page_title: Dire Dawa
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Dire Dawa / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient town in Hararghe region
context_page_description: Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia. It is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura.
  Dire Dawa lies in the eastern part of the nation, on the Dechatu River, at the foot of a ring of cliffs that has been described as "somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves in the bottom of a slop-basin." The western outskirts of the city lie on the Gorro River, a tributary of the Dechatu River. It is located at the latitude and longitude of 9°36′N 41°52′E. The city is an industrial centre, home to several markets and the Diredhawa Airport.
  The projected population for 1 July 2015 was 440,000 for the entire chartered city and 277,000 for the city proper, making the latter the seventh largest city in Ethiopia.
context_section_description: The region was already inhabited in Mesolithic times, as revealed by rock paintings and Middle Stone Age artifacts in the cave of Porc-Épic, only a few kilometers from Dire Dawa. The area surrounding Dire Dawa is believed to have been a settlement of the extinct Harla people.
  Historically, the area used to be part of Adal Sultanate during the medieval times and was exclusively settled by the Gurgure Dir clan which is a major Somali tribe and after the weakening of Adal Sultanate, the Oromos took advantage and were able to penetrate through the city and settle into these areas and also assimilate some of the local Gurgura clan. Dire Dawa was considered the domain of the Emirate of Harar until Menelik's conquest of the kingdom in 1887 and consequently became incorporated into modern Ethiopia from thereon.
caption: Ruins of the thirteenth century Harla town near Dire Dawa
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