Jimma Jimmaa | |
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     Scenery in Jimma | |
| Nickname: Jimmaa Abbaa Jifaar | |
  Jimma Location within Ethiopia Show map of Ethiopia Jimma Jimma (Africa) Show map of Africa | |
| Coordinates:7°40′N36°50′E / 7.667°N 36.833°E /7.667; 36.833 | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Region |  Oromia |
| Zone | Jimma |
| Elevation | 1,780 m (5,840 ft) |
| Population (2007)[1] | |
• Total | 207,000 |
• Estimate (2021)[2] | 239,022 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
| Area code | 47 |
Jimma (Oromo:Jimmaa) is the largest city in southwesternOromia Region,Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded byJimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of7°40′N36°50′E / 7.667°N 36.833°E /7.667; 36.833. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a specialZone.
What is now Jimma's northern suburb ofJiren was the capital of a largeKaffa province until the Oromos moved to the region in the 18th century. Originally namedHirmata before the Oromo invasion.[3] The city owed its importance in the 19th century to being located on the caravan route betweenShewa and theKingdom of Kaffa, as well as being only 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the palace of the king ofJimma.
According to Donald Levine, in the early 19th century the market attracted thousands of people from neighboring regions: "Amhara from Gojjam and Shoa, Oromo from all the Gibe Kingdoms and numerous representatives of the Lacustrine and Omotic groups, including Timbaro, Qabena, Kefa, Janjero, Welamo, Konta and several others".[4]
At the very beginning of the 20th century, the German explorerOscar Neumann visited Jimma on his journey from the Somali coast through Ethiopia to the Sudan. As he observed, “Jimma is almost the richest land of Abyssinia; the inhabitants are pure, well-built Galla; they are nearly all Mohammedans, as is their king, Abba Jifar, a very clever man, who submitted to Menelik at the right time and, therefore, retained his country”[5]
The present town was developed on theAwetu River by theItalian colonial regime in the 1930s. At that time, with the goal of weakening the nativeEthiopian Church, the Italians intended to make Jimma an important center ofIslamic learning, and founded an academy to teachfiqh.[6] In theEast African fighting ofWorld War II after their main force was defeated, the Italian garrison at Jimma was one of the last to surrender, holding out til July 1941.
Following the death ofAbba Jifar II of Jimma in 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia. During the reorganization of theprovinces in 1942, Jimma vanished intoKaffa Province."[7]Herbert S. Lewis states that in the early 1960s it was "the greatest market in all of south-western Ethiopia. On a good day in the dry season it attracts up to thirty thousand people. Jimma was the scene of a violent encounter which started in April 1975 between radical college students (known aszemacha) sent to organize local peasants, who had benefited fromland reform, and local police, who had sided with local landowners. Students and peasant followers had imprisoned local small landowners, rich peasants and members of the local police force; this action led to further unrest, causing theDerg (the rulingjunta) to send a special delegation to Jimma, which sided with the local police. In the end, 24 students were killed, more arrested, and the localzemacha camps closed.[8]
Days before the end of theEthiopian Civil War in May 1991, the city was captured by theEthiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.
On 13 December 2006, the Ethiopian government announced that it had secured a loan of US$98 million from theAfrican Development Bank to pave the 227 kilometers of highway between Jimma andMizan Teferi to the southwest. The loan would cover 64% of the 1270.97 millionBirr budgeted for this project.[9]
Jimma has a relatively cooltropical monsoon climate (KöppenAm). It features a long annualwet season from March to October.
Afternoon temperatures at Jimma are very warm year-round, with the daily maximum usually staying between 24 and 27 °C (75.2 and 80.6 °F). Morning temperatures are even more consistent, being at a cool-to-pleasant 12 to 13 °C (53.6 to 55.4 °F) virtually every day.
| Climate data for Jimma | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 35.0 (95.0) | 35.7 (96.3) | 37.7 (99.9) | 38.0 (100.4) | 34.7 (94.5) | 31.1 (88.0) | 29.0 (84.2) | 28.9 (84.0) | 31.6 (88.9) | 30.0 (86.0) | 31.0 (87.8) | 31.6 (88.9) | 38.0 (100.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.7 (83.7) | 29.7 (85.5) | 29.8 (85.6) | 28.8 (83.8) | 27.9 (82.2) | 26.3 (79.3) | 24.7 (76.5) | 25.0 (77.0) | 26.1 (79.0) | 27.1 (80.8) | 27.8 (82.0) | 28.1 (82.6) | 27.5 (81.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 19.0 (66.2) | 19.9 (67.8) | 21.1 (70.0) | 21.2 (70.2) | 20.9 (69.6) | 20.1 (68.2) | 19.2 (66.6) | 19.4 (66.9) | 19.9 (67.8) | 19.6 (67.3) | 18.3 (64.9) | 18.0 (64.4) | 19.7 (67.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 8.4 (47.1) | 9.9 (49.8) | 11.8 (53.2) | 13.1 (55.6) | 13.5 (56.3) | 13.6 (56.5) | 13.7 (56.7) | 13.8 (56.8) | 13.5 (56.3) | 11.6 (52.9) | 9.0 (48.2) | 7.7 (45.9) | 11.6 (52.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −2.3 (27.9) | 0.0 (32.0) | 0.0 (32.0) | 1.5 (34.7) | 4.4 (39.9) | 4.3 (39.7) | 8.4 (47.1) | 7.9 (46.2) | 6.0 (42.8) | 2.7 (36.9) | 0.0 (32.0) | −2.8 (27.0) | −2.8 (27.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 38.6 (1.52) | 37.1 (1.46) | 91.3 (3.59) | 129.1 (5.08) | 193.8 (7.63) | 212.6 (8.37) | 213.3 (8.40) | 215.6 (8.49) | 191.3 (7.53) | 116.4 (4.58) | 64.5 (2.54) | 38.9 (1.53) | 1,542.5 (60.72) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 7 | 9 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 21 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 181 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 59 | 62 | 63 | 66 | 72 | 76 | 80 | 80 | 77 | 73 | 68 | 64 | 70 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 238.7 | 194.9 | 220.1 | 192.0 | 207.7 | 153.0 | 120.9 | 148.8 | 174.0 | 213.9 | 237.0 | 251.1 | 2,352.1 |
| Mean dailysunshine hours | 7.7 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 5.1 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 6.9 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 6.4 |
| Source 1: Ethiopian Meteorological Institute[10]World Meteorological Organisation (rainy days)[11] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:Deutscher Wetterdienst (mean temperatures 1991–2005, humidity 1959–1982, and sun 1991–2005),[12] Meteo Climat (record highs and lows)[13] | |||||||||||||
A few buildings have survived from the time of the Jimma Kingdom, including the Palace ofAbba Jifar. The city is home to amuseum,Jimma University, severalmarkets, and anairport (ICAO code HAJM,IATA JIM). Also of note is the Jimma Research Center, founded in 1968, which is run by theEthiopian Institute of Agricultural Research. The Center specializes inagricultural research, including serving as the national center for research to improve the yield ofcoffee and spices.[14]
Football is the most popular sport in Jimma. The 50,000-capacity Jimma University Stadium is the largest venue by capacity in Jimma. It is used mostly for football matches.
Jimma is served byAba Jifar (Jimma) Airport. The airport completed a renovation in 2015 in order to accommodate larger aircraft and more passengers.
Within the city limits people take bajajs (similar to “tuktuks”) or “line taxis” that are converted mini vans.[15]
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