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Addis Mercato or simply known as Mercato ( Amharic: መርካቶ; Italian: “market”) is a large open-air marketplace in the Addis Ketema, district of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the name refers to the neighborhood in which it is located.

Mercato is the largest open-air market in Africa, covering several square miles and employing an estimated 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities. The primary merchandise passing through the Merkato is locally grown agricultural products — most notably coffee.

Prior to the current Mercato, there was an open marketplace in Addis Ababa near St. George Church at the site where the City Hall stands now, but it ended with the Italian occupation of the 1930s. The occupiers moved the market further west to the area around the premises of Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis Dinagde, which they named Merkato Dinagde. Thus, the present Addis Merkato was founded by the segregationist policies of the Italian occupational government.

Meanwhile, the Italians restricted the historic St. George Merkato to Europeans, renaming it Piazza, which featured European-style shops that displayed commodities through glass windows. The mostly Arab tradesmen who owned stores there eventually relocated a half-mile to the west. Over time, local shopkeepers displaced the Arab merchants and, since the 1960s, the Addis Merkato has had a mostly local flavor. The Mercato Dijino did not have any plan and gradually grew in width and breadth taking different categorical stocks called “terras”.

Attractions in Ethiopia

Nyangatom (Bumi) Tribe

Banna Tribe

Kara (Karo) Tribe

Dasenech Tribe

Hamer Tribe

Suri Tribe

Bodi Tribe

Mursi Tribe

Ashenda Festival

Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year)

Ethiopian Christmas (Genna)

Meskel (Finding of the true cross)

Epiphany (Timket)

Abijatta-Shalla National Park

Nechisar National Park

Gambella National Park

Omo National Park

Mago National Park

Bale Mountains National Park

Simien Mountains National Park

Awash National Park

Aledeghi Wildlife Reserve

Rift Valley Lakes

Bahir Dar & Lake Tana

Danakil Depression

Lalibela

Gondar

Axum

Meskel Square

Medhanealem Cathedral

Red Terror Martyrs’ Memorial Museum

St. George

Ethnological Museum

Unity Park

Holy Trinity Cathedral

National Museum Of Ethiopia

Erta Ale Volcano