Āfdem ( am, አፍደም)is a town is east central

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 ...

. Located in the

Shinile Zone Sitti Zone ( so, Gobolka Sitti), formerly known as Shinile, is a zone in Somali Region of Ethiopia. Located at the northwestern point of the Somali Region and stretching across the savanna north of the Ahmar Mountains, Sitti is bordered on t ...

of the

Somali Region The Somali Region ( so, Deegaanka Soomaalida, am, ሱማሌ ክልል, Sumalē Kilil, ar, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (''Western Somalia'') and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional stat ...

. It is located 59 km east of

Shinile Shinile ( so, Shiniile) is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Region, it is 9km northeast of Dire Dawa, the first station of the Ethio-Djibouti Railways east of Dire Dawa is at Shinile. Demographics The to ...

. It is the administrative center of Afdem

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 ...

. It sprawls on a wide basin surrounded by granitic mountains on all sides. Āfdem lies at the base of its namesake Mount Afdem, a volcanic cone with a denuded caldera. Postal service for the town began at least as early as 1944; Āfdem had phone service by 1967."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 25 February 2009) Āfdem is served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

on the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway.

History

The time of the Italian occupation of

, the steam engines were Littorina replaced locomotives, which shortened the travel time between

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

and Dire Dawa from two days to one day. The trains stopped now about noon on Awash, and the station Afdem therefore lost in importance. In 1984 the village had 805 inhabitants. Āfdem was given an important boost with the arrival of the railway. By the early 1930s, the town had an important railway station because trains traveling both directions would pass each other there. Town amenities included a telegraph station and a good restaurant with some hotel rooms. By 1962, Āfdem was located on a dry-weather that ran from

Mieso Mieso ( om, Mi'eesso) is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the West Hararghe Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1394 meters above sea level. Overview A road was constructed connecting the t ...

Gota Gota or Gøta or Göta may refer to: People *Gotabaya Rajapaksa (born 1949), 8th President of Sri Lanka *, Japanese freestyle skier *Gota Yashiki (born 1962), both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band S ...

Climate

Āfdem features a Semi arid but is influenced by the highland that are close by and gets around 600mm of rainfall a year so the land is somewhat well watered with warm, but hot, summers and cool

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 cultur ...

s. The town is known for its pleasant climate during the summer periods. Between mid May and early September. The annual high temperature is an average of 27.7 °C and low 13.5 °C.

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 growt ...

of Ethiopia published in 2005, Āfdem has an estimated total population of 2,129 of whom 1,092 are men and 1,037 women. The town's inhabitants belong to various mainly Afro-Asiatic-speaking ethnic groups, with the Issa Somali predominant. The 1997 census reported this town had a total population of 1,428 of whom 721 were men and 707 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in this town were the Somali (69.54%), the Oromo (20.93%), and the Amhara (7.63%); all other ethnic groups made up the remaining 1.9% of the residents.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Vol. 1''
Tables 2.4, 2.14 (accessed 10 January 2009). The results of the 1994 census in the Somali Region were not satisfactory, so the census was repeated in 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afdem Populated places in the Somali Region