Addis Herald
  • Home
  • History
  • Africa
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Culture
  • Art

Culture

  • BF1CAA6E-18B6-422A-B62B-16E90D1E0AD5Ethiopian Food as Divine Blessing
  • Skylight-hotel-New-Year-719-Copy-Copy-2-Copy-1How Perfect Is Ethiopian Calander? The Answer Lies On The Seventh Day Of Pagume ‘Aqede’
  • 581FB89E-5B1B-42C7-9A4C-C6658A75C52FEight must-try dishes for Ethiopian New Year in the UAE
  • ED93F3AC-74DA-413B-9810-5B803E7A915FLet this 99-year-old nun be your introduction to Ethio-jazz
  • E00B6DCF-A08A-4223-8597-6734E7355A12Dagmawi Lalibela: The Newest Rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia

Business

  • 49694448-951E-40EB-892F-0DC7CA997B7FWe want to help African airlines recover as we develop region’s aviation industry
  • 4423A6A8-9118-4001-A568-29491271B89BEthiopian Airline Expect To Double Its Fleet And Network By 2035
  • 338F47E9-4A86-4C4F-B56B-479A33A38BDBEthiopian To Fly 3x Daily To Johannesburg and Daily To South American Cities
  • 72B160A7-3A4E-49D6-984C-8AAFB0B7F710Ethiopia and Somalia are Scripting History With a Joint Infrastructure Project
  • 6A6D21B7-BE07-41C3-BC38-D28986C21290Ethiopian Airlines emerges core investor in Nigeria Air with 49% shareholding

Africa

  • C440468B-373F-4269-A304-F8C6C8601C31Is Al-Shabab a UN puppet, latest developments strongly suggest so
  • 53BFAF0F-3573-48A6-A062-B650F6D96118Did You Know 14 Teams With Players Of African Origins In 2022 World Cup
  • 45FE9518-D50A-4265-874F-6BB435842EB7Ten key Points That African Leaders Committed To Industrialize The Continent
  • 46E10F33-E3C8-4F7A-9B31-A3204390FC3CNCBA eyes deals for M-Shwari into DRC, Ethiopia
  • lesson-from-green-legacy-ethiopiaFour Years Into ‘Ethiopia Green Legacy Initiative’; It Has Succeeded In Planting 25 Billion Seedlings
December 6, 2018

The decline of Aksum

By Stuart Munro-Hay

The work of the geomorphologist Karl Butzer (1981) has suggested that the climate of northern Ethiopia may have changed for the worse just after the Aksumite period. The measurement of the Nile flood levels, recorded in Egypt, indicates that after a long period of excellent rainfall, more erratic precipitation ensued; this seems to have been after the abandonment of the city. However, if the land had reached a state of advanced degradation during the late Aksumite period, even the heavier rains, though theoretically ideal for the growth of the crops, would have contributed to the erosion on the slopes above the city and in the surrounding fields. What had been an advantage before had become another element in the vicious circle of the decay of the resources. It was the material brought down by the runoff caused by the rains from the hillsides that began to cover the buildings in the town as they were abandoned and fell into ruin.

Butzer’s figures suggest that until about 750AD floods were high in Egypt, then poorer with very low levels from the mid-tenth to late eleventh centuries, the period when the kingdom, after the invasion of the queen of the Bani al-Hamwiyya, had decayed almost to the point when the Zagwé dynasty could take over (Ch. 4: 8.3). The low-water levels after 730, in part following the spring rains in the Aksumite region, were already averaging below normal. It may be going too far to say that insufficient `little’ rains (the March to May rains) combined with erosion caused by the action of strong June-September rains on the denuded land both to shorten the growing season and remove the topsoil. Nevertheless, climatic factors may have had their part to play in the abandonment of Aksum.

  • Introduction
  • Archaeological Discovery
    • Ancient Aksum
    • The Rediscovery of Aksum
  • The City and the State
    • Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
    • The Development of Aksum
    • Cities, Towns and Villages
    • The Inhabitants
    • Foreign Relations
  • Aksumite History
    • Early Aksum
    • Gadarat to Endubis
    • Endubis to Ezana
    • Ezana to Kaleb
    • The End of the Coinage
    • The Post-Aksumite Period
  • The Civil Administration
    • Officials of the Government
    • Aksum, the Capital City
    • The Town Plan
    • Portuguese Records of Aksum
    • Domestic Architecture
    • The Funerary Architecture
    • The Stelae
  • The Monarchy
    • The Regalia
    • Dual Kingship
    • Succession
    • The Royal Titles
    • The Coronation
  • The Economy
    • Agriculture and Animal husbandry
    • Metal Resources
    • Trade
    • Local Industries
    • Food
  • The Coinage
    • Introduction of the Coinage
    • Internal Aspects of the Coinage
    • The Mottoes
    • The End of the Coinage
    • Modern Study of the Coinage
  • Religion
    • The Conversion to Christianity
    • Abreha and Atsbeha
    • Ecclesiastical Development
    • Churches
  • Warfare
    • The Military Structure
    • Weapons
    • The Fleet
    • The Inscriptions
  • Archaeological Records
    • Glassware
    • Stone Bowls
    • Metalwork
    • Aksumite Materials
  • Language
    • Literature
    • The Art
    • Saint Yared
  • Society and Death
    • Funerary Practice
  • The Decline of the Empire
    • The Arrival of Islam in Ethiopia
    • The decline of Aksum
    • External and Internal Troubles
    • The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum
  • Excavations at Aksum

Ethiopian History

  • Lucy
  • The Æthyopians
    • Ethiopia in Biblical Greek “Αιθιοπια”
    • Herodotus’s Ethiopia
    • The Legendary Queen of Sheba
    • The Horn Of Africa
    • Enoch ‘The black prophet’
    • The Ethiopic Book of Enoch
    • ETHIOPIANISM
    • Ethiopia Mystery and antiquity
  • Wonderful Ethiopians
  • Unknown Kings of Ethiopia
    • The Great Pyramids part 1
    • The Construction of the Pyramids part 2
    • Who Built the Giza Pyramids? Part 3
  • Kebra Nagast
  • Aksumite Empire
  • The Zagwe Dynasty
  • The Gadaa System
  • The Battle of Adwa
    • The Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
    • Mussolini’s atrocity
  • Profiling Africa
  • National Parks
  • Pages
  • Pages
The Decline of the Empire External and Internal Troubles

Related Posts

An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity

Aksumite Empire

Preface

600px-Pergamon-Museum_-_Wandmalerei_3

Aksumite Empire

Excavations at Aksum

The Hatsani Daniel

Aksumite Empire

The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum

The side of Ethiopia western media don’t show you

https://youtu.be/6GDR9x_Arq4

ambassador taye atske selassie remark

https://youtu.be/kB_jxM8SBl4

Travel

  • Ethiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments dating Back to the 1st CenturyEthiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments Dating Back to the 1st Century
  • ethiopia_ethiopian_wolf_35Brilliant Ethiopia: The Unique Wonder
  • F6BD7E94-BC77-4B3E-B905-7B140F12F5FDKenya Had an Elephant ‘Baby Boom’ — and Now You Can Adopt One
  • Addis_herald_omo_3910 Main Tourist Attractions Places in Africa
  • Homage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hubHomage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hub

Africa

  • C440468B-373F-4269-A304-F8C6C8601C31Is Al-Shabab a UN puppet, latest developments strongly suggest so
  • 53BFAF0F-3573-48A6-A062-B650F6D96118Did You Know 14 Teams With Players Of African Origins In 2022 World Cup
  • 45FE9518-D50A-4265-874F-6BB435842EB7Ten key Points That African Leaders Committed To Industrialize The Continent
  • 46E10F33-E3C8-4F7A-9B31-A3204390FC3CNCBA eyes deals for M-Shwari into DRC, Ethiopia
  • lesson-from-green-legacy-ethiopiaFour Years Into ‘Ethiopia Green Legacy Initiative’; It Has Succeeded In Planting 25 Billion Seedlings

Culture

  • BF1CAA6E-18B6-422A-B62B-16E90D1E0AD5Ethiopian Food as Divine Blessing
  • Skylight-hotel-New-Year-719-Copy-Copy-2-Copy-1How Perfect Is Ethiopian Calander? The Answer Lies On The Seventh Day Of Pagume ‘Aqede’
  • 581FB89E-5B1B-42C7-9A4C-C6658A75C52FEight must-try dishes for Ethiopian New Year in the UAE
  • ED93F3AC-74DA-413B-9810-5B803E7A915FLet this 99-year-old nun be your introduction to Ethio-jazz
  • E00B6DCF-A08A-4223-8597-6734E7355A12Dagmawi Lalibela: The Newest Rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia

Business

  • 49694448-951E-40EB-892F-0DC7CA997B7FWe want to help African airlines recover as we develop region’s aviation industry
  • 4423A6A8-9118-4001-A568-29491271B89BEthiopian Airline Expect To Double Its Fleet And Network By 2035
  • 338F47E9-4A86-4C4F-B56B-479A33A38BDBEthiopian To Fly 3x Daily To Johannesburg and Daily To South American Cities
  • 72B160A7-3A4E-49D6-984C-8AAFB0B7F710Ethiopia and Somalia are Scripting History With a Joint Infrastructure Project
  • 6A6D21B7-BE07-41C3-BC38-D28986C21290Ethiopian Airlines emerges core investor in Nigeria Air with 49% shareholding

RSS Allfrica.com News feed

  • Africa: Eight Trends That Will Impact Children in 2023
  • Africa: AU Commission Chairperson Welcomes Commemoration of 31 January As Africa Day of Peace and Reconciliation
  • Africa: SpaceX Announces Nigerian Operation, First in Africa
  • Africa: Gates Foundation Awards $35 Million to African Farmers
  • Africa: CHAN 2022 - Mahious, Koloina in Tight Golden Boot Race
  • Africa: Shelter Afrique Bets On a New Five-Year Strategic Plan to Improve Performance
  • Africa: No, Bill Gates Has Not Vowed to 'Pump MRNA Vaccines Into Food Supply'
  • Africa: Cultural Diversity On Display At TotalEnergies CHAN in Algeria
  • Africa: WHO Director-General's Remarks At the 152nd Session of the Executive Board
  • Africa: Global Guinea Worm Infections Continue Downward Trend
  • Abijitta-Shalla National Park
  • Alatish Ethiopian National Park
  • Awash National Park
  • Babille Elephant Sanctuary
  • Bahir Dar Blue Nile Millennium Park
  • Bale National Park; Ethiopia’s lesser-known Treasure
  • Bale Mountains National Park
  • Borena-Sayint National Park
  • Chebera Churchura National Park
  • Dati Wolel National park
  • Gambella National Park
  • Gambella National Park 2
  • Kafta-Sheraro National Park
  • Mago National Park
  • Maze National Park
  • Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia
  • Omo National Park 
  • The Semien Mountains
  • Yabello National Park
  • Yangudi Rassa National Park
© Addis Herald 2023
  • Contact us
en English
am Amharicar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekhi Hindiit Italianja Japaneseko Koreanla Latinru Russianes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedish