00:00In the third century, one of the four greatest powers in the world was African.
00:03The Roman Empire, Persia, China and Aksum.
00:07It traded as far as India and was one of the first Christian kingdoms in the world.
00:10So why did this empire collapse?
00:13Around the year zero, northern Ethiopia was populated by farmers and traders.
00:17But one city is beginning to centralize power: Aksum.
00:20Reason, its possession.
00:22It is located between inland Africa and the Red Sea.
00:24Ivory from the continent passes through it before heading towards the sea.
00:27And at the time, the Red Sea was the trade highway between the Roman Empire and India.
00:32So, Aksum relies on a port for trade, in Doulis, eight days away by road.
00:36And that's a stroke of genius.
00:38Greek, Roman, Indian, and Egyptian ships stopped there.
00:41Aksum then became the economic center of the region.
00:44As a result, the kingdom became considerably richer.
00:47It became so rich that it was the only African kingdom of the time to mint its own currency.
00:52He is using Greek, the language of commerce, to make it more widely accepted.
00:55And above their tombs, the kings had giant stelae erected, carved from a single block, still visible today.
01:00Today.
01:01It was at this time that a Persian prophet drew up his top 4 list of the greatest powers in the world.
01:05Persia, Rome, China and Aksum.
01:09But the real turning point of Aksum begins a little later.
01:11In the 4th century, a ship from what is now Lebanon made a stopover in the Red Sea.
01:15The crew is massacred.
01:17Only two Christian boys were spared and taken as slaves to the court of Aksum.
01:21One of them gains the king's trust and is entrusted with the education of the young prince, Ezana.
01:25Ezana converted to Christianity once he became king.
01:28Aksum then became one of the very first Christian kingdoms in the world.
01:31Even before the Roman Empire made it its official religion.
01:34This is madness.
01:35And this is also one of the reasons why Ethiopia was never colonized.
01:39because she was already a Christian.
01:41200 years later, Aksum reached its peak.
01:43In Yemen, a king is persecuting Christians.
01:45Then the kingdom crossed the Red Sea with its army and crushed it.
01:49Aksum extends across both shores of the sea.
01:51But it is from this point that its decline begins.
01:53Around 570, the Persians seized Yemen.
01:56Aksum loses the other bank.
01:58Then the Arab powers expanded along the trade routes and isolated Aksum.
02:02Its business is being stifled.
02:03It then loses control of its port and its kings retreat inland.
02:07Cut off from the sea that gave birth to it, the Empire collapses.
02:10Today, the city of Aksum still exists in Ethiopia.
02:13But its old port, Adjulis, is in Eritrea.
02:16The reason is that in 1993, the Eritreans voted for their independence.
02:20And Ethiopia finds itself without any rating.
02:22The country then demanded a port.
02:23Eritrea accuses him of wanting to take it by force.
02:26And in early October, the two countries severed diplomatic relations.
02:29Aksum was one of the four greatest powers in the world.
02:32And today, Ethiopia is the most populated landlocked country.
