Muja, Ethiopia

Muja is a town in northern Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 12°04′N 39°27′E / 12.067°N 39.450°E / 12.067; 39.450Coordinates: 12°04′N 39°27′E / 12.067°N 39.450°E / 12.067; 39.450 with an elevation of 2918 meters above sea level.

History

The British expedition against Emperor Tewodros II encamped near Muja in 1868, at a site referred to as "Muja Camp".

Muja was visited by Beatrice Playne around 1950, who found while the town "was really quite a large place and had once been flourishing", it now was had "a feeling of neglect and decay" since local government offices and the police station had been moved to a nearby settlement she called "Culmus". Her description of Muja ends with the observation, "On the hill above the town a number of old Italian buildings, which had once served as government offices, were beginning to disintegrate."^[1]

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Muja has an estimated total population of 5,531 of whom 2,669 are men and 2,862 are women.^[2] The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 2,045 of whom 878 were men and 1,167 were women. Muja was once a capital town for Lasta Awuraja for a short period, in the present time the town is serving as an administrative center of Gidan woreda.

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