Bonga

---

title: "Bonga" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["districts-of-the-south-west-ethiopia-peoples'-region", "cities-and-towns-in-ethiopia"] description: "Capital of South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region, Ethiopia" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonga" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Capital of South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region, Ethiopia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Bonga
settlement_type	Town, woreda and capital city
image_caption	Town of Bonga
pushpin_map	Ethiopia
pushpin_label_position	right
pushpin_map_caption	Location within Ethiopia
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Ethiopia
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region
subdivision_type2	Zone
subdivision_name2	Keffa
leader_title1
established_title2
established_title3
population_as_of	2022
population_footnotes
population_total	56045
timezone	EAT
utc_offset	+3
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m	1714
postal_code_type
blank_name	Climate
blank_info	Am
::

| official_name = Bonga | other_name = | native_name = | nickname = | settlement_type = Town, woreda and capital city | motto = | image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_caption = Town of Bonga | image_flag = | flag_size = | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | city_logo = | citylogo_size = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | image_map1 = | mapsize1 = | map_caption1 = | image_dot_map = | dot_mapsize = | dot_map_caption = | dot_x = | dot_y = | pushpin_map = Ethiopia | pushpin_label_position = right | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia | pushpin_mapsize = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Ethiopia | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region | subdivision_type2 = Zone | subdivision_name2 = Keffa | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | established_title = | established_date = | established_title2 = | established_date2 = | established_title3 = | established_date3 = | area_magnitude = | unit_pref = | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_total_sq_mi = | area_land_sq_mi = | area_water_sq_mi = | area_water_percent = | area_urban_km2 = | area_urban_sq_mi = | area_metro_km2 = | area_metro_sq_mi = | population_as_of = 2022 | population_footnotes = | population_note = | population_total = 56045 | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = | population_metro = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_urban = | population_density_urban_km2 = | population_density_urban_sq_mi = | population_blank1_title = | population_blank1 = | population_density_blank1_km2 = | population_density_blank1_sq_mi = | timezone = EAT | utc_offset = +3 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = 1714 | elevation_ft = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | blank_name = Climate | blank_info = Am | blank1_name = | blank1_info = | website = | footnotes = Bonga is a town, woreda and one of the multicapital of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in Ethiopia. Located in the Keffa Zone upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level. Not confused with another town named "Bonga", near Gambela Region.

Overview

The neighboring area is known for hot springs, caves and waterfalls. There are fourteenth century ruins associated with the former Kingdom of Kaffa. As part of the extensive road-building program started before the Italian invasion, the Ethiopian Transport Company built a large steel bridge at Bonga. The all-weather road from Jimma south to Bonga was completed around 1962. The road to Mizan Teferi and Tepi was improved in 1966 by the Highway Authority. The Apostolic Prefecture of Jimma–Bonga is based in this town.

According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Bonga's amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, a bank and a hospital. The high school draws students from a broad area. The city is a center for the buying of honey, coffee and cardamom.

History

Bonga is thought to be the oldest city in western Ethiopia.

The first European recorded to have visited the capital of the former Kingdom of Kaffa was Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, who resided for 11 days in the marketplace reserved for Christian traders in 1843. The royal residence at Bonga was not as elegant as those in Gomma, Gera, and Limmu-Ennarea. Capuchin monks founded a mission there in 1845 and discovered some medieval churches which remained as evidence of the early infiltration of Christian influence before the invasion of the Oromo.

When Paul Soleillet visited Bonga in the 1880s, he described its trade as primarily slaves, coffee, civet cat oil, coriander and ivory, the turnover amounting between 200,000 and 300,000 dollars a year. Following the conquest of Kaffa by the generals of Menelik II in 1897, Bonga was deserted; governor Ras Wolde Giyorgis made neighboring Anderaccha his capital.

Bonga was occupied 13 December 1936 by the Italians under General Malta, who died there the next year on 30 May. He and his successor Colonel Corrado refounded Bonga as a local administrative and commercial center for the production of coffee, hides, wax, maize, tea, etc. By 1938, there were about 3,000 inhabitants in the town, of whom about 200 were Italians, and it was equipped with a post office, telegraph, hospital, pharmacy, and spacci. There were few remains of early constructions, but the new settlement was well built from brick and tufa, covered by clay tiles or corrugated iron. Generals Bortello and Tosti, commanders of the Italian forces south of the Didessa River acknowledged their weak position and along with 2,850 troops on 28 June 1941 surrendered to Lt. Col. McNab of the King's African Rifles.

Telephone service reached Bonga between 1954 and 1967. Around 1970, there lived in Bonga one Idebe Godo who was the chief priest of a spirit possession cult. The high priesthood was hereditary to the family of the former high priests to the King of Kaffa.

Climate

Bonga has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) with a short dry season in December and January and a lengthy though not intense wet season covering the remainder of the year. Although afternoons are very warm to hot throughout the year, mornings are cool enough to be close to a subtropical highland climate (Cwb).

|metric first=y |single line=y |collapsed = Y |location = Bonga, elevation 1725 m |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 41.0 |Feb precipitation mm = 78.0 |Mar precipitation mm = 146.0 |Apr precipitation mm = 199.0 |May precipitation mm = 204.0 |Jun precipitation mm = 218.0 |Jul precipitation mm = 182.0 |Aug precipitation mm = 194.0 |Sep precipitation mm = 197.0 |Oct precipitation mm = 150.0 |Nov precipitation mm = 102.0 |Dec precipitation mm = 88.0 |year precipitation mm = | Jan humidity = 59 | Feb humidity = 62 | Mar humidity = 67 | Apr humidity = 71 | May humidity = 75 | Jun humidity = 76 | Jul humidity = 74 | Aug humidity = 72 | Sep humidity = 75 | Oct humidity = 79 | Nov humidity = 69 | Dec humidity = 66 | year humidity = | source 1 = FAO{{cite web | url = https://www.fao.org/land-water/databases-and-software/climwat-for-cropwat/en/ | title = CLIMWAT climatic database | publisher= Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | access-date = 23 June 2024}}

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this town has a total population of 20,858, of whom 10,736 are men and 10,122 women. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 72.53% of the population reporting that belief. 11.17% were Muslim, 9.85% were Protestants, and 6.18% were Catholics.

The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 10,851 of whom 5,032 were men and 5,819 women.

Bonga is also home to many Uduk refugees from South Sudan.

Sightseeing

In 2009, constructions for a National Coffee Museum started. Next to the National Coffee Museum lies the Kafa Biosphere Reserve Information Center where visitors can learn about flora and fauna of the region. Kafa Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2010. It is the birthplace of wild Arabica coffee and is very rich in biodiversity.

Notes

References

1. "Population Size by Sex, Area and Density by Region, Zone and Wereda: July 2022".
3. p. 290. Wendy James. 2010. Music, Song, and Dance of the Blue Nile Borderlands: Revivals in the Refugee Context. ''Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies'', edited by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra, Shiferaw Bekele, pp. 290-305. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. [http://portal.svt.ntnu.no/sites/ices16/Proceedings/Volume%204/Wendy%20James%20-%20Music,%20Song,%20and%20Dance%20of%20the%20Blue%20Nile%20Borderlands.pdf Online version of paper, different pagination]{{Dead link. (July 2020)
4. Matt Philips and Jean-Bernard Carillet, ''Ethiopia and Eritrea'', third edition (n.p.: Lonely Planet, 2006), p. 243
5. [[Richard Pankhurst (academic). Richard Pankhurst]], ''Economic History of Ethiopia'' (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie University, 1968), p. 301
6. [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/B/ORTBON.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"]{{dead link. (November 2016)
7. [http://www.snnprbofed.gov.et/Reports/Hotel%20and%20Tourism.xls "Detailed statistics on hotels and tourism"] {{webarchive. link. (May 31, 2011 , Bureau of Finance and Economic Development website (accessed 4 September 2009))
8. [Ta'a, Tesema. "The Process of Urbanization in Wollega, Western Ethiopia: The Case of Neqemte." Journal of Ethiopian Studies 26, no. 1 (1993): 59-72. Accessed April 28, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/41966012.]
9. Richard Pankhurst, ''Economic History of Ethiopia'' (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1968), p. 448
10. link. (November 13, 2012 , Tables 2.1, and 3.4.)
11. Don Killian (2015) [https://www.academia.edu/attachments/39331393/download_file?st=MTQ0NjE4NDc0MCwyMTMuNTUuMTA3LjcxLDIwOTQ0MTg%3D&s=swp-toolbar "Topics in Uduk Phonology and Morphosyntax"] Ph.D. thesis. University of Helsinki.
12. "COFFEE MUSEUM".
13. "HOME".

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