Official Name: | Gidami |
Native Name: | Oromo: Gidaamii |
Settlement Type: | Town |
Pushpin Map: | Ethiopia |
Pushpin Label Position: | right |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Ethiopia |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Ethiopia |
Subdivision Type1: | Region |
Subdivision Type2: | Zone |
Subdivision Name2: | Kelem Welega |
Subdivision Type3: | Woreda |
Subdivision Name3: | Gidami |
Population As Of: | 2005 |
Population Total: | 5,007 |
Timezone: | EAT |
Utc Offset: | +3 |
Coordinates: | 8.9833°N 71°W |
Elevation M: | 1776 |
Gidami is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Kelem Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 8.9833°N 71°W with an elevation between 1776 and 1928 meters above sea level. It is the main town of Gidami woreda.
Charles W. Gwynn wrote that he was detained at Gidami for a month in 1900, then the seat of Dejazmach Jote Talu, while making an official reconnaissance of the Ethiopia–Sudan border; Dejazmach Jote was absent from Gidami during his stay, but Gwynn later learned that Gidami "was distinguished for having stopped three European Expeditions in the course of a few years -- Bottego's, Mangin's, and my own."[1]
By the early 1930s, Gidami was an important coffee market with two or three resident foreign traders. In 1938, the Guido described the town as a large village with many Amhara in an area populated by the Oromo, having a post office, telegraph and infirmary.[2]
On 18 October 2006, Gidami and Begi (town) were the setting for clashes between Muslims and Protestant Christians, resulting in 9 deaths, including the death of two Protestant preachers, and over 100 injured. In addition, 21 churches, one mosque, and dozens of houses were burned, leaving over 400 people homeless.[3]
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Gidami has an estimated total population of 5,007 of whom 2,545 are men and 2,462 are women.[4] The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 2,798 of whom 1,380 were men and 1,418 were women.