Situated in Ada'a Chukala woreda of the (East) Shewa Zone, it rises from the plain 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Bishoftu.

[4] According to historian Enrico Cerulli, in the 13th century the region had a considerable Muslim population until the Abyssinian Christian invasion into the area.

[6] Later sixteenth century Adalite writer Arab Faqih stated the Mayan territory was situated at Mount Zuqualla in Abyssinia.

The lake in the crater has an island Tulluu Irreechaa, said to have been founded by Abba Gadaa of Tuulama on the site of a hermitage used by Saint Mercurius.

Dr Scott, on behalf of Cambridge University and the British Museum, secured a large and valuable entomological collection near Zuqualla in 1926.