Originally the settlement was called Bahir Giyorgis. Between 1810 and 1900, Bahir Dar had 1,200 to 2,000 inhabitants.Crummey, D. (1987) Towns in Ethiopia: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In: Ahmed Zekaria, B. Z. T. B. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium of the Centenary of Addis Abeba, November 24-25, 1986., pp. 130–144. Seltene Seyoum (2000) Land Alienation and the Urban Growth of Bahir Dar 1935-74. In: Anderson, D. M. & Rathborne, R. (eds.) Africa’s urban past. James Currey, Oxford. It was developed in situ as a monastery and function of trading hub. In the 19th century, Bahir Dar was visited by Belgian, French, British and Italian travelers, who described it alternatively as a village or a town.
