The Contributions to the Collapse of Aksum

“America’s ‘Oh Sh*t!’ Moment”, written by Niall Ferguson, a historian who teaches at Harvard University, in 2011, explores why civilizations collapse, and how America can avoid this. He does not focus only on America, but many civilizations in the past that have collapsed. Niall Ferguson is the author of Civilization: The West and The Rest. The article is creatively and cleverly written using the metaphor of modern technology to describe the way in which the societal collapse occurs. This shows that the article was written for adults who are highly educated and understand and relate to technology. The article discusses the possibilities of what complete collapse would look like in American society. I believe the author successfully

In Document 1, the map and the sentences stated explains to us that Aksum (Ethiopia today) became an “international trading center” during the year 325 to 360 BCE. The kingdom of Aksum soon became very culturally diverse because of all of the trading that is being done with places like Mecca and Memphis. In Document 8, the map and sentences stated explain that Ibn Battuta visited Kilwa, which was a coastal city-state in East Africa, and was flabbergasted once he saw the beautiful cities. It is then stated that Kilwa was the coastal city-state that controlled the overseas trade between the insides of Africa and the sites and places around that specific part of the world. The Red Sea was a very big contributor to the sea route of African trade because it allowed a way for Northern Africa to trade with India without having to trade over land. The sea routes were much more extensive then the land routes, which made trading with India much easier over water than land. Wealthiness due to conquering and gaining land also was a very important achievement from Africans, as explained in Document 2. In Document 2, a

“West African societies were shaped by competition for wealth and the search for independence from more powerful kingdoms” (History 2011). Most of Africa’s oldest kingdoms originated from West Africa. These old kingdoms contributed to the development and growth of Africa in many ways, especially trade and economic growth. As the new kingdoms replaced the old ones, they experienced a vast change. Conquest and warfare along caused these transformations to occur. It was also influenced by the patterns of trade. The earliest civilizations were in West Africa south of the Sahara desert. These civilisations grew at a time when most of the outside countries were experiencing The Dark Age. “After the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire around

Jared Diamond is a world renowned scientist, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and currently a geography professor at UCLA. Of his six books published, we will be looking at the last chapter of his fourth book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. In this book Diamond utilizes the comparative method to find resemblance in past societal collapses with our current society. In the chapter entitled, "The World as Polder: What Does it Mean to Us Today," Diamond points out that there are indeed many parallels between past and present societies and that our modern day society is currently on a path of self destruction , through examples such as globalization and the interdependency of each country.

The motivations behind the civilization of Africa are viewed in documents 1, 4, 7 and 11. Economic motivations and political global power such as the advantages of

The Bronze Age was a time where a majority of cultures across continents made significant advancements in their metalworking that allowed said cultures to thrive and flourish, and allowed some to even develop extensive written records. It was also the time when the very important metal known as “Bronze” was invented, which was used in said advanced metalworking. Bronze was used a plethora of different ways ranging from beautiful and stunning works of art to new forms of deadly weapons and stronger armors. However, at the very end of the Bronze Age (1500-1200 B.C.E.) Came a time where a wave of sudden violence, despair and darkness descended

purpose: Highlights the collapse of several historical societies and the factors that caused their collapse.

How did a small band of chiefdoms, barely distinguished from countless others, rise to become a massive trading ground for not only gold, but tradition? The Mali Empire, founded in the 1200s by Mansa Sundiata, was a powerful, influential kingdom that inevitably housed the transfer of countless cultures. Since it was founded atop gold fields, the Empire of Mali quickly established control over trade in Africa. Although there were numerous causes why Mali was a place of cultural exchange, the Empire of Mali’s wealth was the main origin because it constructed the University at Timbuktu, raised the Great Mosque of Djenne, and nourished beneficial trade.

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

The word “collapse” has a number of connotations associated with it. Some view it exclusively the degradation of societies of the highest order. Others see it as the complete disintegration of economic prospects and commerce. Some even think of it political ruin with the demise of states and ruling factions that maintain order. The most general definition for collapse can includes elements from these three viewpoints. American anthropologist and historian Joseph A. Tainter is best known for his writings on societal collapses. In 1988 he published his most widely recognized work, The Collapse of Complex Societies.

Have you ever wanted to know how Ancient Ghana became so wealthy? The trick is trade. Salt and gold were the key ingredients so the civilization could prosper, and also how ancient Ghana became one of the richest civilizations in 300 CE -1240 CE. Ancient Ghana was believed to be founded in 200- 300 although we still aren’t sure exactly when the empire was established. A tribe of people called the Soninke formed to create a union and an outsider from a far away land became the king.

Aksum was mostly populated with the indigenous Africans. It was long after the development of Aksum had there been any mixture of other ethnicity. The expansion of Aksum also welcomed other races and people. For

In the city-state of Axum in Ethiopia, people live along the red sea. There are plenty of Arabs and Africans that live there. In Axum, people trade gold, ivory, agriculture, and many other items for things like oils and dyes from the Roman Empire, Egypt, Arabia, and India. Axum had become one of the most wealthy and influential market cities along the Ethiopian Coast. Missionaries brought Christianity to Axum, which lead to King Ezana coming in 320 CE. King Ezana is known as the first Christian King of Africa.

the region became a thriving trading center in which merchants exchange gold and ivory for materials. The Axumite had a highly develop culture (Gish, Thay, Latif, & Nevins, Pg. 24-26). It's more famous biblical figure that’s been proclaimed by the six scribes, that the country monarchy was descended from the queen of Sheba and King Solomon in order to unite their country. The queen of Sheba visited king Solomon who in turn became her mentor in the arts of royal statecraft. Legend has it that their son Menelik I, was declared king by his father and that his descendants ruled the kingdom of Axum for centuries (Gish, Thay, Latif, & Nevins, Pg. 25-26). These details add a rich spiritual texture to Ethiopia history. Ethiopia power in the monarchy lasted many years until it enters military rule, of 1974-1991(Gish, Thay, Latif, & Nevins, Pg. 31). The last emperor Haile Selassie modernizes the country, introduces a constitution, a two-house parliament, and a court system. He also abolishes slavery and eliminated brutal punishment for crime (Heinrichs, Pg.50). He was a respected leader among the African nations. He also brought Ethiopia into the United Nations, and in 1963, helped form

Aksumite buildings such as palaces were constructed atop podia built of loose stones held together with mud-mortar, with carefully cut granite corner blocks which rebated back a few centimeters at regular intervals as the wall got higher, so the walls narrowed as they rose higher. Most structures, however, like palaces, villas, commoner's houses, and other churches and monasteries, were built of alternating layers of clay and wood. Since the majority Ethiopia is alternating between jungle and rainforest and has a ton of trees, most of the houses and dwellings are built out of wood. The roofs of the houses were thatched as well as possible with sticks they gathered from trees they cut down to build the house, to stop nas many leaks as they could