Kingdom of Aksum

==Society==
The Aksumite population mainly consisted of [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]-speaking groups, one of these groups were the [[Agʿazi]]an or the speakers of [[Geʽez language|Geʽez]], the commentor of the [[Adulis]] inscription identifies them as the main inhabitants of [[Aksum]] and its surroundings. The [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]]-speaking [[Agaw people]] were also known to have lived within the kingdom, as [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]] notes that a "governor of Agau", was entrusted by King [[Kaleb of Axum]] with the protection of the vital long-distance caravan routes from the south, suggesting that they lived within the southern frontier of the Aksumite kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hable Selassie |first1=Sergew |title=Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 |pages=27 }}</ref><ref>Taddesse Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 50.</ref> Aksum also had a sizeable [[African Greeks#Axumites of Ethiopia|Ethiopian Greek]] population, which resided in the cities of [[Ptolemais Theron]] and [[Adulis]].<ref>Crawford Young, ''The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-state at Bay?'', (University of Wisconsin Press: 1993), p. 160</ref> [[Nilotic peoples|Nilotic]] groups also inhabited Aksum, as inscriptions from the time of [[Ezana of Axum|Ezana]] note the "Barya", an animist tribe who lived in the western part of the empire, believed to be the [[Nara people|Nara]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankhrust |first1=Richard |title=The Ethiopian Borderlands |year=1997 |page=33 |publisher=The Red Sea Press |isbn=9780932415196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&q=ethiopian+borderlands}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hatke |first1=George |title=Aksum and Nubia |date=7 January 2013 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814762837 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oy7N_d6HoYIC&dq=Aksumite+baryas&pg=PA165}}</ref>

Aksumite settlements were distributed across a significant portion of the highlands in the northern Horn of Africa, with the majority located in northeastern [[Tigray Region|Tigray]], Ethiopia, as well as the [[Akele Guzai]] and [[Seraye]] regions of Eritrea. Despite the concentration in these areas, some Aksumite settlements such as [[Tchika Beret]] are located as far as [[South Wollo]]. In addition to the highlands, sites from the Aksumite period were discovered along the Red Sea coast of Eritrea, near the [[Gulf of Zula]]. Numerous Aksumite settlements were strategically positioned along an axis that traversed from Aksum to the [[Gulf of Zula]], forming a route connecting the Aksumite capital in the highlands to the principal Aksumite port of [[Adulis]] on the Red Sea. Along this route, two of the largest Aksumite-era settlements, [[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]] and [[Qohaito]], were situated in the Eritrean highlands. The concertation of these Aksumite ancient settlements suggests high population density in the highlands of Tigray and central Eritrea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=187}}</ref> According to [[Taddesse Tamrat]], the integral regions of the Aksumite Kingdom included "much of the province of [[Tigray Region|Tigre]], the whole of the Eritrean plateau" and the regions of [[Wag Province|Wag]], [[Lasta]] and [[Angot]].<ref>Taddesse Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 50.</ref>

A complex agricultural system in the Aksumite area, which involved irrigation, dam construction, terracing, and plough-farming, played a crucial role in sustaining both urban and rural populations. Aksumite farmers cultivated a variety of cereal crops with origins from both Africa and the Near East. These crops included [[teff]], [[finger millet]], [[sorghum]], emmer wheat, bread wheat, hulled barley, and oats. In addition to cereal crops, Aksumite farmers also grew linseed, cotton, grapes, and legumes of Near Eastern origin such as lentils, fava beans, chickpeas, common peas, and grass peas. Other important crops included the African oil crop, [[Guizotia abyssinica]], as well as gourds and cress. This diverse range of crops, combined with the herding of domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats, contributed to the creation of a highly productive indigenous agropastoral food-producing tradition. This tradition played an integral role in the development of the Aksumite economy and the consolidation of state power.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=187}}</ref>