No. 12
Aksum
- Where
- Ethiopia
- Built by
- Kingdom of Aksum
- Era
- 100-940 CE
- Known for
- Granite stelae up to 108 feet tall and its own minted coins.
- How it ended
- Lost its Red Sea trade, likely worsened by soil loss and drought.
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Background
Axum, also spelled Aksum ( ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire.
Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Region, near the base of the Adwa mountains. It has an elevation of 2,131 metres (6,991 feet) and is surrounded by La'ilay Maychew, a separately administered woreda of the Tigray region.
In 1980, UNESCO added Axum's archaeological sites to its list of World Heritage Sites due to their historic value. Prior to the beginning of the Tigray War in 2020, Axum was a leading tourist destination for foreign visitors.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.