Sheka is a

zone Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

in the South West Region of

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 ...

. Sheka is bordered on the south by Bench Maji, on the west by the

Gambela Region The Gambela Region (also spelled Gambella; am, ጋምቤላ), officially the Gambela Peoples' Region, is a regional state in western Ethiopia, bordering South Sudan. Previously known as Region 12, its capital is Gambela. The Region is situated ...

, on the north by the

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...

, and on the east by Keffa. The administrative center of Sheka is

Masha In Russian, Masha () is a diminutive of Maria. It has been used as a nickname or as a pet name for women named Maria or Marie. An alternative spelling in the Latin alphabet is "Macha". In Serbo-Croatian and Slovene, "Maša" is a diminutive of "Mar ...

. Sheka is the western part of former Keficho Shekicho Zone.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of 199,314, of whom 101,059 are men and 98,255 women; 34,227 or 17.17% are urban inhabitants. The seven largest ethnic groups reported in this Zone were the Shakacho (32.41%), the Amhara (22.17%), the Kafficho (20.16%), the Oromo (7.39%), the Bench (5.23%), the Sheko (4.24%), and the

Majang The Majang people, or ''Majangir'', live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in disperse ...

(1.73%); all other ethnic groups made up 6.67% of the population. Shakacho is spoken as a first language by 33.44%, 26.98% speak

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 ...

, 20.15% Kafa, 6.54% speak Oromo, 5.24% Bench, and 4.35% Sheko; the remaining 3.3% spoke all other primary languages reported. 39.93% were

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, 39.39% of the population said they practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity 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 ...

, 15.09% were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, and 3.51% practiced traditional beliefs.Census 2007 Tables: Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region
Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.

Woredas

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 ...

s of Sheka Zone include: * Anderacha *

Yeki Yeki is a woreda in South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region, Ethiopia. Part of the Sheka Zone, Yeki is bordered on the south by the Bench Maji Zone, on the west by the Gambela Region, on the north by Amderacha, and on the east by the Keffa Zone.The n ...

Former woredas include: * Masha Anderacha

Notes

{{coord missing, Ethiopia Zones of Ethiopia South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region