Welega (also spelled Wollega; ; am, ወለጋ) was a province in western Ethiopia, with its capital city at

Nekemte Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market town and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meter ...

. It was named for the

Wollega Oromo The Welega (also spelled Wallagga or Wal-arga) is a branch of the Oromo people who live in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, in the former Welega Province; a few live across the border in Sudan. They speak the Oromo language. The Wellega population is ap ...

, who are the majority of the population within its boundaries. Welega was bordered on the west by

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, on the north by the Abbay River which separated it from Gojjam, on the east by

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian language, Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous monarchy, kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The ...

, on the southeast by Kaffa, and on the south by Illubabor.

History

Following the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941, the following provinces were added to Welega to simplify administration: the semi-autonomous areas of Asosa,

Beni Shangul is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

, Leqa Naqamte, and Leqa Qellam, and the province of Sibu.Paul B. Henze, ''Layers of Time'' (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 237f. The boundaries of Welega remained unchanged until the adoption of new constitution in 1995, when Welega was divided, with part of its territory becoming the Asosa and Kamashi Zones of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, and the rest becoming part of the Mirab Welega, Misraq Welega and Illubabor Zones of the Oromia Region.

References

Benishangul-Gumuz Region Oromia Region Provinces of Ethiopia States and territories disestablished in 1995 {{Ethiopia-hist-stub

History

See also

References