[1] Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 09°58′N 39°38′E / 9.967°N 39.633°E / 9.967; 39.633 with elevations variously given as 2880 and 2915 meters above sea level.

According to Antonio Cecchi, Sela Dingay was founded by Wossen Seged in 1804, naming the town after the historic district of Sela Dingay, although the local Debre Mitmaq church had been founded by Emperor Zara Yaqob, where he convened the Council of Debre Mitmaq in 1450 which resolved a rift in the Ethiopian Church over the observance of the Sabbath.

[2] When Johann Ludwig Krapf visited Sela Dingay in March 1842, it was the residence of the Queen Dowager Zenebework.

[3] Following the conquest of Shewa by the newly crowned Emperor Tewodros II and the death of Negus Haile Melekot in 1855, the dowager queens retired to Sela Dingay, where Bezabish died around 1870 or 1871.

[6] Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Sela Dingay has an estimated total population of 2,707 of whom 1,435 are men and 1,272 are women.