Debre Marqos (also called Mankorar) is a city and woreda in east-central Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Region, it has a latitude and longitude of , and an elevation of 2446 meters. The city is named Debre Marqos after its principal church, which was constructed in 1869 and dedicated to St. Mark. Until the reorganization of the provinces that followed the adoption of the 1995 constitution, this city served as the capital of the province of Gojjam.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Debre Marqos has an estimated total population of 85,597, of whom 43,229 were males and 42,368 were females. The woreda has an estimated area of 21.53 square kilometers, which gives Debre Marqos a density of 3,975.70 people per square kilometer. According to the 1994 national census this city had a population of 49,297.

Debre Marqos is served by an airport (ICAO code HADM, IATA DBM) with an unpaved runway.

History

Debre Marqos was the capital of Tekle Haymanot, Negus of Gojjam during his reign and as a result, Pankhurst notes, the population of Debre Marqos "fluctuated greatly with the presence of absence of the army" of the Negus. He states that when the Negus resided in the town, it had between 20,000 and 40,000 inhabitants; in his absence, between 5,000 and 6,000. The explorer Pellegrino Matteucci (b. 1850) arrived at what was at that time named Monkorar on 3 June 1879, explored the neighboring area, then departed 20 June for Adwa and Massawa.

The palace of Negus Tekle Haymanot was remodeled in 1926 by Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot, in the style of European buildings after his tour of Europe in the party of Ras Tefari. By 1935, the town had postal, telegraph, and telephone service.

The Italians arrived in Debre Marqos 20 May 1936. Through an interpreter, Achille Starace, who had arrived by plane, told the surprised local inhabitants that he had come free them from their oppressors. Debre Marqos was later isolated, and practically besieged by a revolt in 1938. General Ugo Cavallero, with sixty thousand men and supported by airplanes and tanks, had crushed the revolt by the end of May. A major Italian fortification was located in the city during the existence of Italian East Africa, and captured by the British Gideon Force and Ethiopian Arbegnoch (or Resistance Fighters) 3 April, 1941 during the East African Campaign.

In 1957, Negus Tekle Haimanot School in Debre Marqos was one of 9 provincial secondary schools in Ethiopia. The next year, the town was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as a First Class Township. In 1960 a branch of the electric authority EELPA had started operation in Debre Marqos.

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