Bedele (also called Buno Bedele) is a town and separate

Aanaa 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 ...

in south-western

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

Buno Bedele Zone Buno Bedele (also Buno Bedelle; om, Buunoo Beddellee) is one of the zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Located in western Oromia, Buno Bedele is bordered on the south by Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, on the west by the ...

of the

Oromia 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 Be ...

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

, this town has a longitude and latitude of and an elevation between above sea level.

History

Ras

Tessema Nadew ''Ras Bitwoded'' Tessema Nadew (died 10 April 1911) horse name Abba Qamaw was an Ethiopian military commander and a government official who on 28 October 1909 was proclaimed as Ethiopia's future ''Balemulu Enderase'' ( Regent Plenipotentiary)'' ...

made his capital near Bedele in the early 1900s.

Henry Savage Landor Arnold Henry Savage Landor (2 June 1865 – 26 December 1924) was an English painter, explorer, writer, and anthropologist. Landor wrote in an often witty style. Life and career Arnold H. S. Landor was born to Charles Savage Landor in Fl ...

passed through the town in 1906. The map attached to C. W. Gwynn's account of his 1908/09 triangulation survey of southern Ethiopia shows that Bedele had a telegraph station, connected by way of

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

. The Buno Bedele Health Center was built in 1966 with a majority of Swedish donations. The road connecting Bedele to

Agaro Agaro (or Haggaro) ( om, Aggaaroo) is a town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it sits at a latitude and longitude of , and an elevation of 1560 meters above sea level. Overview Th ...

, long, was completed in 1968 at a cost of 12 million dollars (Ethiopian), by the French company Razel Frères. Construction on a road to

Metu Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey. The university emphasizes research and education in engineering a ...

began around 1970."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 22 April 2022) In February 2009, Regional President

Abadula Gemeda Abadula Gemeda ( om, Abbaa Duulaa Gammadaa; am, አባዱላ ገመዳ; born 5 July 1958) is an Ethiopian politician who became the former Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament, from 20 ...

laid the cornerstone for a new cultural center in Bedele. At the same time, he officially opened the new technical and vocational college in the town.

Bedele Brewery

Bedele is the headquarters for the Bedele Brewery. Founded in 1993, Bedele is a formerly government-owned corporation, producing about 75 million bottles of beer each year for domestic and export customers; it was bought by

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

in August 2011.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Bedele of 19,517, of whom 9,837 were men and 9,680 were women. The majority of the inhabitants practised

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 Chri ...

, with 52.9% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 24.98% of the population said they were

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and 21.44% were

Moslem 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 ...

. 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 grow ...

in 2005, Bedele has an estimated total population of 21,289 of whom 10,556 are men and 10,733 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 11,907 of whom 5,725 were males and 6,182 were females. 90% of the residents are ethnic Oromo.

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Populated places in the Oromia Region Beer in Africa Ethiopia Cities and towns in Ethiopia