What Did Axum Do?

Covering parts of what is now northern Ethiopia and southern and eastern Eritrea, Aksum was deeply involved in the trade network between India and the Mediterranean (Rome, later Byzantium), exporting ivory, tortoise shell, gold and emeralds, and importing silk and spices.

What is Axum known for?

Known for its monumental obelisk and as an early center of Christianity in Africa, Axum became one of the holiest of cities of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Despite Axum's current state of poverty, it was once a city distinguished by prestigious power. ... By the third century A.D. Axum had established its own currency.

What made Axum unique?

It was the first sub-Saharan African state to mint its own coinage and, around 350 CE, the first to officially adopt Christianity. Axum even created its own script, Ge'ez, which is still in use in Ethiopia today.