Agula
Agula | |
|---|---|
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 Flag | |
  Agula Location within Ethiopia | |
| Coordinates: 13°41′30″N 39°35′30″E / 13.69167°N 39.59167°ECoordinates: 13°41′30″N 39°35′30″E / 13.69167°N 39.59167°E | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Region | Tigray |
| Zone | Misraqawi (Eastern) |
| Woreda | Kilte Awulaelo |
| Elevation | 1,930 m (6,330 ft) |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 4,636 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Agula is a town located in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Debubawi (Southern) Zone of the Tigray Region, it lies about 32 km northeast of Mek'ele, just east of the Mek'ele - Addis Ababa highway (Ethiopian Highway 2), and 25 km north of Qwiha. It has a latitude and longitude of 13°41′30″N 39°35′30″E / 13.69167°N 39.59167°E with an elevation of 1930 metres above sea level. Nearby is a stream and a pass (elevation 2030 metres) which share the same name.
Agula was an important station on the salt caravan route from Dallol west to Atsbi.[1]
Geology and soils[]
The following geological formations are present in this locality:[2]
- Agula Shale[3]
- Mekelle Dolerite[4]
- Quaternary alluvium and freshwater tufa[5]
Mollic Calcaric Cambisol in Birki near Agula
The main geomorphic units, with corresponding soil types are:[6]
- Incised Giba plateau (upstream of future Lake Giba
- Associated soil types
- Inclusions
- Deep, dark cracking clays with good fertility, but problems of waterlogging (Chromic and Pellic Vertisol)
- Shallow, stony loam soils with moderate fertility (Eutric Regosol and Cambisol)
- Brown to dark, silty clay loams to loamy sands developed on alluvium, with good natural fertility (Fluvisol)
- Ancient river terrace
- Associated soil types
- shallow, stony, dark, loamy soils on calcaric material (Rendzic Leptosol)
- Deep, dark cracking clays with good fertility, but problems of waterlogging (Chromic and Pellic Vertisol)
- moderately deep, red-brownish, loamy soils with a good natural fertility (Chromic Luvisol)
- Brown to dark, silty clay loams to loamy sands developed on alluvium, with good natural fertility (Fluvisol)
- Inclusions
- complex of rock outcrops, very stony and very shallow soils ((Lithic) Leptosol)
- shallow to very shallow, very stony, loamy soils (Skeletic/Leptic Cambisol and Regosol)
- shallow, dark, stony, loamy soils on calcaric material, rich on organic matter (Calcaric Mollic Cambisol
- Associated soil types
History[]
16th Century[]
Agula was visited by the Portuguese priest Francisco Álvares on 13 August 1520, who called it Anguguim. He mentions in the town "a well-built church -- upon very thick stone supports; very well hewn" which was dedicated to Saint Chirqos.[7] The town is mentioned again in an inquiry conducted by Emperor Iyasu I in 1698, in which he proclaimed that tolls should no longer be collected there.[8] The village was visited in 1868 by members of the Napier Expedition, who found the church in ruins; they were told that the church had been reduced to its current state by treasure-seekers acting on the orders of Dejazmach Sabagadis. Based on the "limited information now recoverable", David Phillipson assigns the construction of this church a "Late Aksumite or, perhaps, a subsequent date".[9]
20th Century[]
Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of a primary school in Agula during the year 1968.[1]
Demographics[]
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia released in 2005, Agula has an estimated total population of 4,636, of whom 2,229 are men and 2,407 are women.[10] The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 2,666 of whom 1,187 were men and 1,479 were women. It is one of three towns in Kilte Awulaelo woreda.
Notes[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Local History in Ethiopia"[permanent dead link] The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 24 July 2009)
- ^ Sembroni, A.; Molin, P.; Dramis, F. (2019). Regional geology of the Dogu'a Tembien massif. In: Geo-trekking in Ethiopia's Tropical Mountains — The Dogu'a Tembien District. SpringerNature. ISBN 978-3-030-04954-6.
- ^ Bosellini, A.; Russo, A.; Fantozzi, P.; Assefa, G.; Tadesse, S. (1997). "The Mesozoic succession of the Mekelle Outlier (Tigrai Province, Ethiopia)". Mem. Sci. Geol. 49: 95–116.
- ^ Tefera, M.; Chernet, T.; Haro, W. Geological Map of Ethiopia (1:2,000,000). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Institute of Geological Survey.
- ^ Moeyersons, J. and colleagues (2006). "Age and backfill/overfill stratigraphy of two tufa dams, Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia: Evidence for Late Pleistocene and Holocene wet conditions". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 230 (1–2): 162–178. Bibcode:2006PPP...230..165M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.013.
- ^ Nyssen, Jan; Tielens, Sander; Gebreyohannes, Tesfamichael; Araya, Tigist; Teka, Kassa; Van De Wauw, Johan; Degeyndt, Karen; Descheemaeker, Katrien; Amare, Kassa; Haile, Mitiku; Zenebe, Amanuel; Munro, Neil; Walraevens, Kristine; Kindeya Gebrehiwot; Poesen, Jean; Frankl, Amaury; Tsegay, Alemtsehay; Deckers, Jozef (2019). "Understanding spatial patterns of soils for sustainable agriculture in northern Ethiopia's tropical mountains". PLOS ONE. 14 (10): e0224041. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1424041N. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224041. PMC 6804989. PMID 31639144.
- ^ C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (editors and translators), The Prester John of the Indies (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), pp 176-178.
- ^ G.W.B. Huntingford, The historical geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704, (Oxford University Press: 1989), p. 237
- ^ David W. Phillipson, Ancient Churches of Ethiopia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 48f
- ^ CSA 2005 National Statistics Archived 2006-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, Table B.4
- Populated places in the Tigray Region