Aksum, a large economic kingdom in East Africa flourished around the Greek and Roman times. Aksum gained most of its power through trade. The environment and abundance of natural resources caused other kingdoms from all around the world to peak in interest, ultimately resulting in advanced production and distribution of many staple products such as gold. While Africa was supplying many valuable items to other countries, gold was one of the most important materials to their economic power. The gold mines in Axum, the way of African trade, and the overall significance of gold triggered a rise in status and power throughout Africa.
The kingdom of Aksum itself enveloped most of the region of Egypt and Ethiopia. “Aksum (also called Axum), centered in the highlands of what is now northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea, was an important state and a lively center of trade from the third to sixth centuries CE.”(Ellen Bailo, ?). Its establishment wasn’t defined by a specific action, more like there was an approximate time range from when it started to trade and become popular. “The origins of the Kingdom of Aksum can be traced back to the pre-Axumite period (700–400 bce) and the subsequent proto-Axumite period (400–50 bce).”(Jennifer Stock, ?). The Aksumites were famous for their economic and cultural side, and for also surviving without that much of a political system. “And I sent a fleet and land forces against the Arabitae and Cinaedocolpitae who dwelt on the other side of the Red Sea [southern Arabia], and having reduced the sovereigns of both, I imposed on them a land tribute and charged them to make traveling safe both by sea and by land. . . . I first and alone of the kings of my race made these conquests.”(Axum and the World, ?). Trade in Aksum was the most important aspect of the kingdom, and in their environment which contained the Sahara desert which made the temperature hot but the ground was fertile and able for them to have little but plentiful farmland. One of their staple exports was gold, in which they had easy access to gold mines in their environment. “The country known as that of Sasu is itself near the ocean, just as the ocean is near the frankincense country, of which there are many gold mines.”(Axum and the World, ?).
African trade was very developed and more spread out than most people believe. They had many surpluses of materials that were very rare in most other countries and empires. As the demand for their goods grew, the people of Africa slowly adapted to their environment and were able to distribute their products very well. “One of the earliest commodities traded surely was salt, which is required by camels, other livestock, and people, and is restricted in its West African distribution as rocksalt to a mere handful of localities in the desert.”(John Middleton, ?). They used camels to transport their products in order to distribute them quickly and efficiently. “The ability of the camel to transport loads of 300 to 500 pounds across desert terrain without water for days transformed the desert economy, ultimately making large-scale, long-distance commodity trade possible.”(John Middleton, ?). Africa’s main products were mostly raw materials which, “included ivory, emeralds, gold, obsidian,…” but it also varied to animals and herbs, “such as monkeys, aromatics, spices, and human slaves.”(Jennifer Stock, ?). Africa trades these objects with a vast majority of different places. But “The earliest trade connections were between the Aksumite Empire and South Arabia, but… it expanded between the Roman Empire and India.”(Jennifer Stock, ?). Due to their wide range of trading options and greatly known trading partners trade and Africa erupted into a huge aspect of their power and slowly grew and advanced into the Africa that is known today.
Aksum, as described before, was an economically powerful kingdom that ruled in the early to the middle common era. Aksum was one of if not the main trade center in Africa. The environment was difficult but they modified their ways in order to be accustomed to it. “The area of Aksum is a high, mountainous plateau, with steep slopes that make travel difficult. Yet that highland area, between the Nile River Valley and Sudan to the west and the Red Sea to the east, was ideally situated to act as a trade center for luxury goods from Africa.”(Ellen Bialo,?) Using this river, they were able to deliver products throughout Africa and to the port of Adulis which was one of the main ports in Africa. “The city of Adulis was situated on one of the few natural harbors on the Horn of Africa along the Red Sea, just a short distance from the Arabian Peninsula.”(Jennifer Stock, ?). Some of what they traded most consisted of, “Gold, ivory, turtle shells, rhinoceros horns, spices, emeralds, monkeys, incense, obsidian, slaves, hippopotamus hides, and more.”(Ellen Bialo, ?). Trade centers were important in Africa at this time and Aksum contributed to the economic status that Africa had during this time.
In both Aksum’s trade and Africa’s trade, gold was one of the most status and power claiming minerals that they had to trade. There was an abundant amount of Gold in Africa at this time and as it was produced the need for it grew larger and larger. “On a global scale, the medieval West African world region was an important supplier of gold.”(Ray Kea, ?). Having gold be a very rare metal the Africans used it to their advantage and traded gold for many reasonable things. Aksum traded mostly for gold by visiting other villages that had gold mines. “Within this, they live, and having slaughtered the oxen, cut them in pieces, and lay the pieces on the top of the thorns, along with the lumps of salt and the iron. Then come the natives bringing gold in nuggets like peas, and lay one or two or more of these upon what pleases them—the pieces of flesh or the salt or the iron, and then they retire to some distance off.”(Axum and the World, ?) The people of Africa, specifically Aksum, had a system. They traded within their fellow cities with a progressive way of mind. Such as for trade, Africans used gold for many things but the one of the most common was currency. “Historians believe that the first coins, which bear the name of King Endybis (c. 270), were intended for international trade because they adhere to the weight standard used by the Roman Empire.” Although these specific coins were not documented as used, gold still played a huge role in the economy. It’s production and distribution directly affected the power that Africa had. “The scale of production, circulation, and global intermediation of gold may be attributed to massive expansions—economic, institutional, political, and social—and their subsequent multiplier effects.”(Ray Kea, ?). The significance of gold itself had a contribution to the power gained by the African Empire by being very abundant in the African region.
Gold, being one of the most important materials produced and distributed from Africa, contributed directly to the power of the African Kingdom. As well as the trade in Aksum, an economic center that controlled a portion of Africa’s trade and the way of Africa’s trade itself
Connect to thesis
Bibliography
“Axum and the World.” Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources, by Robert W. Strayer and Eric Nelson, 2nd ed., Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers, 2016, pp. 292–295.
Bialo, Ellen. "Aksum: Thriving Center of Trade." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2018, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1185563?cid=41&sid=1185563. Accessed 22 Mar. 2018.
"The Kingdom of Aksum Is Founded: c. 100." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History, edited by Jennifer Stock, vol. 1: Africa, Gale, 2014. World History In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/YLHAEX403162697/WHIC?u=san66643&sid=WHIC&xid=85326f5e. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.
"Western Desert And Margins, History Of (1000 BCE TO 600 CE)." New Encyclopedia of Africa, edited by John Middleton and Joseph C. Miller, 2nd ed., vol. 5, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, pp. 207-209. World History In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3049000691/WHIC?u=san66643&sid=WHIC&xid=2e089c0f. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Kea, Ray. "West African Trade: the Local and the Global: Trade and Material Life." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2018, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1541150?cid=14. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.