Azezo

{{short description|Town in Amhara Region, Ethiopia}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Azezo

| native_name =

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| settlement_type = Town

| image_skyline =

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| pushpin_map = Ethiopia

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| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Azezo, Ethiopia

| coordinates = {{coord|12.5586|N|37.4308|E|display=inline,title}}

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = {{flag|Ethiopia}}

| subdivision_type1 = Region

| subdivision_name1 = Amhara

| subdivision_type2 = Province

| subdivision_name2 = Begemder

| established_title = Established

| established_date = 16th Century

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| unit_pref = Metric

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| elevation_m = 1400

| population_total = 33,719{{cite web |last1=Aligaz |first1=Amha |title=Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for Azezo Market Center Development |url=http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/890421468257056738/text/RP6500V20RP0P10ketCenterDevelopment.txt |publisher=City Services Office of Gondar |date=December 2011}}

| population_as_of = 2007

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| population_density_km2 = auto

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| timezone1 = UTC+03:00

| utc_offset1 = +3:00

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}}

Azezo (Amharic: አዘዞ) is a town in northern Ethiopia south of the city of Gondar.

== History ==

The town of Azezo was established around the same time Gondar was settled in the 16th century (between 1632 and 1687).

Azezo was occupied by the Italians during the follow-up to World War II, establishing a military camp nearby the village between 1936 and 1941. After the defeat of the Italians by a joint British and Ethiopian force (the Gideon Force), the camp remained operational.{{cite book |last1=Milkias |first1=Paulos |title=Ethiopia |date=2006 |publisher=G.K. Hall & Company |isbn=0816190666 |page=56 |chapter=History}}

In the early 1990s, following the overthrow of the Derg, the camp was partially demobilized and Azezo's main source of income was diminished,{{cite book |last1=Milkias |first1=Paulos |title=Ethiopia |date=2006 |publisher=G.K. Hall & Company |isbn=0816190666 |page=58 |chapter=History}} with the ecological care of nearby rivers being halted as a result.

Azezo today is a suburban market town that is mostly associated with its closest city, Gondar. Notable sites are the large soccer field situated in the center of the town as well as a few churches, such as Saint Teklehymanot.

The residents of Azezo are predominantly non-Jewish, but historically the town has had a Jewish population. In the late 1800s, working with the Swedish Mission of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the Ethiopian intellectual and former Mayor of Gondar Gebru Desta established a school in Azezo that worked to convert the Gondar Jewish community to Christianity.{{cite web|url=https://dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/gebru-desta/ |title=Desta, Kentiba Gebru |publisher=Dictionary of African Christian Biography |accessdate=2022-11-21}}