Were Ilu

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Town in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

title: "Were Ilu" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-the-amhara-region"] description: "Town in Amhara Region, Ethiopia" topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-the-amhara-region" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Were_Ilu" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town in Amhara Region, Ethiopia ::

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

FieldValue
official_nameWere Ilu
native_nameወረ ኢሉ
settlement_typeTown
pushpin_mapEthiopia
pushpin_label_positionbottom
pushpin_map_captionLocation within Ethiopia
coordinates
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameEthiopia
subdivision_type1Region
subdivision_name1Amhara
subdivision_type2Zone
subdivision_name2Debub Wollo
unit_pref
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
elevation_footnotes
population_total10,062
population_as_of2005
timezoneEAT
utc_offset+3
postal_code_type
::

::callout[type=note] the town ::

| official_name = Were Ilu | native_name = ወረ ኢሉ | other_name = | settlement_type = Town | image_skyline = | image_caption = | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_shield = | nickname = | motto = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Ethiopia | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia | coordinates = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Ethiopia | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = Amhara | subdivision_type2 = Zone | subdivision_name2 = Debub Wollo | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | established_title = | established_date = | government_type = | government_footnotes = | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_water_percent = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = 10,062 | population_as_of = 2005 | population_density_km2 = | population_note = | timezone = EAT | utc_offset = +3 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = | name = Were Ilu (; ) is a town in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of . From the 1870s, Were Ilu had a Thursday market.

The Medhane Alem church, dating from at least from the early 1900s, is a notable local landmark. Empress Zewditu was born at Were Ilu, and Ras Habte Maryam was buried there.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 10,062 of whom 4,942 were men and 5,120 were women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 5,809 of whom 2,600 were males and 3,209 were females. It is the largest of three towns in Were Ilu woreda.

History

While still ruler of Shewa, Menelik II had a ketamma (or fortified camp) built at Were Ilu and Enewari in 1869 to guard his northern frontier and pacify the Wollo Oromo, who were his neighbors. In September of the following year, after Menelik had recaptured Maqdala, the Wollo chiefs came to Were Ilu at the Mesqel feast to make formal submission and take an oath of fealty to the king and to Mohammad Ali, whom Menelik had appointed governor of Wollo.

During the 1870s, Menelik resided at Were Ilu for extended periods. However, while the ruler of Shewa campaigned in Gojjam in early 1877, a rebellion caused by the intrigues of his consort Baffana led to Were Ilu being sacked and burned, and forced Menelik to return to Shewa. Emperor Yohannes IV met with Menelik twice at Were Ilu: the first time in 1878 to accept his fealty; and a second time in 1882 to discipline him for disturbing the peace of Yohannes' realm by fighting with Negus Tekle Haymanot the Battle of Embabo.

After Menelik became Emperor of Ethiopia and moved his capital south to Addis Ababa, Were Ilu declined somewhat in importance. Writing in the 1890s, Augustus B. Wylde described the Were Ilu market, held on Saturdays, as very large in size, with petty European goods and locally made cloth available; upon visiting its market, he was impressed by the large piles of woolen goods for sale there, declaring that it "may be called the Bradford of Abyssinia". In 1895 Were Ilu became a supply dump, where the emperor stored about one and a half million cartridges and thousands of guns, as well as setting up numerous granaries, and it served as an organizing point for Menelik's army at the beginning of the First Italo-Abyssinian War. Although its location led to the telegraph line the Italians constructed between 1902 and 1904 from Asmara south to Addis Ababa passing through the town and giving it a local telegraph office, Were Ilu was connected north to Molale by only a trail as late as 1962.

On 28 March 1990, during the Ethiopian Civil War, an aerial attack on Were Ilu by Derg airplanes destroyed a grain stockpile, but inflicted no casualties.

In June 2002, some people were relocated from Were Ilu, north to Badme. This was part of a pilot project in which volunteers were relocated from the crowded Ethiopian Highlands to less crowded parts of the country.

Were Ilu was captured by the TDF in 2021 during the Tigray War.

Notes

References

  2. [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/vw/ORTWEN.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-09-27 (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 3 January 2008))
  3. [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics], Table B.4
  4. Marcus, Harold G.. (1995). "The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913". Red Sea Press.
  5. Marcus, ''Menelik II'', p. 40.
  6. Marcus, ''Menelik II'', pp. 54ff.
  7. Marcus, ''Menelik II'', pp. 70f.
  8. Augustus B. Wylde, ''Modern Abyssinia'' (London: Methuen, 1901), p. 494
  9. Wylde, ''Modern Abyssinia'', p. 391
  10. Chris Proutky, ''Empress Taytu and Menilek II: Ethiopia 1883-1910'' (Trenton: The Red Sea Press, 1986), p. 132
  11. Proutky, ''Empress Taytu'', p. 139.
  12. Branches of the telegraph line led from Were Ilu east to [[Ankober]] and west to [[Gondar]] through [[Debre Tabor]].Richard Pankhurst, ''Economic History of Ethiopia'' (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie University, 1968), p. 340
  13. Africa Watch Report, [https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia907.pdf ''Ethiopia: "Mengistu has Decided to Burn Us like Wood": Bombing of Civilians and Civilian Targets by the Air Force''], 24 July 1990
  14. "Latest Updates on Ethiopia, 5 November 2021 (Map Update)".

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