Horn of Africa · Late Antiquity
Kingdom of Aksum
The African empire that minted its own coinage
100 CE – 940 CE · 840 years
A Red Sea trading power that minted its own currency and adopted Christianity as a state religion in late antiquity.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
Divine kingship
Writing system
Ge'ez script
Estimated peak population
5,000,000
How it ended
Trade network collapse
Traits
Monumental architecture Bronze metallurgy Iron metallurgy Irrigation agriculture Standing army Long-distance trade Urban planning Seafaring Codified law Astronomical record-keeping
How Kingdom of Aksum ended
Declined as Red Sea trade routes shifted and regional rivals rose.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Among the first states to mint its own coinage in Africa
- Massive monolithic stelae
- Early royal adoption of Christianity
Who else was alive at the same time
8 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Kingdom of Aksum's 840-year span.
See every overlap involving Kingdom of Aksum →