Aksum Economy

The power of Aksum was based largely on trade. The Red Sea was an important thoroughfare for trading vessels at the time. Merchants from the Roman Empire traveled up and down the sea, trading in harbors along both the African and Arabian coasts, and sailing with the favorable monsoon winds on to India. Aksumites exported local products such as ivory, tortoise shell, hippopotamus hide, spices, incense, gold, obsidian, emeralds and other precious stones, and slaves. These items were exchanged for manufactured goods from the Mediterranean, including iron weapons, articles made of precious metals, glassware, cloth of great variety, garments, pottery, wine, and olive oil. Excavated Aksumite tombs contain many of these foreign objects, particularly glassware.

For the first few centuries of the kingdom’s existence, trade was conducted by barter and direct exchange of commodities. In about ad 270, during the reign of King Endubis, Aksum began minting coins in the style of Roman coins. Coinage made the exchange of products and tax collection more convenient, facilitating Aksumite trade. Aksumite coins were made of gold, silver, and bronze, and carried the name of the ruler in whose name they were issued. The coins are therefore important to historians’ understanding of the history of Aksum, providing royal names and a rough chronology of events.

As in most ancient societies, the internal economy of Aksum was based mainly on agriculture. The kingdom produced enough food to be self-sufficient. The main cereal crop may have been wheat, since a head of wheat is shown on coins. Aksumites most likely also grew teff, an indigenous cereal grain widely used in the region today. Although Aksum commonly imported iron weapons, iron was also smelted locally and manufactured into tools and weapons.

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Aksum

Aksum is an ancient kingdom that flourished in northeastern Africa from the 1st century bc until the early 7th century ad. Its capital was the city of Aksum, which lies in the northern part of present-day Ethiopia. A powerful trading center, Aksum controlled the highlands of northern Ethiopia and the Red Sea coast of present-day Eritrea. Culturally, it was closely associated with the people of southern Arabia, who spoke related languages and followed similar traditions. Aksumite kings built massive stelae (stone pillars) to adorn their tombs, and some of these stelae still stand today.

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Bitter Waters Made Sweet: Exodus 15:22-27 (New King James Version)

15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.   24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said,”If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

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Al Ḩijāz

Al Ḩijāz or Hejaz is a region of western Saudi Arabia, bordering the Red Sea. It is largely an arid highland region, with some oasis agriculture. Mecca and Medina, the principal holy cities of Islam, are here; other population centers include Aţ Ţā’if and the Red Sea port of Jiddah. Al Ḩijāz came under the rule of Egypt in 1258 and passed to the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Rebelling against Ottoman rule, it was briefly (1916-1924) an independent kingdom. Subsequently, it was merged (1926) with the neighboring kingdom of Najd and was incorporated with other regions (1932) to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

 

African Coastline

Generally, African coastline is very even, with few good natural harbors. The coastal plain is narrow around much of the continent, particularly in the south and east. Major escarpments run parallel to the coast in several areas. Most of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean coastline is fringed by coral reefs, which are an obstacle to ships. On the Atlantic coast, waters are generally too cold for coral development. Africa’s best natural harbors are found in the many deep coastal inlets between Senegal and Liberia, especially at the mouths of rivers. Lagoon coasts, with a coastal barrier beach backed by lagoons, are common between Liberia and Nigeria. African Coastline however depicts the continents vast natural potentials.

 

 

Africa’s Marine Life

Africa’s Marine Life is rich in biodiversity. The Atlantic Ocean off Africa’s west coast has two cold ocean currents—the Benguela south of the equator and the Canaries to the north—as well as several areas where cold water rises to the surface. These zones of upwelling are rich in nutrients and support large fish populations. Fishing fleets off the coasts of southern and northwest Africa harvest species such as sardines, herrings, and tuna. Shrimp are harvested on the coasts of several West African countries.

The waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean are considerably warmer than those of the Atlantic, supporting the development of coral reefs. These reefs provide for a great variety of fish species. Local fishers harvest many types of fish, but large-scale commercial fishing remains relatively unimportant. One famous rare species of Indian Ocean fish is the coelacanth, characterized as a “living fossil.” Before it was discovered in 1938, experts believed it had been extinct for 70 million years. The growth of Africa’s Marine Life has in several cases been slowed owing to pollution by multinationals especially in oil producing areas.

 

 

Tropical Moist Forest

Tropical moist forest occurs in humid tropical areas, usually with 1,500 mm (60 in) or more of precipitation and a dry season (or seasons) of three to four months or less. West of the highlands of East Africa and centered in the basin of the Congo River is a great tropical moist forest extending some 600 km (400 mi) north of the equator and a similar distance south of the equator. On the west, the forest extends to the Atlantic coast in the Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon, and stretches in an interrupted belt along the West African coast to Sierra Leone. Tropical moist forest also occurs along the eastern side of Madagascar.

Scientists recognize two major subtypes of tropical forest: tropical rain forest and tropical wetland forest. Tropical rain forests are characterized by a dense mass of evergreens, oil palms, and numerous species of tropical hardwood trees divided vertically into strata, or layers. The upper canopy of treetops forms a dense cover over the middle layer of treetops and the surface layer of shrubs, ferns, and mosses below. Rising above the canopy are scattered tall trees, known as emergents. In dense forest environments, the shrub layer tends to be quite sparse, except along streams, because the canopy limits the amount of light that penetrates to the forest floor. Tropical rain forests are extremely diverse in species; pure stands of a single tree species are rare.

Tropical wetland forests include both freshwater and saltwater subtypes. Freshwater swamp forests cover large parts of the Middle Congo River Basin. Saltwater swamp forests occur in many areas between Senegal and Angola on the Atlantic coast and between South Africa and the Red Sea on the coast of East Africa. Mangrove species, with their characteristic tall, arched roots, are highly adapted to the fluctuating water levels and brackish water found in estuaries and other tidal environments. Mangrove forests are tangles of roots, tree trunks, and branches reaching 8 to 23 m (25 to 75 ft) high. Significant areas of mangrove forest have been lost in order to clear land for rice cultivation, particularly in West Africa. All of the countries above fall within the tropical moist forest.

The kingdom of Aksum

The kingdom of Aksum arose on the Red Sea coast of what is now Eritrea. By 500 BC mixed coastal communities of local farmers and immigrant traders from southeast Arabia had developed their own language and system of writing. These ports grew in strength, competing with Meroë for control of Red Sea trade. By the 1st century AD the ports had united and come under the control of a kingdom with its capital at the inland city of Aksum. As Meroë declined, Aksum became a prosperous city. It was noted for its monumental stone architecture, especially its carved, multistoried, solid stone pillars called stelae.

In the mid-4th century the Aksumite king Ezana converted to Christianity. The Aksumite church was affiliated with the Egyptian Coptic Church, and was also influenced by Syrian monasticism. With the spread of Islam in the 7th century, the Red Sea increasingly came under the control of an expanding Islamic state and Aksum lost much of its access to Indian Ocean trade. The kingdom of Aksum disintegrated in the 10th century, but its unique, monastic church persisted as the state religion of the subsequent kingdom of Ethiopia.

 

Asir

Asir is a province of Saudi Arabia. ‘Asir extends for 370 km (230 mi) along the southeastern shore of the Red Sea, between the province of Al Ḩijāz on the north and Yemen on the south. On its west side, the province is a coastal plain 64 km (40 mi) in width; this plain continues the Tihāmahof Al Ḩijāz. On the other side, it is a mountainous area, with peaks that rise abruptly to 2,800 m (9,200 ft) and then descend gradually to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) to join with the Najd plateau. Asir covers an area of 104,000 sq km (40,000 sq mi). The lowland plain is hot, with some fertile areas where wadis—streams that flow only during and after a rainfall—emerge from the mountains. The inland hills and wadis have a temperate climate and an annual rainfall of 250 to 300 mm (10 to 12 in), the highest in Arabia. The city of Jīzān is a significant port, and Abhā, the capital city of the province of Asir, is located 2100 m (7000 ft) above sea level.