- Butajira
Butajira is a town in south-central
Ethiopia . Located at the base of the Zebidar massif in theGurage Zone of theSouthern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region , this town has a latitude and longitude of coord|8|07|N|38|22|E and an elevation of 2131 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of theMeskanena Mareko woreda .According to the Gurage Zone government, Butajira is one of 12 towns with electrical power, one of 11 with telephone service and one of nine that have postal service. [ [http://www.guragezone.gov.et/Development/Summary%20of%20socio%20economic%20profile%20english.pdf Gurage Zone Socio-Economic Profile] Gurage Zone Government web page (accessed 4 September 2007)] The town has a weekly market on Fridays. Notable landmarks in the town include a fountain on the south side of the town, which is fed from a holy source dedicated to saint
Tekle Haymanot . [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/B/ORTBUR.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (last accessed 31 May 2008)]Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Butajira has an estimated total population of 37,163 of whom 17,749 were males and 19,414 were females. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Table B.4] The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 20,509 of whom 9,827 were males and 10,682 were females.
Butajira was founded between 1926 when a missionary Pere Azaiz found nothing there, and 1935 when a German ethnographic expedition found a town laid out in straight lines and square shapes to serve as the administrative center of the
Gurage people . After RasDesta Damtew was taken prisoner on24 February 1937 in the small village of Eya he was brought to Butajira where, after a perfunctory trial, he was executed that evening. British patrols, acting as part of the East African Campaign, found thatarbegnoch groups had dispersed the local Italian positions, leading to both the British and Ethiopian flags being raised over the town on21 April 1941 .References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.