|
A General History of Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s history
as an organized and independent
polity dates back to about 100 BC
with a kingdom at Axum in
the Northern Regional state
(Killil) of Tigray.
But the Axumite kingdom as
a state, emerged at about
the beginning of the Christian
era, i.e.,4th A.D and flourished
during the succeeding six
or seven centuries. It then
underwent prolonged decline
from the eighth to the twelfth
century A.D. Axum’s period of greatest power lasted from the 4th through
the 6th centuries .Its
core area lay in the highlands
of what’s today southern
Eritrea, Tigray, Lasta (in
the present-day Wallo),
and Angot (also in Wallo);
its major centers were at
Axum and Adulis. Earlier
centers, such as Yeha, also
contributed to its growth. At the kingdom's
height, its rulers over the Red sea coast
from Sawak in present day
Sudan, in the North to Berbera
in the present-day Somalia and inland
as far as the Nile valley
in modern Sudan. On the
Arabian side of the Red
sea, the Axumite rulers
at times controlled the
Coast and much of the interior
of modern Yemen. During
the sixth and seventh centuries,
the Axumite state lost its
possessions in South West
Arabia and much of its Red
sea coast line and gradually
shrank to its core area,
with the political center
of the state shifting farther
and farther Southward.
The rise of Islam in the
Arabian Peninsula had a
significant impact on Axum kingdom
during the seventh and eighth
centuries .By the time of
the Prophet Mohammed’s
death (A.D.632), the Arabian
Peninsula, and thus the
entire opposite shore of
the Red sea, had come under
the influence of the new
religion. The steady advance
of the faith of Mohammed
through the next century
resulted in Islamic conquest
of all of the former Sassanian
Empire and most of the former
Byzantine domination.
During the spread of Islam
by conquest, the
Islamic State's relations
with Axum were not hostile
at first. According to Islamic
tradition, some members
of Mohammed’s family
and some of his early converts
had taken refuge in Axum during the troubled
years presiding the Prophet’s
rise to power, and Axum
was exempted from the Jihad,
or Holy war, as a result.
The Arabs also considered
the Axumite state to be
on a par with the Islamic
State, the Byzantine Empire,
and China of the world’s
greatest kingdoms. Commerce
between Axum and at least
some Ports on the Red sea
continued, albeit on an
increasingly reduced scale.
When Axum collapsed in
the eighth century, power
shifted to South. As early
as the mid-seventh century,
the old capital at Axum
had been abandoned; thereafter,
it served only as a religious
center and as a place of
coronation for a succession
of kings who traced their
lineage to Axum. By then,
Axumite cultural, political,
and religious influence
had been established South
of Tigray in Agew districts
such as Lasta,Wag, Angot and
eventually, Amhara.
This southward expansion
continued over the following
several centuries. The favored
technique for expansion involved the establishment
of military colonies, which
served as core centers
from which Axumite culture,
Semitic language, and Christianity
spread to the surrounding
Agew population. By the
tenth century, a post-Axumite
Christian kingdom had emerged
which controlled the central
Northern highlands from
modern Eritrea to Shewa
and the coast from old Adulis
to Zeila in present-day
Somalia, territory considerably
larger than the Axumites
had governed.
During the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, Shewa
region became the scene of
renewed Christian expansion,
carried out by Semities
people-the Amhara.
|
