SocietySub-Saharan Africa

Aksum

100 – 940

One of the world's four great powers, according to a Persian contemporary

In depth

A third-century Persian writer counted Aksum among the world's four great realms, alongside Rome, Persia and China. The Ethiopian church has maintained an unbroken tradition since, with its own scriptures and its own calendar. One obelisk was carried off to Rome by Mussolini in 1937 and only returned in 2005.

For children

The kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia controlled the trade between Africa, Arabia and India. It minted its own coins and raised stone obelisks over thirty metres tall, cut from single blocks. Aksum became Christian in the fourth century — before most of Europe.

Connects to

Kush and Meroë751 BCE – 350
Christianity legalised313
The rock churches of LalibelaJan 1200
Islam beginsJan 622

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org