Aksum and Ethiopia in the Middle Ages

INDIA, THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN, and EAST ASIA HIST 1301 | History Aksum and Ethiopia in the Middle Ages The Silk Roads allowed trade to flow through central Asia between Rome and China under the Roman Empire. But there was also a market for products coming from Africa, Arabia, and the Indian Ocean. For a while, the Kingdom of Aksum dominated this trading route, which was centred on the Red Sea. The Sinai Peninsula and the Gulf of Suez are connected to the Indian Ocean by the Red Sea. Tradesmen from Saba, on the Arabian Peninsula's Yemeni region, travelled across the Red Sea to reach the coast of Eritrea in the third century CE. They started to concentrate a large portion of their commerce at Adulis, which developed into the Kingdom of Aksum's most significant port. The kingdom's capital, Aksum, was located eight days' drive south of Adulis, across a mountain range, to the Ethiopian plateau. This Red Sea commerce, especially in the fourth century CE, was the source of strength for the Kingdom of Aksum. Traded products included iron tools, cotton fabric, tortoise shells, gold, silver, and, most importantly, ivory and spices like myrrh and frankincense. Ezna, a king of the fourth century, conquered people living north of Ethiopia and south of Egypt to bring the kingdom as far as it had ever been. Frumentius, a Syrian missionary, won Ezna over to Christianity around 350, nearing the conclusion of his rule. Later, the patriarch in Alexandria named Frumentius bishop of Aksum, indicating that the kingdom adhered to the Egyptian Coptic branch of Christianity, which maintained that Jesus was only a divine being and not a mortal one. Caravans from the interior travelled to Adulis to participate in the commerce, resulting in a steady stream of people entering and leaving the port city throughout Ezna's rule. The Aksuman Kingdom grew more prosperous and dominant. But things started to shift in the sixth and seventh century. The Aksumites are reported to have reached the gates of Mecca in 571, having extended their dominion as far as Yemen in 528. Nevertheless, it was clear that they had overreached themselves. Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan, the monarch of the Yemen area, rose up and drove the Aksumites from the peninsula with the aid of the Sasanids from Persia. The Arab Muslims, especially the Umayyads, in turn overthrew the Sasanids in the seventh century. Arabs gained control of the Red Sea by swiftly extending their dominance across the peninsula and into North Africa, particularly Egypt. The Persian Gulf gained importance for oceangoing boats, especially when Islam spread to the Sindh area of northern India, and these vessels started to avoid the Aksumite port of Adulis. The Aksumite Kingdom was beset at the same time by internal issues, some of which were environmental in nature. Trees had been felled and agricultural fields sown for centuries, if not longer, and the area was growing more and more arid from soil erosion. Groups in the interior, such the Beja peoples, started to revolt due to this danger to the food supply and the reduction in Red Sea commerce, which is demonstrated in the archaeological record by the smaller quantity of Aksumite coinage used during this time. The Aksumite Kingdom swiftly disintegrated into a smaller organisation centred around Aksum, the nation's capital. With the gradual integration of this region into the Kingdom of Ethiopia, Aksum developed into an agrarian society under the control of a landed nobility. Ethiopian culture blended pre-Islamic Jewish customs with polytheistic beliefs and, starting in the fourth century CE, with Christian beliefs. East Africa would show to be a vibrant cultural hub with a rich legacy and history that connected them to the various peoples that travelled to and through the region because of its strategic position and support of long-distance commerce. There was, for example, a rumour that the Christian kingdom ruled by Prester John was concealed. Additionally, it was customary up until the 1970s to believe that the monarchs of Ethiopia were descended from King Solomon of Jerusalem as well as the Queen of Sheba, and that they had even transported the priceless Ark of the Covenant to Aksum. Therefore, even if the region's economic might may have diminished, its cultural relevance persisted far into the modern age.