The Kingdom of Aksum also called Aksum, Aksum or Aksumite Empire was an important state in Africa, more precisely in the Horn of Africa. This kingdom corresponded to the current territories of northern Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. This Empire was founded according to historians in the 4th century BC. The same historians place the period of glory of this empire between the 1st and 6th centuries. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads of trade routes between India and the Mediterranean Sea, the kingdom became an important commercial center between the Roman Empire and ancient India. The leaders of the Empire, in order to make trade more fluid, had the brilliant idea of minting their own currency around the 3rd century.
Origin and apogee
The origin of the Aksum kingdom is not very clear. For many historians, the empire was founded by the Sabaeans who spoke the Semitic language. Originally from South Arabia, the current Yemen, they would have crossed the Red Sea to reach the lands of Aksum. For other researchers, the kingdom was born of an indigenous development, starting from the ancient kingdom of D’mt. The latter existed long before the Sabaean migrations of the 4th and 5th centuries BC.
In the book titled The Journey of the Eritrean Sea, we can read that the kingdom of Aksum in the 1st century AD was an important trading center for ivory that the empire exported to all of the ancient territories. According to this work, the king of that time was Zoskales. He had under his yoke the ports of Adulis and Avalites. Both important ports on the Red Sea. With the evolution of the maritime trading system between the Roman Empire and India, the kingdom positioned itself as an important point of traffic. The new commercial configuration imposed a much more direct maritime route between Egypt and Kerala, passing through the Red Sea. Located in the heart of the Red Sea and controlling two ports, Aksum became the hub of the trading system of that time. The port of Adulis also became the main port for the exploitation of artifacts from Africa, namely ivory, incense, gold and exotic animals. The Aksumite rulers developed and enlarged the commercial network inside the kingdom by annexing the territories of the kingdom of Kush which practiced the same type of trade.
The 2nd and 3rd centuries were the periods during which the kingdom established its hold on the Red Sea. In particular through the caravan route to Egypt, making the kingdom the main supplier of African artifacts to the Roman Empire. It was during the 3rd century that the kingdom extended its hegemony by taking control of the entire Tihama region in southern Arabia. With its own currency, the kingdom is one of the most important powers of its time. Under the leadership of King Ezana, the Empire converted to Christianity between 325 and 328. Making the kingdom the third territory to become Christianized, after Armenia and Georgia but before the Roman Empire. Under the reign of the successors of Ezana, known only by their coins, the kingdom of Aksum was at the height of its power: according to Byzantine authors, its capital was linked to Constantinople, Iran, India and Ceylon. His embassies enabled him to free an imprisoned bishop in Persia. At the height of its power, the kingdom controlled the territories of northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, northeastern Sudan, southeastern Egypt, Djibouti, Yemen and southern Arabia, a total of 1.25 million km².
Decline of Aksum
Like all African kingdoms of the Middle Age, the Aksum Empire finally sank. Fighting the Persian Empire, Aksum made an alliance with the Byzantine Empire. From the 6th century, the empire was unable to continue producing its own currency. In the 9th century, the kingdom completely sank. For some, the fall of Aksum is the work of the pagan or Jewish queen Yodit. For others, its decline is the result of a strong competition imposed on the Aksumites by the Arabs on the maritime routes. But also, due to the decline of the floods of the Nile River accompanied by interminable periods of drought.
