Wea or Wêa ( ar, وع, ) is a town in the

Arta Region Arta Region ( ar, إقليم عرتا, so, Gobolka Carta) is one of the six regions of Djibouti. It was officially created in 2003 by the regrouping of districts of the regions of Dikhil and Djibouti. It is situated in the south-central of the co ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. It is located on the RN-1 National Highway, which connects it to

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and in many early English texts and on many early maps, Jibuti; so, Magaalada Jabuuti, french: link=no, Ville de Djibouti, ar, مدينة جيبوتي, aa, Gabuutî Magaala) is the eponymous capital of Dji ...

, located some to the east. Wea is the second largest city in the Arta Region after

Arta Arta, ARTA, or Artà may refer to: Places Djibouti * Arta, Djibouti, a regional capital city in southeastern Djibouti * Arta Mountains, a mountain range in Djibouti * Arta Region, Djibouti Greece * Arta, Greece, a regional capital city in northwes ...

and before

Damerjog Damerjog or Damerdjog ( ar, داميرجوغ, so, Dameerjoog) is a small village located in eastern Djibouti, populated by farmers and gardeners, located in the Arta Region, southeast of the capital Djibouti, north of the border with Somaliland ...

. It is the primary transportation hub in western Djibouti via highway. The town is situated in a small valley.

History

Wea's place-name literally means "turn" in the

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

Somali language Somali (Latin script: ; Wadaad writing, Wadaad: ; Osmanya: 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 ) is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in ...

. It later formed a part of the

French Somaliland French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Ter ...

protectorate in the first half of the 20th century.

Overview

Wea lies on the RN-1 National Highway. Nearby towns and villages include

and

Holhol Holhol ( so, Hollholl, ar, حلحول) is a town in the Ali Sabieh Region of Djibouti. It is located south-west of the capital Djibouti City, at an altitude of 450m. Holhol enjoys a semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh). The surrounding district is ...

. Public buses go from

to Wea, taking about half an hour to get to the town. The ride itself costs around 350

Djiboutian franc The Djiboutian franc ( ar, فرنك) is the currency of Djibouti. Its ISO 4217 currency code is ''DJF''. Historically, it was subdivided into 100 ''centimes''. History From 1884, when the French Somaliland protectorate was established, the Fr ...

is situated just up the mountain around 3 kilometres (2 miles) to the north. Additionally, Wea serves as a commercial transit point for goods from

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 ...

. Ethiopian trucks and traders frequently pass through the town.

Geography

The hills form a valley, which constitutes an extension of a

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

. Wea sits at an altitude of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

in low-shrouded mountains and hills. The outskirts of the town have served as a local agricultural center.

Climate

Wea has a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh'') by the Köppen-Geiger system. The weather is sweltering during summer and very warm during

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

. The warmest month of the year is June with an average temperature of . In January, the average temperature is . It is the lowest average temperature of the whole year and the driest month is June with . Most precipitation falls in November, with an average of .

Demographics

, the population of Wea has been estimated to be 4,667. The town inhabitants belong to various mainly

-speaking ethnic groups, with the Issa Somali predominant.

Sister towns

Notes

References

Wê‘a

External links

Geographic Names
{{DEFAULTSORT:We'A Arta Region Populated places in Djibouti