Ankober
| Ankober | |
|---|---|
 Ankober
|
|
| Coordinates: 9°36′N 39°44′E / 9.600°N 39.733°E | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Region | Amhara |
| Zone | Semien (North) Shewa |
| Elevation | 2,465 m (8,087 ft) |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 2,288 |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Ankober, formerly known as Ankobar, is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, Ankober is perched on the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands at an elevation of about 2,465 meters (8,100 ft). It is 40 kilometers (25 mi) to the east of Debre Birhan and about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Addis Ababa.
Ankober was formerly the capital of the Ethiopian kingdom of Shewa. Buildings that survive from the Shewa period include the Kidus Mikael church, built by Sahle Selassie. According to Philip Briggs, all that survives of Menelik's palace, which he had built on the site of his father's palace, is "one long stone-and-mortar wall measuring some 1.5m high." Briggs comments that it is "difficult to say why this one wall should have survived virtually intact when the rest of the palace crumbled into virtual oblivion." Ankober is also known as where the endemic Ankober serin was first observed by ornithologists in 1979.
Ankober may have formerly been known as Gorobela.
Meridazmach Amha Iyasus, moved the capital of Shewa from Doqaqit to Ankober. It remained the principal residence of the rulers of Shewa until Negus (later Emperor) Menelik II moved it to Mount Entoto in 1878, although Wossen Seged preferred to live at Qundi during his reign. The name of the town is said to have been taken from an Oromo Queen, Anko, who ruled the town during the reign of Qedami Qal.
The first Europeans to record their visit to Ankober were the Evangelical missionaries Carl Wilhelm Isenberg and Johann Ludwig Krapf in 1839. However, at the time there was a small colony of Greeks, who made their living as craftsmen and tradesmen. In the following years, a steady stream of travellers visited Ankober, including Captain William Cornwallis Harris. Following the death of Meridazmach Sahle Selassie in 1847, the Abichu Oromo rebelled and attacked Ankober; only the firearms Sahle Selassie had collected there saved the capital. The Shewans burned the town in 1856 in reaction to the invasion, and eventual conquest, of Emperor Tewodros II.
...
Wikipedia