupiers dedicated a graveyard near Hayq for the bodies of dead soldiers from the Blackshirt 3 Gennaio Division. During the mid-1980s, local educational services was augmented by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Wello Environment Education Project, which ran a secondary school. Hayq was formerly the capital of the

Amba Sel Ambassel (Amharic: ዐምባሰል) is a woreda in Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and an ''amba'', or mountain fortress, located in the woreda. The word Ambasel is derived from two words "Amba" from the Amharic word for plateau, and “Asel” from the ...

or district in

Wollo Wollo (Amharic: ወሎ) was a historical province of northern Ethiopia that overlayed part of the present day Amhara, Afar, and Tigray regions. During the Middle Ages this region was known as Bete Amhara and had Amhara kings. Bete Amhara had ...

. Construction of a youth center, which includes amenities as a gymnasium, internet service room, assembly hall, a café, and office space, was underway in March 2009. Funds for construction of the building, budgeted at a million Birr, was provided by the woreda and

Helvidius Helvidius (sometimes Helvetius) was the author of a work written prior to 383 against the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary. Helvidius maintained that the biblical mention of "sisters" and "brothers" of the Lord constitutes solid evidence ...

, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

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 growt ...

in 2005, Hayq has an estimated total population of 14,319 of whom 7,226 are men and 7,093 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 8,247 of whom 3,802 were males and 4,445 were females. It is the largest town in

woreda.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Amhara Region