Overview
The place name Jan Amora appears in the Futuh al-Habasha and in an 18th century legal text, but it is unclear if they refer to the place that became this woreda; Richard Pankhurst believes that this "Jan Amora" was located in Tigray. There was also a military formation known as "Jan Amora" which was under the command of Emperor Lebna Dengel's uncle Azaj Fanoel.
The Jan Amora region today covers the Semien Mountains and a portion of their southern slopes, which makes access to this woreda difficult. A road linking Jan Amora and Debarq, 60 kilometers in length, was under construction in May 1994. Due to its inaccessibility and the lack of the most basic infrastructure, in 1999 the Regional government classified Addi Arkay as one of its 47 drought prone and food insecure woredas. To alleviate this situation, the Amhara Credit and Saving Institution SC, a micro-finance institution, opened an office in the woreda in the late 1990s. The Semien Mountains cover most of the northern part of this woreda, as well as the Semien Mountains National Park.
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