History of Africa - Aksum

Good morning, and now the travels through Africa with Zeinab Badawi take us to Eritrea and Ethiopia to trace the rise of a kingdom.  This episode is called The Rise of Aksum and has a run time of 44:48.

The Kingdom of Aksum was considered one of the four greatest civilizations of the ancient world.  Zeniab Badawi describes how the kingdom grew rich and powerful as a result of control of the Red Sea trade.  The Red Sea was the center of trade for the Middle East, Africa, and India.  According to local tradition, it was founded by the son of the Queen of Sheba.  It was the home to the Ark of the Covenant.  It gave a grateful world coffee.  Examining this civilization provides an insight into modern Ethiopia and Eritrea.

This area where Aksum is called home has some very dramatic landscapes.  It also has a long coastline on the Red Sea.  This coastline was the hub of trade.  It was one of the most beautiful and untouched stretches of sea in the world.  To discover more about the history of Aksum one has to go back in the past to learn more about the people who established this kingdom.

Askum’s origins lay in the Kingdom of Punt.  The ancient Egyptians traded with this kingdom and it was a source of gold for the ancient Egyptians.  Even today, the modern Eritreans continue that trading tradition.  It was here that the world came together and interacted with each other and the local populations.  The people of Saba came over and brought farming over. 

The Adulis port was established and this was a trading port on the Red Sea at the time of its founding.  Badawi explores the ruins of the Adulis.  The city is now inland and completely deserted.  It was the greatest city of its time.  The houses would have been considered quite grand and the residents lived a high standard of living.  Now there have been archeological expeditions on the site and these expeditions are revealing the history of the area.  It is here that Badawi catches up with a director of the museum that contains artifacts from these expeditions.

Badawi continues to travel to Eritrea to learn more about Aksum.  She goes to a site that very rarely sees visitors.  She discovers rock art, hinting at earlier civilizations.  She arrives at Qohaito, a site that has been inhabited for 7,000 years.  It is believed that there was an independent settlement in this area and that it thrived for years, although little is known about the people.  She shows a temple at the site and it was the most important find at the site.  More archeology needs to get done at the site to learn more about Qohaito and its people.  From what was discovered, it seems like Qohaito would have been a site on a trade route into Africa.

Eritrea has recently gained its independence and doing more excavations to learn about its history.  There have been sites discovered belonging to Aksum.  However, there have been sites discovered that predate the Aksum civilization.  Badawi continues her travels and goes to Yeha.  This site also had an established kingdom.  There was a palace structure discovered and all that remains are stone pillars.  Near the palace would have been a temple. 

Eventually, the Aksum kingdom would grow in power and confidence.  The first kings ruled over Asksum.  The story of Sheba and Solomon is discussed in this section.  Zeniab talks about the history that was written that documented the son of Sheba and Solomon who ruled over the Asksum.  Zeniab catches up with the granddaughter of the former king of Ethiopia.  The granddaughter talks about what the Queen of Sheba means to the Ethiopian royal family.  What else does Zeniab discover about Aksum?  How does the story of the Queen of Sheba shape Aksum’s history?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

I enjoy Zeniab Badawi’s narration in this series.  She does a really good job presenting the information and seems to enjoy learning about the different discoveries that were made.  She really does expand the depth of knowledge of African history.  I would put this episode on a list of episodes to show to a history class.