Abstract:
This thesis investigates a history of Gidole Town from foundation to 1991. Gidole is located
in the Southern Ethiopia particularly in Dirashe Woreda. For this study, primary and
secondary sources were consulted. Collected sources were critically evaluated, and historical
facts were analyzed qualitatively through chronological analysis and presented in written
form. The finding indicates that, as a result of Dirashe’s incorporation into the Ethiopian
empire, its people encountered many new things. Before Gidole town was founded, Emperor
Menelike’s II soldiers garrisoned in Horma Qa’alo Mountain. Later, it was renamed
“Gardulla Town” in the 1890s, and it served as an administrative and trade center for a long
time. But during the Italian occupation (1936–1941), they arrived in Gardulla town in June
1936 and bombarded the town. Because Italians assumed the town was a source of food,
water, and an information channel for patriots. Instead, they founded a new Gidole town two
kilometres away from Gardulla town in the 1936. The main factor in its foundation was that
it was chosen as a defense camp for the Italians and the suitable climate of the area. During
the Italian's stay in Gidole town, both positive and negative changes were seen. From 1941 to
1974, government and private organizations were established in Gidole, which made the
town the center of Gamo Gofa Province (Tekilay Gizat). As a result, trade and the
establishment of social services are better than before. The establishment of memorial
monuments for Gardulla Patriots and the foundation of various government and private
associations in town had a significant effect on the growth and expansion of the town. Post
1974 marked the end of the old feudal system with the socialist ideology that liberated
gabbars from the feudal yoke in Ethiopia in general and in Gidole in particular. Illiteracy,
the traditional evil practice of Hada and Sohaya, was abolished. The amalgamation of
craftsmen (Hauddah) with other social classes and urban cooperative association was
another change. The development of Peopling, ethnic interaction and municipal
administration and revenue in Gidole town was another development. Finally, the Growth
and expansion of religious institutions and social services in the town was boldly reflected in
the period we investigated to 1991.
