Aksum

Aksum, powerful kingdom in northeastern Africa that originated with the city of Aksum (in modern Ethiopia) during the early Christian era. It expanded to include additional territory in parts of what is now Ethiopia as well as Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somalia in Africa, and Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. Aksum was one of the most powerful early states in Africa and played a key role in linking African, Mediterranean, and Asian trade networks, while also becoming one of the first kingdoms to adopt Christianity.

Despite common belief to the contrary, Aksum did not originate from one of the Semitic Sabaean kingdoms of southern Arabia but instead developed as a local power sometime about the 1st century ce. At its apogee (3rd–6th century), Aksum became the greatest market of northeastern Africa; its merchants traded as far as Alexandria and beyond the Nile River. The kingdom’s location along the Red Sea allowed it to control key trade routes between Africa and the Mediterranean and Asian worlds, which contributed to its economic and political power.

During the 4th century the kings of Aksum were Christianized. The adoption of Christianity strengthened Aksum’s political ties with the Byzantine Empire in the Mediterranean region, which also had adopted the religion.

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries ce Aksum’s growth as a trading empire increasingly challenged the power of the nearby kingdom of Meroe and contributed to its decline. At the same time, they extended their authority into southern Arabia. Aksum eventually conquered Meroe in the 4th century, and in the 6th century an Aksumite king reduced the Yemen to a state of vassalage. In the latter part of the 6th century, however, the Persians invaded South Arabia and brought Aksumite influence there to a close.

The expansion of Arab powers in the 7th and 8th centuries disrupted Red Sea trade routes, contributing to the decline of Aksum’s economic base and political influence. Gradually, Aksumite power shifted internally to the Agau (Agaw, or Agew) people, whose princes shaped a new Christian line in the Zagwe dynasty of the 12th–13th century. Although Aksum had declined, its Christian traditions continued under the Zagwe and later dynasties, shaping the religious and cultural development of Ethiopia.