The Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum), was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from ca. 5th century BC to become an important trading nation by the 1st century AD. It converted to Christianity in 325 or 328 (various sources). It was founded by people who crossed from South Arabia (what is today Yemen). The kingdom started to decline in the 7th century AD, and the population was forced to go farther inland to the highlands, finally falling to the Zagwe dynasty in the twelfth century; but Yekuno Amlak, who ...

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Kingdom of Aksum - Geography Kingdom of Aksum - Society Structure Kingdom of Aksum - Foreign relations and economy Kingdom of Aksum - Cultural achivements Kingdom of Aksum - Bibliography

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Kingdom of Aksum, Kingdom of Aksum - Geography, Kingdom of Aksum - Society Structure, Kingdom of Aksum - Foreign relations and economy, Kingdom of Aksum - Cultural achivements, Kingdom of Aksum - Bibliography

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Aksum traded with India and Rome (later Byzantium, a strong cultural influence on Aksum), exporting ivory, tortoise shell, gold and emeralds, and importing silk and spices. Aksum's access to both the Red Sea and the Upper Nile enabled its strong navy to profit in trade between various African (Nubia), Arabian (Yemen), and Indian states. In the 2nd century AD, Aksum acquired tributary states on the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea, and conquered ...

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Kingdom of Aksum, Kingdom of Aksum - Geography, Kingdom of Aksum - Society Structure, Kingdom of Aksum - Foreign relations and economy, Kingdom of Aksum - Cultural achievements, Kingdom of Aksum - Bibliography

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Adulis is an archeological site in Eritrea, about 30 miles south of Massawa. It was the port of the Kingdom of Aksum, located on the coast of the Red Sea. Adulis - History. Pliny the Elder is the earliest writer to mention Adulis (N.H. 6.34), who misunderstood the name of the place, and thought its name meant that it had been founded by escaped Egyptian slaves. It is mentioned by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a guide of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, which describes it as an emporium ...

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Adulis - History Adulis - Archeological excavations Adulis - Bibliography

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Axum, properly Aksum, is a city in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, located at 14°07.475′N 38°43.975′E near the base of the Adoua mountains. It was the center of the Axumite Kingdom, which emerged around the time of the birth of Jesus and declined in the 12th century due to the shift of the power center of the Ethiopian Empire further south. Seventy-five percent of the people in the city are Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. The remainder of the population is Sunni Muslim and P'ent'ay. Due to its historical value, the ruins ...

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Axum - Axumite kingdom and Orthodox Christianity Axum - Axum and Islam Axum - Sites of interest Axum - Bibliography

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The following based on S.C. Munro-Hay, Aksum (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), pp. 67f inscriptions mention his son BYGT (vocalized as "Beyga" or "Beygat") ...

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Kings of Axum, Kings of Axum - Kings during the zenith of the Kingdom of Axum, Kings of Axum - Later Kings

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The Kingdom of Aksum, the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and eventually converted king Ezana to Christianity, thereby making it official. For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama". At various times, including a period in the 6th century, Axum controlled most of moder ...

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Ethiopia, Ethiopia - History, Ethiopia - Politics, Ethiopia - Regions, Ethiopia - Geography, Ethiopia - Economy, Ethiopia - Demographics, Ethiopia - Languages, Ethiopia - Culture, Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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The Kingdom of Aksum, the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and eventually converted king Ezana to Christianity, thereby making it official. For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama". At various times, includi ...

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Ethiopia, Ethiopia - History, Ethiopia - Politics, Ethiopia - Regions, Ethiopia - Geography, Ethiopia - Economy, Ethiopia - Demographics, Ethiopia - Languages, Ethiopia - Culture, Ethiopia - Holidays, Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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Horn of Africa - Ancient history. The Kingdom of Aksum was an African state located in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen that thrived between the 3rd and 11th centuries. Due to the Horn's strategic location, it has been used to restrict access to the Red Sea in the past. The region was also a source of biological resources during the Antiquity: The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans sent expeditions to the region for frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood or cinnabar and took these commodities back along the Incense Route. Therefore the Romans called this region Regio Aromatica. < ...

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Horn of Africa, Horn of Africa - Geography and climate, Horn of Africa - History, Horn of Africa - Ancient history, Horn of Africa - Modern history, Horn of Africa - Culture and ethnicity, Horn of Africa - Economy, Horn of Africa - Ecology, Horn of Africa - Fauna, Horn of Africa - Flora

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Main article: Kingdom of Aksum The first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia was that of Axum in the first century CE. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. The origins of the Axumite Kingdom are unclear, although experts have offered their speculations about it. Even whom should be considered the earliest known king is contested: although C. Conti Rossini proposed that Zoskales, mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ...

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History of Ethiopia, History of Ethiopia - Earliest History, History of Ethiopia - The Axumite Kingdom, History of Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Dark Ages, History of Ethiopia - Portuguese Influence, History of Ethiopia - The Period of the Princes, History of Ethiopia - Leaving the Medieval World, History of Ethiopia - Interactions with European Colonial Powers, History of Ethiopia - Modern History, History of Ethiopia - Additional Reading, History of Ethiopia - Notes

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The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Amharic ኢትዮጵያ Ityopp'ya) is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation on the continent, or indeed in the world. Unique among African countries, Ethiopia maintained independence during the Scramble for Africa, and continued to do so except for a 5 year period when it was under Italian occupation. Ethiopia was historically called Abyssinia. The English name "Ethiopia" is derived from the Greek wo ...

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Ethiopia - History Ethiopia - Politics Ethiopia - Regions Ethiopia - Geography Ethiopia - Economy Ethiopia - Demographics Ethiopia - Culture Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Amharic ኢትዮጵያ Ityopp'ya) is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation on the continent, or indeed in the world. Unique among African countries, Ethiopia maintained independence during the Scramble for Africa, and continued to do so except for a 5 year period when it was under Italian occupation. Ethiopia was historically called Abyssinia. The English name "Ethiopia" is derived from the Greek wo ...

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Ethiopia - History Ethiopia - Politics Ethiopia - Regions Ethiopia - Geography Ethiopia - Economy Ethiopia - Demographics
Ethiopia - Languages
Ethiopia - Culture Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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Pliny the Elder is the earliest writer to mention Adulis (N.H. 6.34), who misunderstood the name of the place, and thought its name meant that it had been founded by escaped Egyptian slaves. It is mentioned by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a guide of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, which describes it as an emporium for the ivory, hides, slaves and other exports of the interior. It may have previously been known as Ber ...

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Adulis, Adulis - History, Adulis - Archeological excavations, Adulis - Bibliography

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Each month has either 29 or 30 days, but usually in no discernible order. Traditionally, the first day of each month was the day (beginning at sunset) of the first sighting of the lunar crescent (the hilal) shortly after sunset. If the hilal was not observed immediately after the 29th day of a month, either because clouds blocked its view or because the western sky was still too bright when the moon set, then the day that began at that sunset was the 30th. Such a sighting had to be made by one or more trustworthy men testifying before ...

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Islamic calendar, Islamic calendar - Pre-Islamic calendar, Islamic calendar - Numbering the years, Islamic calendar - Months, Islamic calendar - Forbidding intercalary months, Islamic calendar - Names of the Islamic months, Islamic calendar - Names of the days of the week, Islamic calendar - Important dates, Islamic calendar - Current correlations

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The Kingdom of Aksum, the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and eventually converted king Ezana to Christianity, thereby making it official. For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama". At various times, includi ...

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Ethiopia, Ethiopia - History, Ethiopia - Politics, Ethiopia - Regions, Ethiopia - Geography, Ethiopia - Economy, Ethiopia - Demographics, Ethiopia - Languages, Ethiopia - Culture, Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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This era was, on one hand, a religious conlict between settling Muslims and traditional Christians, between nationalities they represented, and on the other hand between feudal lords on power over the central government. Two phases can be distinguished: 1706-69 and 1769-1855. Some historians date the murder of Iyasu I, and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, as the beginning of the Ethiopian Zemene Mesafint or "Era of the Princes" (a time of disorder when the po ...

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History of Ethiopia, History of Ethiopia - Earliest History, History of Ethiopia - The Axumite Kingdom, History of Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Dark Ages, History of Ethiopia - Portuguese Influence, History of Ethiopia - The Period of the Princes, History of Ethiopia - Leaving the Medieval World, History of Ethiopia - Interactions with European Colonial Powers, History of Ethiopia - Modern History, History of Ethiopia - Additional Reading, History of Ethiopia - Notes

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The Kingdom of Aksum, the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Ethiopia, rose during the first century AD. The Persian religious figure Mani listed Axum with Rome, Persia, and China as one of the four great powers of his time. It was in the early 4th century that a Syro-Greek castaway, Frumentius, was taken to the court and eventually converted king Ezana to Christianity, thereby making it official. For this accomplishment, he received the title "Abba Selama". At various times, including a period in the 6th century, Axum ...

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Ethiopia, Ethiopia - History, Ethiopia - Politics, Ethiopia - Regions, Ethiopia - Geography, Ethiopia - Economy, Ethiopia - Demographics, Ethiopia - Languages, Ethiopia - Culture, Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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Under the Solomonid dynasty, the chief provinces became Tigray (northern), Amhara (central) and Shewa (southern). The seat of government, or rather of overlordship, has usually been in Amhara, the ruler of which, calling himself nəgusä nägäst (king of kings, or emperor), has exacted tribute, when he could, from the other provinces. The title of nəgusä nägäst has been to a considerable extent based on the blood in ...

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History of Ethiopia, History of Ethiopia - Earliest History, History of Ethiopia - The Axumite Kingdom, History of Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Dark Ages, History of Ethiopia - Portuguese Influence, History of Ethiopia - The Period of the Princes, History of Ethiopia - Leaving the Medieval World, History of Ethiopia - Interactions with European Colonial Powers, History of Ethiopia - Modern History, History of Ethiopia - Additional Reading, History of Ethiopia - Notes

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Main article: Demographics of Ethiopia Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigrayans make up more than three-fourths of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members. Semitic-speaking Ethiopians (as well as some Eritreans) collectively refer to themselves as Habesha or Abesha, though others reject these names on the basis that they refer only ...

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Ethiopia, Ethiopia - History, Ethiopia - Politics, Ethiopia - Regions, Ethiopia - Geography, Ethiopia - Economy, Ethiopia - Demographics, Ethiopia - Languages, Ethiopia - Culture, Ethiopia - Holidays, Ethiopia - Miscellaneous topics

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About 1000 (presumably c 960), a non-Christian princess, Judith, conceived the design of murdering all the members of the royal family, and of establishing herself in their stead. According to legends, during the execution of the royals, an infant heir of the Axumite monarch was carted off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shewa, where his authority was acknowledged, while Judith reigned for forty years over the res ...

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History of Ethiopia, History of Ethiopia - Earliest History, History of Ethiopia - The Axumite Kingdom, History of Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Dark Ages, History of Ethiopia - Portuguese Influence, History of Ethiopia - The Period of the Princes, History of Ethiopia - Leaving the Medieval World, History of Ethiopia - Interactions with European Colonial Powers, History of Ethiopia - Modern History, History of Ethiopia - Additional Reading, History of Ethiopia - Notes

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