in Wukro
Ancient Wukro has been inhabited for millennia. Archaeological digs have found inscriptions from between the sixth and eighth century B.C. The place is part of the ancient
trade route (particularly for salt) linking the
Red Sea with inner Ethiopia, all the way to
Lasta. The place is named in many old
Ge'ez sources, including those about the thirteenth-century Ethiopian king
Lalibela, the sixteenth-century king
Zär'a Ya'eqob, and the seventeenth-century king
Susenyos.
19th Century The next important European visit was in 1868 when Lieutenant-General
Sir Robert Napier passed through the village on his way to
Magdela where he defeated the Ethiopian Emperor
Tewodros II. During their march through Wukro, members of the British army saw one of the Tigrayan rock-hewn churches, most likely
Wukro Chirkos, and were afterwards thought to be the first Europeans to see these unusual structures; another notable landmark is the more recent church Wukro Giyorgis Bete.
20th Century During the
Italian occupation, in 1938, there were shops and a hotel-restaurant, a car service station, a telephone and telegraph office and a health post. It was qualified as an "Italian town under development". Many of these buildings are still present, just south of the bridge. Francesco Baldassare started a mill in Wukro, but abandoned it when the Italians were defeated in 1941. Wukro was used as his headquarters by
Blatta Haile Mariam Redda during the
Woyane rebellion, until
Ras Abebe Aregai captured the town 17 October 1943. Dawit W. Girgis reports in his memoirs that in 1964, with the permission of Emperor
Haile Selassie, the
Israelis operated a secret base outside Wukro where members of the
Anyanya (a Sudanese rebel group) were trained in
guerrilla warfare. • On 8 April 1988: about 100 killed • On 13 April 1988: 31 killed • On 29–30 April 1988: 25 killed • On 3 May 1988: 20 killed
21st Century Wukro was damaged heavily during the
Tigray War. It was bombed in mid-November 2020, then shelled by artillery fire a few weeks later, resulting in heavy destruction of property and multiple civilian deaths. There was looting of public and private property leaving shops empty and the hospital 75% destroyed. Occupying soldiers engaged in sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, and detention of civilians through at least March 2021. == Economy ==