Hawzen

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Hawzen
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pushpin_label_position = bottom
pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Ethiopia
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name1 = Tigray
subdivision_type2 = Zone
subdivision_name2 = Misraqawi (Eastern)
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population_total = 5638
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timezone = EAT
utc_offset = +3
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latd=13 |latm=58 |latNS=N
longd=39 |longm=26 |longEW=E
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elevation_m = 2105
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footnotes = Hawzen 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 coord|13|58|N|39|26|E with an elevation of 2105 meters above sea level. Its market day is Wednesday. [Philip Briggs, "Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide", 3rd edition (Chalfont St Peters: Bradt, 2002), p. 251]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Hawzen has an estimated total population of 5,638 of whom 2,616 were males and 3,022 were females. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Table B.4] The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 3,250 of whom 1,393 were males and 1,857 were females. It is the largest settlement in Hawzen woreda.

History

Tradition states that Hawzen was founded by The Sadqan, a group of Christian missionaries who came to Ethiopia during the reign of Kaleb of Axum. Four ancient stelae, similar to the Gudit Stelae outside Axum, can be found in the marketplace. The Church of Hawzen Tekle Haymanot, although a modern structure, encloses "a small rock-hewn church thought to be one of the oldest in Tigray based on the finely carved capital and column". [Briggs, "Ethiopia", p. 252]

On 8 March 1892, Dejazmach Sebhat Aregawi submitted to Ras Mangesha Yohannes at Hawzen by ceremonially carrying a stone upon his neck before Ras Mangesha as the other Rases of Tigray and Ichege Tewoflos watched; Ras Mangesha then pardoned the Dejazmach. By March 1895, Ras Mangesha assembled about 4,000 men at the same town for an attack on Adigrat. General Oreste Baratieri reacted by gathering 3,144 soldiers near Senafe, then marched to the support of the Italian-appointed governor, Ras Hagos Tafari. When Baratieri entered Adigrat on 25 March, Mangesha withdrew into Tigray. [ [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/h/ORTHARS.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 21 February 2008)]

More recently, in June 1988 Hawzen was the target of one of the more brutal acts of the Derg against their opponents during the Ethiopian Civil War: upwards of 2,500 people were killed when the Ethiopian Air Force bombed the town marketplace in an unprovoked act [ [http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia94d.pdf "Ethiopia: Reckoning under the Law"] , p. 8. (Human Rights Watch)] . A memorial currently stands to commemorate the dead.

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