Description : Mekelle (Tigrinya: መቐለ, mäqälle, Amharic: መቀሌ, mek’elē), or Mekele, is the capital city of Tigray Region in Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta awraja in Tigray. It is located around 780 kilometres (480 mi) north of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, with an elevation of 2,254 metres (7,395 ft) above sea level. Mekelle is believed to have evolved from a 13th-century hamlet called Enda Meseqel (later Enda Medhane Alem), becoming a town by the early 19th century, when ras Wolde Selassie of Enderta made Antalo his seat of power, and the region of Mekelle (40 kilometres (25 mi) to the north) his recreational center. In the tax records of atse Tewodros II, Mekelle appears as a tributary district within Enderta with a negarit of its own.
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