The rise and fall of Aksum: Africa's forgotten superpower
For seven centuries, the Aksumite empire minted its own coins, traded with Rome and India, and made Ethiopia one of the first Christian states on earth.
Aksum — Stelae of carved granite still tower over the northern Ethiopian town that once anchored one of antiquity's great trading empires. From the first century CE, Aksumite ships carried ivory, gold and frankincense across the Red Sea; Aksumite coins have turned up in India, Egypt and southern Arabia.
The empire's fourth-century conversion under King Ezana made it one of the earliest Christian states in the world, centuries before much of Europe. Its decline, from the seventh century onward, tracked the shifting of trade routes and the rise of Muslim polities along the Red Sea coast.
Modern archaeology continues to reshape the story. New excavations at Beta Samati and around the ancient port of Adulis have pushed the timeline of urbanization in the Horn earlier than textbooks assumed.
