Gondar, Ethiopia

Gondar ጎንደር
City
View of the city with Fasil Ghebbi in the center
Gondar Location in Ethiopia
Coordinates: 12°36′N 37°28′E / 12.600°N 37.467°E / 12.600; 37.467Coordinates: 12°36′N 37°28′E / 12.600°N 37.467°E / 12.600; 37.467
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Amhara
Zone	Semien Gondar
Founded	1635
Area
• Total	192.27 km2 (74.24 sq mi)
Elevation	2,133 m (6,998 ft)
Population (2016 est.)
• Total	621,168
• Density	3,200/km2 (8,400/sq mi)
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Gondar or Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, Gonder or Gondär; formerly ጐንደር, Gʷandar or Gʷender) is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Tana Lake on the Lesser Angereb River and southwest of the Simien Mountains. It has a latitude and longitude of 12°36′N 37°28′E / 12.600°N 37.467°E / 12.600; 37.467 with an elevation of 2133 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the Gondar Zuria woreda.

Gondar previously served as the capital of both the Ethiopian Empire and the subsequent Begemder Province. The city holds the remains of several royal castles, including those in Fasil Ghebbi (the Royal Enclosure), for which Gondar has been called the "Camelot of Africa". Gonder was historically the center of Jewish life in Ethiopia.

Until the 16th century, the Solomonic Emperors of Ethiopia usually had no fixed capital town, instead living in tents in temporary royal camps as they moved around their realms while their family, bodyguard and retinue devoured surplus crops and cut down nearby trees for firewood. One exception to this rule was Debre Berhan, founded by Zara Yaqob in 1456; Tegulet in Shewa was also essentially the capital during the first century of Solomonic rule.