Mendi (also transliterated Mandi) is a 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
West Welega Zone
West Wollega Zone () is a zone in the western part of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. This zone is named after the former province of Wollega, whose western part lay in the area West Wollega now occupies.
West Wellega is bordered on the west by Kelam ...
of the
Oromia Region
Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...
, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1821 meters above sea level.
In his travel book, ''
In Search of King Solomon's Mines
''In Search of King Solomon's Mines'' is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah, relating his travels in Ethiopia with only local people for company and assistance.
The journeys
Shah's search began with a map discovered in a Jerusalem ...
'',
Tahir Shah
Tahir Shah (, ; ''né'' Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد طاهر الهاشمي); born 16 November 1966) is a British author, journalist and documentary maker of Afghan-Indian descent.
Family
Tahir Shah was born into the '' saadat'' ...
described Mendi in the late 20th century as a town with "a muddy main street", lined with "buildings with corrugated iron roofs and cement walls". He stops in a bar where "
kerosene
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
and sawdust had been sprinkled on the floor to keep away the flies."
History
Dejazmach
Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( , modern transcription , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper ...
constructed a church in Mendi in 1893.
["Local History in Ethiopia"]
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 20 November 2007) However, when the Dejazmach regained his rights to levy taxes over his father's former kingdom in 1907, the central government excepted the "gate" of Mendi, which was retained to the customs office in
Nekemte
Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market city and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 mete ...
. "This sealed the right of the centre to fiscal control over Nekemte, a right that
Addis Abeba
Addis may refer to:
Places
*Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia
**Addis Ababa University
**Addis Ketema, a city district
*Addis, Louisiana, a town in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, US
People
*Addis (name)
*Raptile (born 1976), stage name Ad ...
was never to abandon in the years to come."
By the 1930s, Mendi had become an important market of
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
. It attracted the attention of a Swedish pastor who established a mission there. The missionaries were accused of wrongdoing by the local
Ethiopian
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
priest to the Italians in 1938, who eventually expelled them; the Swedish mission was not revived until 1946. Mendi hosted a conference of Ethiopian Evangelical Churches in January 1954; the mission had to confront
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
missionaries from
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
in the next year, who converted 1000 people in a neighboring locale.
[
John Young believes that "at least a small contingent of the OLF is able to operate in the Mendi area ... on a semi-permanent basis" since the ]2005 Ethiopian general election
General elections were held in Ethiopia on 15 May 2005, for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this elec ...
.
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, Mendi has an estimated total population of 18,020 of whom 9,199 are men and 8,821 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 10,070 of whom 4,989 were males and 5,081 were females.
Climate
Notes
{{reflist
Populated places in the Oromia