Muja 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 ...

. Part of the

Semien Wollo Zone North Wollo (Amharic: ሰሜን ወሎ) also called Semien Wollo, is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south by South Wollo, on the west by South Gondar, on the north by Wag Hemra, on the northeast by Tigray Region, an ...

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 Reg ...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2918 meters above sea level.

History

Muja is one of the oldest town in the province of

Lasta Lasta (Amharic: ላስታ ''lāstā'') is a historic district in northern Ethiopia. It is the district in which Lalibela is situated, the former capital of Ethiopia during the Zagwe dynasty and home to 11 medieval rock-hewn churches. Its original ...

next to the mighty

Lalibela Lalibela ( am, ላሊበላ) is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches. The whole of Lalibela is a large and important site ...

. Muja was founded during the era of

Zemene Mesafint The Zemene Mesafint ( gez, ዘመነ መሳፍንት ''zamana masāfint'', modern: ''zemene mesāfint'', variously translated "Era of Judges," "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; named after the Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiop ...

by the notable Weresekh (ወረሴህ) rulers

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, ...

Birru Aligaz and

Faris Aligaz both are the sons of

Aligaz of Yejju Aligaz of Yejju (died 1803) was ''Ras (title), Ras'' of Begemder, and ''Inderase'' (regent) of the Emperor of Ethiopia. He was the son of Abba Seru Gwangul and brother of Ali I of Yejju; he became both ''Ras'' and ''Inderase'' following Ali's death ...

(died 1803) and he was also the

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 ...

Begemder Begemder ( amh, በጌምድር; also known as Gondar or Gonder, alternative name borrowed from its 20th century capital Gondar) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. Etymology A plausible source for the name ''Bega'' is that the word means " ...

, and

Inderase Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, formed the upper ...

(regent) of the

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...

for more than six years. This makes the establishment of the town prior to the reign of Emperor Theodore II. A war account written by Adolf Parlasak who was the advisor of Ras Kassa noted '' Leul Ras''

Kassa Hailu , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Tewodros II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan; 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopi ...

was born in this town in 1878 and followed his childhood church educations in this town. The British expedition against Emperor

Tewodros II , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Tewodros II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan; 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopi ...

encamped near Muja in 1868, at a site referred to as "Muja Camp". Leul Ras Kassa's father

Hailu Wolde Kiros made this town as an Administrative center of

since from the reign of

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Tekle Giyorgis Tekle Giyorgis may refer to *Tekle Giyorgis I (c.1751–1817), Emperor of Ethiopia *Tekle Giyorgis II Tekle Giyorgis II ( Ge’ez: ተክለ ጊዮርጊስ, born Wagshum Gobeze ( Amharic: ዋግሹም ጎበዜ), died 1873) was Emperor of Et ...

During the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

the Ethiopian army commanded by '' Leul Ras''

was camped in the town on their way to

Tembien Tembien (Tigrigna: ተምቤን) is a historic region in Tigray Region and former provinces of Ethiopia. It is a mountainous area of that country. During the reforms in 1994–95, the old provinces were replaced with regions, zones and woredas. Th ...

front. Muja was visited by

Beatrice Playne Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated c ...

around 1950, who found while the town "was really quite a large place and had once been flourishing", it now was had "a feeling of neglect and decay" since local government offices and the police station had been moved to a nearby settlement she called "Kulmus". Her description of Muja ends with the observation, "On the hill above the town a number of old Italian buildings, which had once served as government offices, were beginning to disintegrate."

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, Muja has an estimated total population of 5,531 of whom 2,669 are men and 2,862 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
Table B.4 The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 2,045 of whom 878 were men and 1,167 were women. Muja was once a capital town for

Awuraja for a short period, in the present time the town is serving as an administrative center of

Gidan Gidan (Amharic: ጊዳን) is a woreda in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Wollo Zone, Gidan is bordered on the south by Guba Lafto, on the southwest by Meket, on the west by Lasta (formerly part of Bugna), on the north by the Tig ...

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 ...

Notes

Populated places in the Amhara Region {{Amhara-geo-stub