Debre Werq (
Amharic
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
: ደብረ ወርቅ) is a small town in western
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. Located in the
East Gojjam of the
Amhara Region
The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...
, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2489 meters above sea level. The settlement is known for its church and a hilltop monastery dedicated to the
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
, around which the community grew. It is the larger of two towns in
Enarj Enawga
Enarj Enawga (Amharic: እናርጅ እናውጋ) is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Misraq Gojjam Zone, Enarj Enawga is bordered on the south by Enemay, on the southwest by Debay Telatgen, on the west by Hulet ...
woreda
Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''.
These districts are f ...
.
History
An early mention of Debre Werq is during the reign of 1559 when, according to explorer
Richard Francis Burton
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...
, the emperor
Mar Gelawdewos
Galawdewos (, 1521/1522 – 23 March 1559), also known as Mar Gelawdewos (), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 3 September 1540 until his death in 1559, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was Atsnaph Sagad I (Ge'ez: አጽናፍ ...
had been supervising its restoration. Around 1620, the Tulema Oromo were said to have devastated Gojjam as far as Debre Werq.
["Local History in Ethiopia"](_blank)
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 11 March 2009) Its next mention is in 1684, in an itinerary of Emperor
Iyasu I
Iyasu I ( Ge'ez: ኢያሱ ፩; 1654 – 13 October 1706), throne name Adyam Sagad (Ge'ez: አድያም ሰገድ), also known as Iyasu the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 19 July 1682 until his death in 1706, and a member of the Solomonic dy ...
. Cardinal
Guglielmo Massaia
Guglielmo Massaia, OFM Cap. (born Lorenzo; 9 June 1809 - 6 August 1889) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as a missionary and a Capuchin friar.
Pope Francis named him Venerable on 1 December 2016.
Life
Guglielmo Massa ...
met with Ras
Ali II here in the mid-19th century, describing the town as sitting on a round hill with the church at its summit; the town encircling the church almost extended down to the base of the hill. A
debtera
A debtera (or dabtara; Ge'ez/ Tigrinya/Amharic: ደብተራ (''Däbtära)''; plural, Ge'ez\Tigrinya: ''debterat'', Amharic: ''debtrawoch'' ) is an itinerant religious figure in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, A debtera w ...
, who was head of the church, also appeared to be the civil head of the town.
Charles Beke
Charles Tilstone Beke (10 October 1800 – 31 July 1874) was an English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic.
Biography
Born in Stepney, London, the son of a merchant in the City of London, for a few years Beke engaged in mercantile pursuit ...
, who visited Debre Werq 25 April 1842, described the town was not only located "on a conical eminence", located the hill at "the fork of two small streams Tazza and Zinjut." (Both of these streams are tributaries of the Chee.)
Paul B. Henze describes visiting the church at Debre Werq in the early 1970s, an event which included finding the church being rebuilt from the foundations, and an unpleasant encounter with a monk over wanting to view the church's collection of manuscripts.
Demographics
Based on figures from the
Central Statistical Agency
The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...
in 2005, Debre Werq has an estimated total population of 13,908, of whom 6,643 are men and 7,265 are women.
CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 8,048 of whom 3,495 were men and 4,553 were women.
Notes
{{reflist
Populated places in the Amhara Region