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The Kingdom of Axum ruled
from the 1st century AD, and at its
height controlled northern Ethiopia,
Eritrea, northern Sudan, southern
Egypt, Djibouti, Yemen, and
southern Saudi Arabia. Axum was
converted to Christianity in the 4th
century, and its people carved
churches in rocks and wrote and
interpreted religious texts. It was
and is the alleged resting place of the
Ark of the Covenant and the home
of the Queen of Sheba.
Axum was an important
marketplace for ivory, which was
exported throughout the ancient
world; it controlled two harbors on
the Red Sea: Adulis, near Massawa,
and Avalites (Assab).
Between 1855 and 1889, Ethiopia
(Axum having adopted the name in
the 4th century) began to make its
presence felt. It was different from
other African states in that it had a
central institution in the ancient
Coptic Church which, being an
educator, provided an elite of like-
minded people able to deal with
Europeans. A succession of rulers
was able to control and extend the
state and, more importantly, were
skillful enough to avoid the financial
and diplomatic problems that might
lead to European intervention.
In 1896, under Emperor Menelik
II, the Ethiopians were able to resist
the Italians at the Battle of Adwa,
thus preventing their attempts at
conquest. Ethiopia was brutally
occupied by Mussolini’s Italy from
1936 to 1941, a period which ended
with its liberation by British Empire
and Ethiopian patriot forces. By
1914, Ethiopia and Liberia were the
only independent states still existing
in Africa.
In 1952 Haile Selassie
orchestrated Ethiopia’s federation
with Eritrea, which he dissolved in
1962, Eritrea’s
annexation
sparking
the Eritrean War of Independence.
Although Haile Selassie was seen as
a national and African hero, opinion
within Ethiopia turned against him
due to the worldwide oil crisis of
1973, food shortages, uncertainty
regarding the succession, border
wars, and discontent among the
middle classes.
Haile Selassie’s reign came to
an end in 1974, when a Soviet-
backed Marxist-Leninist military
junta, the “Derg,” led by Mengistu
Haile Mariam, deposed him
and established a one-party
Communist state.
A Concise History of Africa
Text-Dependent Questions
1. Explain the meaning of Maghreb and the countries it
consists of?
2. How many Barbary wars were there?
3. What permanent rivers run through the Sahara Desert?
4. What year was the Suez Canal opened?
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