Ethiopia Documentary : Visit "አክሱም" Axum Heritages Part 1/2

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• published: 10 Oct 2008
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Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca. 400 BC into the 10th century. The kingdom was occasionally referred to in medieval writings as "Ethiopia". Located in the Mehakelegnaw Zone of the Tigray Region near the base of the Adwa mountains, the city has an elevation of 2,130 metres. It was the centre of the (eventual) Christian marine trading power the Aksumite Kingdom, which predated the earliest mentions in Roman era writings (around the time of the birth of Jesus) in good correlation to the expansion of Rome into northern Africa, and later when it developed into the Christian kingdom, was a quasi-ally of Byzantium against the day's Persian Empire. The historical record is unclear, primary sources being in the main limited to ancient church records. It is believed it began a long slow decline after the 7th century due partly to Islamic groups contesting trade routes. Eventually Aksum was cut off from its principal markets in Alexandria, Byzantium and Southern Europe and its trade share was captured by Arab traders of the era. The Kingdom of Aksum also quarreled with Islamic groups over religion. Eventually the people of Aksum were forced south and their civilization declined. As the kingdom's power declined so did the influence of the city, which is believed to have lost population in the decline similar to Rome and other cities thrust away from the flow of world events. The last known (nominal) king to reign was crowned ca. 10th century, but the kingdom's influence and power ended long before that. Its decline in population and trade then contributed to the shift of the power centre of the Ethiopian Empire so that it moved further inland and bequeathed its alternative place name (Ethiopia) to the region, and eventually, the modern state Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Axum has an estimated total population of 47,320 of whom 20,774 were males and 21,898 were females Seventy-five percent of the people in the city are members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The remainder of the population is Sunni Muslim and P'ent'ay (Protestant and other non-Orthodox Christians). አክሱም በሰሜን ኢትዮጵያ በትግራይ ክ/ሃገር ከአድዋ ተራራዎች አጠገብ የምትገኝ ከተማ ነች። በክርስቶስ ልደት አካባቢ ተመስርቶ የነበረው የአክሱም ስርወ መንግስት ማእከል ነበረች። የአክሱም ስርወ መንግስት በ12ኛው መቶ ክፍለ ዘመን አካባቢ እየተዳከመ ሲመጣ የማእከላዊው መንግስት ወደ ደቡብ ተንቀሳቀሰ። ሰባ አምስት በመቶ የሚሆነው የከተማው ነዋሪ የኦርቶዶክስ ሃይማኖት ተከታይ ነው። የተቀሩት ነዋሪዎች የሱኒ እስልምና ተከታዮች ናቸው። ባላቸው ታሪካዊ ተፈላጊነት ከተማ ውስጥ የሚገኙት የአክሱም ስርወ መንግስት ቅሪቶች UNESCO በ1980 የአለም ቅርስ ቦታ ተብለው ተሰይመዋል። አክሱም በኢትዮጵያ የ ትግራይ ክልል ከተማ ሲሆን በማዕከላዊ ዞንና በላዕላይ ማይጨው ወረዳ ይገኛል። በ1998 ማዕከላዊ የስታትስቲክስ ባለስልጣን እንደተመነው የ47,320 ሰው መኖሪያ ሲሆን እነሱም 23,542 ወንዶችና 23,778 ሴቶች ይገኙበታል።