Dessie

Dessie or Dese is a city in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, located on the paved Addis Ababa - Asmara highway. One of the largest cities in Ethiopia, as of 1994, 97,314 people lived here.

It is home to a museum, in the former home of Dejazmach Yoseph Biru. Dessie shares an airport with neighbouring Kombolcha.

While camping here in 1882, Emperor Yohannes IV was so impressed by his sight of a comet, which he interpreted as a wondrous event, he decided to found a city here, and named Dessie (Amharic "My Joy"). Prior to Dessie's foundation, the major settlement in this area was Wasal, first mentioned in an early 16th century Italian itinerary.

The town took on increased importance when Ras Mikael Ali, son-in-law to Emperor Menelik II, made it his base. It was in Dessie where his son, the Emperor Iyasus V, crowned him negus around 1915. During the Italian occupation, Dessie became an important administrative center, and after the Second World War, the town continued in importance as the capital of the province of Wollo until the province's abolition in 1995.