Gidole

Gidole is a town in southern Ethiopia, and is the administrative center of the Dirashe special woreda. Located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of coord|05|39|N|37|22|E with an elevation ranging from 2045 to 2650 meters above sea level. The town is named after the Gidole or Gardulla people, an ethnic group of southern Ethiopia better known as the Dirashe. [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/g/ORTGIA.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 13 December 2007)]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Gidole has an estimated total population of 14,799 of whom 7,107 were males and 7,692 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 8,167 of whom 3,935 were males and 4,232 were females. The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 8,200.

History

During the Italian occupation, the occupiers opened a post office in Gidole on either 11 or 17 November 1937; the sources are unclear.

In the 1950s, Gidole was the administrative center of one of the provinces, Gemu Gofa Teklay Gizat, which was later incorporated to create Gamu-Gofa province. During the next decade, Islam won converts in the area and a mosque was built in the town. At the same time, Borana caravans supplied the market in Gidole with salt.

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