Mankush is a town in western
Ethiopia. Located in the
Metekel Zone
Metekel Zone is located in Benshangul-Gumuz of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south and southwest by Kamashi, on the west by Sudan, and on the north and east by the Amhara region. The Abay River defines the Zone's boundaries with Kamashi, whi ...
of the
Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Mankush is the largest settlement in
Guba woreda.
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 this town has an estimated total population of 1,255 of whom 664 were males and 591 were females. According to the 1994 national census, its total population was 729 of whom 384 were males and 345 were females.
Near the town, the palaces of two local rulers and slave traders are still preserved. The oldest one is built on top of a hill to the south of Gubba. It belonged to ''Manjil''
Hamdan Abu Shok and it was bombed by the British in 1940, as a prelude to the invasion of Ethiopia by the Allies. The palace had been occupied by the Italians, who had established a military base there. The other palace, in the plain, was built by his son, who had the same name. The palace was lavishly built: it had several rooms for Abu Shok's many wives and a mosque. Dutch explorer
Juan Maria Schuver visited the town in the 1880s and reported on a visit to the
Shinasha people living in the nearby mountains.
The British explorer
Charles Beke
Charles Tilstone Beke (10 October 1800 – 31 July 1874) was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic.
Biography
Born in Stepney, London, the son of a merchant in the City of London, for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursuit ...
passed through this town in March 1842. He notes its principal point of interest then was the monastery of St. Michael.
[Charles T. Beke, "Abyssinia. Being a Continuation of Routes in That Country", '' Journal of the Royal Geographical Society'', 14 (1844), pp. 1-76]
Notes
Populated places in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region
{{BenishangulGumuz-geo-stub