Kilte Awulaelo () is one of the
Districts of Ethiopia
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 ...
, or ''woredas'', in the
Tigray Region
The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...
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 ...
. Part of the
Misraqawi Zone
The Eastern Zone () is a zone in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the east by the Afar Region, on the south by the South Eastern Zone, on the west by the Central Zone and on the north by Eritrea. Its highest point is Mount Asi ...
, Kilte Awulaelo is bordered on the south by the
Debub Misraqawi (Southeastern) Zone, on the west by the
Mehakelegnaw (Central) Zone, on the northeast by
Hawzen
Hawzen ( Ge'ez: ሓውዜን) is a town in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone of the Tigray Region (or ''kilil''), this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2105 meters above sea level. Its market da ...
, on the north by
Saesi Tsaedaemba
Saesi Tsaedaemba () is one of the Districts of Ethiopia, or ''woredas'', in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi Zone at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, Saesi Tsaedaemba is bordered on the south by Kilte Awulaelo, o ...
, and on the east by
Atsbi Wenberta
Atsbi Wemberta () is one of the Districts of Ethiopia, or ''woredas'', in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi Zone at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, Atsbi Wenberta is bordered on the south by the Debub Misraqawi Z ...
. Towns in the Kilte Awulaelo woreda include
Agula
Agula is a town located in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Debubawi (Southern) Zone of the Tigray Region, it lies about 32 km northeast of Mekelle, just east of the Mekelle to Addis Ababa highway, and 25 km north of Qwiha. It has a latitude ...
,
Tsigereda
Tsigereda () is the capital of Gere-alta woreda (up to 1993, and again starting 2020). Tsigereda means "rose" in the local Tigrinya language.
History
In Imperial times (before 1975), Tsigereda used to be the center of the Gere-alta woreda, par ...
and
Maimekden
Maimekden (or May Mekden) is a village in Tigray Region, located 27 kilometers south of Wukro. It is located on the crossing of Ethiopian Highway 2 and the Mai Mekden river.
Administrative division
In Solomonic dynasty, Imperial times, Maimekde ...
. Town of
Wukro
Wukro (Tigrigna: ውቕሮ) (also known as Wukro Kilte Awulaelo; Tigrigna: ውቕሮ ክልተ ኣውላዕሎ) (also transliterated Wuqro; is a town and separate woreda in Tigray, Ethiopia. Wukro is located along Genfel River, in the Misraqaw ...
is surrounded by Kilte Awulaelo.
History
![Abreha and Atsbeha Church - Adam and Eve 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Abreha_and_Atsbeha_Church_-_Adam_and_Eve_01.jpg)
Archeological surveys at the village of Aynalem has recovered
Sabaean Sabean or Sabaean may refer to:
*Sabaeans, ancient people in South Arabia
**Sabaean language, Old South Arabian language
*Sabians, name of a religious group mentioned in the Quran, historically adopted by:
**Mandaeans, Gnostic sect from the marshl ...
inscriptions, an obelisk carved from stone, rocks shaped to resemble Egyptian pyramids, and ancient metal utensils in an area which has been left uncultivated due to religious beliefs. Gezaei Haile, a scientist and geology instructor at
Mekelle University
Mekelle University ( ti, መቐለ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a higher education and training public institution located in Mekelle, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, 783 kilometers north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Mekelle University is one of the lar ...
, in an interview with ''Jimma Times'' dated these artifacts to "a time of 200 years before birth of Christ, as none of the antiquities have sign of cross on them." There are several local
monolithic church
A monolithic church or rock-hewn church is a church made from a single block of stone. Because freestanding rocks of sufficient size are rare, such edifices are usually hewn into the ground or into the side of a hill or mountain. They can be of ...
es in this woreda. These include
Wukro Chirkos (at the edge of Wukro town),
Abreha we Atsbeha
Abreha and Atsbeha were brothers and Aksumite rulers who were said to have adopted Christianity in the 4th century, 4th-century, although this claim is dubious. The story of Abreha and Atsbeha is lifted from that of the historical personages King ...
, and Minda'e Mikael. The village of
Negash
Negash is a village in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, which straddles the Adigrat to Mekelle road north of Wukro. It is located in Wukro woreda.
History
Negash is considered to be the earliest Muslim settlement in Africa; a cemetery from ...
, widely believed to be the first
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 ...
settlement in Africa, is also an important local landmark.
Wukro was one of nine woredas in Tigray most affected by a drought during 2008, requiring emergency food supplies to be requested for an estimated 600,000 people.
In 2020, woreda Kilte Awula'ilo became inoperative and its territory belongs to the following new woredas:
*Kilte Awula'ilo (new, smaller, woreda)
*Agula'i (part of it)
*Geralta (part of it)
*
Wukro
Wukro (Tigrigna: ውቕሮ) (also known as Wukro Kilte Awulaelo; Tigrigna: ውቕሮ ክልተ ኣውላዕሎ) (also transliterated Wuqro; is a town and separate woreda in Tigray, Ethiopia. Wukro is located along Genfel River, in the Misraqaw ...
town
Demographics
Based on the 2007 national census conducted by 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 ...
of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 99,708, an increase of 16.53% over the 1994 census, of whom 48,645 are men and 51,063 women; 4,808 or 4.82% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 2,068.25 square kilometers, Wukro has a population density of 48.21, which is less than the Zone average of 56.93 persons per square kilometer. A total of 21,657 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.60 persons to a household, and 20,932 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants 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 ...
, with 97.08% reporting that as their religion, while 2.8% of the population 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 ...
.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 85,561, of whom 41,404 were men and 44,157 were women; 19,894 or 23.25% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Wukro were the
Tigrayan
Tigrayans ( ti, ተጋሩ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. They speak the Tigrinya language, an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Ethiopian Semitic branch.
The daily life of Tigray ...
(98.55%), and the
Afar (1.16%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.29% of the population.
Tigrinya
(; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.
History and literature
...
is spoken as a first language by 99.83%. The majority of the inhabitants 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 ...
, with 95.2% reporting that as their religion, while 4.69% 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 ...
. Concerning
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
, 18.08% of the population were considered literate, which is greater than the Zone average of 9.01%; 28.78% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school; 1.85% of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school; 4.65% of the inhabitants aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning
sanitary conditions
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
, about 90% of the urban houses and 37% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; about 40% of the urban and about 17% of the total had toilet facilities.
Agriculture
A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 15,542 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 0.94 hectares of land. Of the 14,563 hectares of private land surveyed, 86.4% was under cultivation, 2.38% pasture, 7.2% fallow, 0.63% in
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
, and 3.38% was devoted to other uses. For the land under cultivation in this woreda, 73% was planted in cereals, 8.2% in pulses, 2% in oilseeds, and 9 hectares in vegetables. The total area planted in fruit trees was 408 hectares, while 4 hectare was planted in
gesho
''Rhamnus prinoides'', the shiny-leaf buckthorn, is an African shrub or small tree in the family Rhamnaceae. Commonly referred to as "gesho" it was first scientifically described by French botanist Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789.
...
. 74.83% of the farmers both raised crops and livestock, while 20.18% only grew crops and 4.99% only raised livestock. Land tenure in this woreda is distributed amongst 84.22% owning their land, 14.35% renting, and 1.43% holding their land under other forms of tenure.
Rivers
The two main rivers of this woreda are
Genfel
Genfel is a river of northern Ethiopia. Rising on the foot of the Atsbi horst at 2253 metres above sea level, it flows southwestward to Giba River which empties finally in the Tekezé River. Future Lake Giba will occupy the plain where Sulluh, ...
and
Agula'i River
Agula’i is a river of northern Ethiopia. Rising in the mountains of Atsbi Wenberta (2676 metres above sea level), it flows southwestward to Giba River which empties finally in the Tekezé River. Future Lake Giba will occupy the plain where Sull ...
, which both drain to
Giba River
Giba is a river of northern Ethiopia. It starts at the confluence of Genfel and Sulluh (which rises in the mountains of Mugulat) (3298 metres above sea level) and flows westward to the Tekezé River. Future Lake Giba will occupy the plain where ...
.
Reservoirs
In this district with rains that last only for a couple of months per year, reservoirs of different sizes allow harvesting runoff from the rainy season for further use in the dry season.
The
Lake Giba
Lake Giba is a reservoir under construction at the border of the Inderta; Kilte Awula'ilo and Dogu’a Tembien ''woredas'' of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The earthen dam that holds the reservoir is under construction in 2020. It will colle ...
is under construction at the southwestern edge of the ''woreda''.
Smaller reservoirs include
Gereb May Zib'i and
Ginda'i
Ginda'i (also spelled Gindae) is a reservoir located in the Kilte Awula’ilo ''woreda'' of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The earthen dam that holds the reservoir was built in 1998 by SAERT.
Dam characteristics
* Dam height: 19.5 metres
...
.
Overall, these reservoirs suffer from rapid
siltation
Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...
.
Part of the water that could be used for irrigation is lost through
seepage
Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...
; the positive side-effect is that this contributes to
groundwater recharge
Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...
.
Surrounding woredas
Notes
External links
Wukro City webpage
{{Districts of the Tigray Region
Districts of Tigray Region