social studies

Study these two sites and take notes. Pay especial attention to religion, wealth, buildings, and customs.

http://wysinger.homestead.com/aksum.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia

http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html

Ms. Sue, the cites that you gave doesn't work. What happened to the cites you gave to us children where we use the information and get smarter in a lot of different ways?

Axum or Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia which was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century. The kingdom was also arbitrarily identified as Abyssinia, Ethiopia, and India in medieval writings.

Located in the Mehakelegnaw Zone of the Tigray Region near the base of the Adwa mountains, the city has an elevation of 2,131 meters. 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 nightsPersian 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.[1]

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.[2] 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).

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Ethiopia (pronounced /ˌiːθiˈəʊpiə/) (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), a landlocked state in the Horn of Africa, is one of the most ancient countries in the world. Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it is the second most populous nation in Africa with over 79.2 million people[5] and the tenth largest by area. The capital is Addis Ababa.

Though most African countries are far less than a century old, Ethiopia has been an independent country since ancient times. A monarchical state for most of its history, the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 10th century BC.[6] Besides being an ancient country, Ethiopia is one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today—having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces,[7] it might be the place where Homo sapiens first set out for the Middle East and points beyond.[8][9][10] When Africa was divided up by European powers at the Berlin Conference, Ethiopia was one of only two countries that retained its independence. It was one of only three African members of the League of Nations, and after a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa. In 1974, the dynasty led by Haile Selassie was overthrown as civil wars intensified. Since then, Ethiopia has been a secular state with a variety of governmental systems. Today, Addis Ababa is still the site of the headquarters of the African Union and [11] UNECA. The country has one of the most powerful militaries in Africa.

Ethiopia is the only African country with its own alphabet.[12] Ethiopia also has its own time system and unique calendar, seven to eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar. It has the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.[13] A land of natural contrasts, with spectacular waterfalls and volcanic hot springs, Ethiopia has some of Africa's highest mountains as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level. The largest cave in Africa is located in Ethiopia at Sof Omar and the country's northernmost area at Dallol is one of the hottest places year-round anywhere on Earth. There are altogether around 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia today, with the largest being the Oromo followed by the Amhara, both of which speak Afro-Asiatic languages. The country is also famous for its Olympic gold medalists, rock-hewn churches and as the place where the coffee bean originated. Currently,