Awbare
Awbare (Somali: Aw Barre, Amharic: አውበሬ), officially known as Teferi Ber and called after its patron Saint Awbare, is a town in eastern Ethiopia located in the Fafan Zone of the Somali Region, near the border with Somaliland on the main trade route between Jijiga and the sea. It is the administrative centre of the Awbare district.
Awbare
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|---|---|
City | |
Awbare (Teferi Ber) | |
Awbare Location within Ethiopia | |
| Coordinates: 9°47′N 43°13′E | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Region | Somali Region |
| Zone | Awbare, Fafan Zone |
| Elevation | 1,551 m (5,089 ft) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 173,977 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
It was one of the biggest towns of the Adal Empire. According to Ethiopian Christian folklore, this town was the only gateway that has caused fear for the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom, hence the name Teferi Ber, meaning "The Gate of Fear".
The main trade route between Jijiga and the sea passes through Awbare; an ancient route to Zeila almost always went through Awbare. In 1962 it was described as a dry weather road. The Ethiopian News Agency reported in early 1998 that much khat was illegally smuggled out of Ethiopia by this route.
When emperor Haile Selassie inspected the region in 1935 prior to the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Haile Selassie made a secret two-day excursion to Awbare. The Italian Giuda described Awbare in 1938 as a Somali village with about 1,000 inhabitants, whose houses were partly built of masonry, and possessing a mosque; a little to the west of the village was the tomb of the patron Saint Awbare.
During his research in the ancient town of Amud, the historian G.W.B. Huntingford noticed that whenever an old site had the prefix Aw in its name (such as the ruins of Awbare and Awbube), it denoted the final resting place of a local saint.