By Alex Wodzicki
In honor of Black History Month, I thought it would be interesting to look at the Kingdom of Ethiopia and its antecedents. Ethiopia has a long and rich history, and quite famously was the only African state to escape European colonization during the scramble for Africa in the late 19th century (Liberia is sometimes also considered to have remained independent). This week, I wanted to look at the early history of Ethiopia and the Ancient Kingdom of Aksum, and then in the following weeks, we’ll take a look at the Kingdom of Ethiopia and its more modern history
Mixed farming had been established in the northern Ethiopian highlands since around 3000 BCE, and by around 1000 BCE small centralized settlements ruled by chiefs began to form. These early polities traded extensively with ancient Egypt, whose traders called the region “The land of Punt.” Around the 6th century BCE, Hunters and traders from the Saba region (Modern day Yemen) arrived in the region, intermarrying with the native population and introducing the Ge’ez language (the ancestor of modern Amharic). They also founded a major port city at Adulis, from which they traded extensively with the eastern Mediterranean and the western coast of India.
By the first century CE, Ge’ez speaking traders and farmers had established a powerful state based at Aksum. The Kingdom was extremely prosperous, exporting luxury goods like Ivory to the Greek and Eastern Roman world. They developed metal coinage and built great stone monuments called stelae, some of which stood as high as 33 meters. Christianity arrived in Aksum in the 4th century CE, and the Aksumite King Ezana officially adopted Christianity around 350 CE, making Ethiopia one of the oldest Christian states in the world. Aksum reached the height of its power during the 6th century CE, but the Arab conquests of the 7th Century significantly weakened the trading position of Aksum, as eastern trade was routed through the Persian Gulf rather than the Red sea. By around 800 CE the center of Ethiopian power had moved southwards, away from Aksum, as the Kingdom fragmented and looked inwards.
We’ll end our story here for now. Next week, we’ll look at the rise of the Zagwe dynasty and the emergence of the modern Kingdom of Ethiopia.