8-2 Eastern Africa

Africa Section 2: The Kingdoms of Kush and Aksum

In this section

1. You will learn how some African villages grew into city-states, kingdoms, and even empires. One of these was the independent kingdom of Kush.

2. You will also learn about the development of another kingdom south of Kush, called Aksum.

----------------------------------------------------

Essential Questions

1. What led to the growth of the kingdom of Kush?

2. How would Aksum’s location on the Red Sea and Ethiopian Highlands have helped it conquer Kush?

Source: Washington Post

The African kingdom of Kush arose along the upper Nile River in an area called Nubia. Kush, which had close ties to Egypt, thrived as an important trade corridor. Gold, ivory, ebony, and ostrich feathers were transported through the region. Caravans hauled goods from the Red Sea to barges on the Nile. Over centuries, Kush became a kingdom ruled by a dynasty. Its capital city was Napata, on the Nile River.

In the 1500s B.C. Egypt conquered Kush. Over many centuries the Nubian kingdom drew away from Egypt. Finally, in about 710 B.C., Kush conquered Upper Egypt. A Kush dynasty ruled a unified Egypt for about 50 years. Then the Assyrians, armed with iron weapons, invaded Kush, weakening the kingdom. About 80 years later, Egypt captured the capital. The kingdom of Kush reorganized, however, and a new period of cultural achievement began. Its new capital city, Meroë, may have been an early center of ironworking in Africa. The region’s fertile soil made Meroë a center of agriculture. Trade from the Red Sea to the Nile continued to be important. Caravans brought goods and cultural influences. Kush’s civilization reached its height between about 250 B.C. and A.D. 150. The people of Meroë built temples and pyramids and crafted beautiful pottery and metal ornaments. They developed a written language. Then the kingdom declined, perhaps because the land grew less fertile.

Trade routes were taken over by a rival state, Aksum. Aksum lay in the rugged Ethiopian Highlands south of Kush. Aksum, too, straddled important trade routes from the Red Sea to Egypt and the interior of Africa. By the A.D. 100s, Aksum had become an independent kingdom with a thriving ivory trade. Aksum’s traders sent gold, rhinoceros horns, ivory, incense, and obsidian stone through Egypt to the Mediterranean region. Aksum imported glass, metal ornaments, pottery, wine, and olive oil. Aksum minted its own coins. By A.D. 300, Aksum had become a military power. King Ezana of Aksum conquered Kush and established a thriving kingdom. Ezana controlled Aksum’s chiefdoms, received tribute from neighboring rulers, and collected taxes from trade.

Ezana converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of Aksum. The form of Christianity that grew in Aksum incorporated many of the people’s existing beliefs. It soon spread throughout the region. Today the Ethiopian Church remains an important part of African culture. Aksum’s control over the African Red Sea trade brought it great wealth. The kingdom began to decline, however, in the A.D. 600s. Overuse of farmland and destruction of forests caused erosion, decreasing production. The Persians gained control over the Red Sea trade. In the A.D. 700s, the rise of Islamic Arab power led to new political and economic competition. Arabs won control of both sides of the Red Sea. Aksum declined as a commercial and political power.

Answers to the essential questions

1. What led to the growth of the kingdom of Kush?

• The kingdom of Kush grew because it was located in an important corridor of trade between the Red Sea and the Nile. The region's fertile soil was also ideal for agriculture. The city of Meroë may have been an early center of ironworking in Africa.

2. How would Aksum’s location on the Red Sea and Ethiopian Highlands have helped it conquer Kush?

• Aksum’s location on the Red Sea and the Ethiopian highlands helped it compete with Kush for control of trade routes from the Red Sea to Egypt and the interior of Africa. Its location also gave it access to ivory, rhinoceros horns, obsidian stone, and other valuable trade items. The loss of control over trade weakened Kush’s economy, whereas Aksum used money from trade to build its military.