Hayq or Haik (

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

: 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 Lake Hayq ( Amharic: ሐይቅ ሐይቅ, ) is a freshwater lake of Ethiopia. It is located north of Dessie, in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region. The town of Hayq is to the west of the lake. Lake Hayq is 6.7 km long and 6 km w ...

, 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 Lake Hayq ( Amharic: ሐይቅ ሐይቅ, ) is a freshwater lake of Ethiopia. It is located north of Dessie, in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Re ...

, an important landmark in Ethiopian Church 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

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 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 Ka Lae ( haw, the point), also known as South Point, is the southernmost point of the Big Island of Hawaii and of the 50 United States. The Ka Lae area is registered as a National Historic Landmark District under the name South Point Complex. ...

during the reign of king Dil Na'od.

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

or district in Wollo. 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 spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

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, 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 Tehuledere woreda.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Amhara Region