Adwa
Adwa (also spelled
Adowa,
Aduwa, or
Adua) is a market town in northern
Ethiopia, and best known as the community closest to the decisive
Battle of Adowa fought in
1896. Located in the
Mehakelegnaw Zone of the
Tigray Region, Adwa has a longitude and latitude of .
Based on figures from the
Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Adwa has an estimated total population of 42,672, of whom 20,774 were males and were 21,898 females.
[CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.3] According to the census of 1994, the town had a population of 24,519.
Adwa is home to several notable churches, while
Abba Garima Monastery, founded in the
sixth century and known for its
tenth century gospels, lies nearby.
According to Richard Pankhurst, Adwa derives its name from
Adi Awa (or
Wa), "Village of the Awa"; the Awa are an ethnic group mentioned in the anonymous inscription that once stood at
Adulis.
[Richard R.K. Pankhurst, History of Ethiopian Towns: From the Middle Ages to the Early Nineteenth Century (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982), p. 192.]Despite this claim of antiquity, Adwa only acquired major importance following the establishment of a permanent capital at
Gondar. As the traveller
James Bruce noted, Adwa was situated on a piece of "flat ground through which every body must go in their way from Gondar to the
Red Sea."
[Pankhurst, Ethiopian Towns, p. 194.] By 1700, it had become the residence for the governor of Tigray province, and grew to overshadow
Debarwa, the traditional seat of the
Bahr negus, as the most important town in northern Ethiopia.
Its geographical importance also led to Adwa being the site of the final battle of the
First Italo-Abyssinian War, where Shewa ruler
Menelik II fought for Ethiopia's independence against
Italy. Menelik led the Ethiopian Army to a decisive victory against the Italians, which ensured an independent Ethiopia until the Italians invaded again on the eve of
World War Two.
A frequent target of attacks by the
Tigrayan People's Liberation Front during the
Ethiopian Civil War, Adwa permanently passed into their control in March
1988.
Adwa (1999). Directed by
Haile Gerima.
*
Battle of Adowa
