The Heritage City of Meknes Morocco

The Heritage City of Meknes has exerted a considerable influence on the development of the civil and military architecture and works of art. The name of Meknes goes back to the Meknassa, the great Berber tribe that dominated eastern Morocco to as far as the Tafililet and which produced Moulay ldriss I, founder of the Moroccan state and the ldrissid dynasty in the 8th century AD.

Continent: Africa

Country: Morocco

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (IV)

Date of Inscription: 1996

The Almoravid period

The Almoravid rulers (1053-1147) made a practice of building strongholds for storing food and arms for their troops; this was introduced by Youssef Ben Tachafine, the founder of Marrakech. Meknes was established in this period, at first bearing the name Tagrart. The earliest part to be settled was around the Nejjarine mosque, an Almoravid foundation. Markets congregated around the mosque, specializing in firearms, woodwork, metal products, etc. Like other settlements of the time, Meknes was not fortified: walls were not added until the end of the Almoravid period.

The town fell into the hands of the Almohad dynasty (1147-1269) at the start of their rule: it was taken by an army led by the caliph Abdelmoumen in person. During this period it was enlarged and urbanized. An inscription states that the Great Mosque was enlarged during the reign of Mohamed Annacer (1199-1213). Water from the Tagma spring was brought to the town to serve the various fountains, baths, and mosques. At that time there were four sets of baths (hammam), the location of which indicates how the town had spread.

The Heritage City of Meknes Morocco

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During the subsequent Merinid period (1269-1374) Meknes absorbed the suburbs that had grown up round it. Refugees from the Moorish centres in Andalusia that fell to Christian forces also helped to swell the population, among them a significant Jewish community. Following Merinid practice, Abou Youssof (1269-86) built a kasoan (only the mosque of which survives) outside the old town, as well as the first of the three medersa (Islamic schools) with which the Merinid rulers endowed Meknes. Other public buildings from the Merinid period included mosques, hospitals, libraries, and fountains.

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The founder of the Alaouite dynasty, Moulay lsmaTI (1672-1727), made Meknes his capital city and carried out many reconstructions and additions, such as mosques, mausolea, and gardens, but his main contribution was the creation of a new imperial city. Built in the Hispano-Moorish style, it is impressive in both extent and construction. lt is enclosed by high walls pierced by monumental gates. Within are the palace with its enormous stables, a military academy, vast granaries, and water storage cisterns.

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Ruins of Loropeni Burkina

The recent inter-disciplinary project has allowed a reassessment of the history of Loropeni. This has pushed much further back the date of its construction from around the 17th century to at least the 11th century AD and disassociated it from the Gan people, mentioned in the previous evaluation report. Indeed in spite of the many writings on these ruins since the beginning of the 20th century, no serious archaeological investigations have been undertaken to support information from oral traditions and the other documentary sources. The recent targeted excavations were to thus able to start to bridge this gap.

Continent: Africa

Country: Burkina

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)

Date of Inscription: 2009

Loropeni ruins

It is necessary to locate the construction of the Loropeni ruins in the geopolitical context of the sub-Saharan kingdoms. They appeared after the fall of the first empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, when there were migrations of gold miners and goldsmiths into the Lobi area, and well before the development to the south of the Akan kingdoms, such as the powerful Ashanti kingdom, which caused migrations to the north as people fled slave hunters. Around Lobi country are the remains of many gold mines such as Werimitangna, close to Loropeni.

The gold bearing region was connected by caravans to the large commercial cites to the north on the river Niger, such as Djenne, Mopti and Timbuktu and from there across the Sahara to north Africa., It was probably later that the gold was traded south to the Atlantic coast. Lobi country is crossed by the north-south Mopti - Sore-Dioulasso - Kong route, and the east-southwest route from Ouagadougou, through Boromo, Diebougou, Gaoua, to Bondoukou.

Ruins of Loropeni Burkina

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The ruins have long been associated with the gold trade but the evidence for this is circumstantial. It is suggested that such large and fortified structures need to be associated with defending a high value product and the need to house labour. The southern enclose could have been used for slaves or miners at the gold mines. However no direct evidence for gold or for the use of the southern enclosure was forthcoming from the recent excavations.

Most oral traditions collected since the "discovery" of the ruins in 1902 indicate the Koulango people as builders of fortresses in the area, as well as in Burkina Faso in Ivory Coast. However, the most recent research shows that the Koulango were preceded by Lorhon and Nabe peoples who migrated south into the area and were known to be in the area of Kong, from the 10th century.

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The Gan, who have been attributed as being the builders of the ruins, simply re-used them from the end of the 17th century when they left the territory of current Ghana to escape oppression from the Ashanti. At around the same time the focus of gold production moved south to the Ashanti area and the gold trade declined around the Lobi area. With its decline the fortified buildings were abandoned to be re-colonised by the Gan.

This is contrary to the work of Madeleine Père, recently published posthumously, who maintained that the Loropeni settlement would have been built by Tokpã Farma, ninth king of the dynasty of Gan, towards the end of his life with the aim of transferring the capital to it from Obire. This project apparently did not meet with the approval of the ancestors and he died three years later. This explains the name 'Kpôkayâga', the house of the refusal, by which the site is known. In the previous report it was stated that not all local historians and archaeologists accept the attributions of the ruins to the Gan. It was suggested that archaeological excavations could provide evidence to help understand the genesis of the ruins and this indeed has been the case.

Certain versions of oral tradition record that the quadrangular ramparts were initially built then the interior partitions and finally the buildings. Observation of the junction between the walls corroborates this assertion.

Recent studies and excavations have revealed evidence for use over a long duration and with possible discontinuities, or even periods of abandonment. Certain zones present several coats of plaster (up to five perfectly distinct layers), and the mortar in the external walls shows clearly several repairs. The higher levels from the excavation show a poverty of finds suggesting that the places could have been looted. Loropeni seems to have fallen out of use in the early to mid-19th century and before colonial times. The trees growing out of the ruins confirm this timescale.

The recent research has provided some enlightenment, but more work is needed. The conclusion of the archaeological report is that it is necessary to set up a research programme of a few years duration to elucidate better the function, use and historical context of the ruins.

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Koutammakou the Land of the Batammariba Togo

The Koutammakou, a cultural landscape in north-eastern Togo extending into neighbouring Benin, is home to the Batammariba people whose remarkable Takienta mud tower-houses have come to be seen as a symbol of Togo. They are also a reflection of social structure and are known to blend uniquely with the natural environment of farmland and forest. Many of the buildings are two storeys high and those with granaries feature an almost spherical form above a cylindrical base. Some of the buildings have flat roofs, others have conical thatched roofs. They are grouped in villages, which also include ceremonial spaces, springs, rocks and sites reserved for initiation ceremonies.

Continent: Africa

Country: Togo

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (V)(VI)

Date of Inscription: 2004

The word Butabu

The word butabu describes a process of moistening earth with water in preparation for building. Whether modelled by hand or built from mud-brick, the variety of architectural forms found throughout West Africa illustrates the myriad ways in which the simple properties of earth and water have come together to create works of striking artistic sophistication and interest.

Not only do the sun's rays bathe the earthen core of a building, making it hard and resilient, but they also continually redefine the structure's surface and interior features with patterns of light and shade as they pass overhead through the course of each day. Many of these edifices, especially the tall ones, boast rows of timbers bristling from their exteriors, on which the sun's shadows play particularly dramatically. These spiky elements serve both to solidify the structure, and to help alleviate moisture, but also to offer supportive scaffolding during yearly plastering. Building roofs, which have wooden or pottery drain spouts to channel seasonal rains, are made from thatch or earth, the latter either domed or flat.

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West African earthen architecture collectively challenges the inherent boundaries between built form and sculpture in their visual power and unique play of texture, geometry, light, and shade. These buildings incorporate the vital attributes of geometrical primacy and boldness that pervade so many of the continent's figural traditions and invite tactility, an element critical to appreciation. Centuries of upheaval, which led to the massive uprooting of local populations through war, migrations, and slavery, also have left a mark on the region's architecture, and in part, as a result, this architecture also expresses vital social and political concerns.

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On the interior, multiple levels of space often are articulated through a combination of pole and beam flooring/terrace articulation supported by the adjacent earthen joining walls. Upper levels, which are reached by earthen steps or ladders, serve a variety of functions as both open-air spaces and enclosed chambers.

Beyond their sheer architectural value, West African buildings of earth are often imbued with potent symbolism. Cones of the same material, which historically have served as shrines in this area dedicated to deities, ancestors, wild game, and an array of spirit powers, often punctuate a portal, either at ground level or along the roofline.

In addition to the Takienta mud-tower houses, the Koutammakou landscape is also marked by its farmland and forest. There is a great value in the 'associations between people and landscape' in the hilly landscape of the Togo-Benin border, where nature is strongly associated with the rituals and beliefs of society.

The Koutammakou is an outstanding example of a system of traditional settlement that is still living and dynamic and subject to traditional and sustainable systems and practices, and which reflects the singular culture of the Batammariba, particularly the Takienta tower houses. It is eloquent testimony to the strength of spiritual association between people and landscape, as manifested in the harmony between the Batammariba and their natural surroundings.

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Medina of Sousse Tunisia

Medina of Sousse bears exceptional witness to the civilization of the first centuries of the Hegira. The medina constitutes an early and interesting example of a new type of Islamic city. The most ancient and best conserved of all, the ribat of Sousse is an excellent example of this type of construction. The port of Sousse was the Phoenician outpost of Hadrumetum, a free Roman city, the capital of Byzacium under Diocletian, the Vandal city of Hunericopolis, and finally the Byzantine city of Justiniana or Justinianopolis. No monument, however, survives from these thousand years of history, for during his conquest of Ifriqiya, Oqba ibn Nafìi entirely destroyed Justinianopolis after a two-month siege. Built in the late 7th century on these ruins and given its present name, Sousse was a completely new city.

Continent: Africa

Country: Tunisia

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)(IV) (V)

Date of Inscription: 1988

The most ancient monument

The most ancient monument still standing, the Ribat, belongs to that period. It was part of the Islamic defences against the Byzantine fleets. The ribats housed the garrisons of the Defenders of the Faith, the Mourabitin, and their austere architecture reflected the structures' dual military/religious function. In 821 the Emir Ziyadat Allah I completed the fortifications by adding a square bastion with tower which served both as a watchtower and as a minaret. From the enclosed port, protected by these walls, Muslim troops embarked in 827 on their conquest of Sicily.

Under the Aghlabids (800-909), Sousse rapidly flourished. Certain significant monuments were constructed in this golden century: the mosque of Bu Ftata, the first kasbah, and the Great Mosque, founded by the Emir Abdul Abbas Mohammed. In 859, the urban walls seem to have been in their final stage of completion, and the limits of the medina were broadly drawn. The surrounding fortifications made the military function of the ribat less vital and it reverted fully to its religious function.

Medina of Sousse Tunisia

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The port declined with the founding of Mahdia in 916, but re-established itself in the 11th century. In the 12th century its status was again compromised when the Sicilian Normans captured Sousse and held it for eleven years. The Spanish troops of Charles V took Mahdia in 1554; after this it recovered to some extent.

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The medina was conceived according to a regular plan with its meridian axis running from Bab el Khabli to the ribat and the ancient interior port, and its east-west axis going from Bab el Djedid to Bab el Gharbi. It is a rectangular enclosure flanked with towers and turrets, a single gate on the south, an inner courtyard rising over two levels with 35 cells opening on to it. It has a mosque on the southern side of the first storey with the south-east tower, added in 821, serving as both minaret and watchtower; from it signals could be transmitted to the ribat at Monastir.

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Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests Kenya

The Mijikenda Kaya Forests consist of 11 separate forest sites spread over some 200 km along the coast containing the remains of numerous fortified villages, known as kayas, of the Mijikenda people. The kayas, created as of the 16th century but abandoned by the 1940s, are now regarded as the abodes of ancestors and are revered as sacred sites and, as such, are maintained as by councils of elders. The site is inscribed as bearing unique testimony to a cultural tradition and for its direct link to a living tradition.

Continent: Africa

Country: Kenya

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)(V) (VI)

Date of Inscription: 2008

Ten Separate Forested Sites

Spread out along around 200km of the coast province of Kenya are ten separate forested sites, mostly on low hills, ranging in size from 30 to around 300 ha, in which are the remains of fortified villages, Kayas, of the Mijikenda people. They represent more than thirty surviving Kayas.

The Kayas began to fall out of use in the early 20th century and are now revered as the repositories of spiritual beliefs of the Mijikenda people and are seen as the sacred abode of their ancestors. The forests around the Kayas have been nurtured by the Mijikenda community to protect the sacred graves and groves and are now almost the only remains of the once extensive coastal lowland forest.

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests Kenya

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The Kayas provide focal points for Mijikenda religious beliefs and practices, are regarded as the ancestral homes of the different Mijikenda peoples, and are held to be sacred places. As such they have metonymic significance to Mijikenda and are a fundamental source of Mijikenda's sense of 'being-in-the-world' and of place within the cultural landscape of contemporary Kenya. They are seen as a defining characteristic of Mijikenda identity.

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Since their abandonment as preferred places of settlement, Kayas have been transferred from the domestic aspect of the Mijikenda landscape to its spiritual sphere. As part of this process, certain restrictions were placed on access and the utilisation of natural forest resources. As a direct consequence of this, the biodiversity of the Kayas and forests surrounding them has been sustained. The Kayas are under threat both externally and from within Mijikenda society through the decline of traditional knowledge and respect for practices.

The Kayas are now the repositories of spiritual beliefs of the Mijikenda and are seen as the sacred abode of their ancestors. As a collection of sites spread over a large area, they are associated with beliefs of local and national significance, and possibly regional significance as the sites extend beyond the boundaries of Kenya.

The Kayas demonstrate authenticity but aspects associated with traditional practices are highly vulnerable. The integrity of the Kayas relates to the intactness of their forest surroundings which has been compromised for Kaya Kinondo.

Management needs to respect the needs of individual Kayas and to integrate the conservation of natural and cultural resources and traditional and non-traditional management practices; the authority of the Kaya elders should be established.

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World Heritage W National Park of Niger

The part of 'W' National Park that lies in Niger is situated in a transition zone between savannah and forest lands and represents important ecosystem characteristics of the West African Woodlands/Savannah Biogeographical Province. The site reflects the interaction between natural resources and humans since Neolithic times and illustrates the evolution of biodiversity in this zone. The 'W' National Park, so named because of the local configuration of the Niger River (220,000 ha), is located in a transition zone between Sudan and Guinea savannahs and contiguous to 'W' National Parks in both Burkina Faso and Benin, and the Reserve de Faune de Tamou to the north. Shrub savannah is the most widespread vegetation type occurring on shallow infertile soils.

Continent: Africa

Country: India

Category: Natural

Criterion: (IX)(X)

Date of Inscription: 1996

'W' Hosts Ecosystems

W hosts ecosystems representing the interaction between natural resources and humans since Neolithic times. This interaction has produced characteristic landscapes and plant formations and represents the evolution of biodiversity in the Sudan-Sahelian biome. The park hosts the major populations of ungulates in West Africa and wild plant species considered very important for conservation and genetic research. The wetland area of the park is of international importance for the conservation of birds as a Ramsar site. The fact that the park is contiguous to other protected areas in Burkina Faso and Niger is important for the survival of species that need large areas for their seasonal migrations.

A total of 454 plant species has been recorded, including two orchid species found only in Niger. More than 70 mammal species have been described, and around 350 bird species are found in the area. Most of the populations of ungulate species are increasing, thanks to protection programmes. Reptiles and fishes occurring in the park are typical of the Niger River.

W National Park of Niger

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The cultural landscape of Sukur Nigeria

The cultural landscape of Sukur has survived unchanged for many centuries, and graphically illustrates a form of land use that marks a critical stage in human settlement and its relationship with its environment. Situated on a plateau in north-eastern Nigeria, near the frontier with Cameroon, it has been occupied for centuries, and its inhabitants have left abundant traces on the present-day landscape.

Continent: Africa

Country: Nigeria

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)(V) (VI)

Date of Inscription: 1999

The House complex of the Hidi

The Hidi's Palace or house complex of the Hidi (chief), the harem section of which is now in ruins, is of considerable political and religious significance for the Sukur people. The evidence for Neolithic occupation of Sukur is slight, but a pre-Sukur Iron Age phase is shown by finds of furnaces, ore and grindstones. The buildings that make up the circular enclosure are relatively simple in design, and constructed of the local granite. Some of the large stones, such as the monoliths that flank one of the gates, are very large and were brought to the site over long distances.

The present Dur dynasty of chiefs was established in the 17th century. It saw Sukur becoming a major iron-producing region, supplying north-eastern Nigeria with a vital raw material. This phase continued until the first decade of the 20th century. However, between 1912 and 1922 Sukur was subjected to raids and devastation at the hands of Hamman Yaje, the Fulbe Lamido (chief) of nearby Madagali. Iron smelting continued to decline in the colonial and independence period, ending around 1960. As a result there were substantial migrations of Sukur people from the plateau to the plains lying to north and south.

The cultural landscape of Sukur Nigeria

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Leading up to the palace complex from the north and east are paved walkways, 5-7 m wide, made from slabs of the same granite that was used within the palace itself. Within and around the complex there are also paved paths, but composed of much larger slabs. The domesticated landscape of the Sukur plateau is characterized by the extensive terracing, of a type known elsewhere in Nigeria. However, the Sukur terraces have a sacred quality that is lacking in these purely functional terraced landscapes, and they are the product of social organizations whose working parties maintained and progressively extended them.

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While primarily intended to provide level areas for agriculture, they are invested with a spiritual significance, as shown by the sacred trees, entrances and ritual sites within them. The villages, situated on low-lying ground below the Hidi Palace, have their own domestic architecture of drystone walls, used as social markers and defensive enclosures, sunken animal pens, granaries and threshing floors. Again, local granite is the main source of constructional materials. The living huts are simple circular structures made from clay with roofs of thatch and woven mats. Integrated groups are surrounded by low drystone walls.

The traditional cemeteries are to be found in the hills. The tombs are simple stone structures, and different clans and social groups had their own cemeteries. The only exceptions were for the Hidi, whose bodies were buried within their own palace complexes, and children, buried close to the settlement. Of considerable social and economic importance are the wells - below ground, surmounted by conical stone structures and surrounded by an enclosure wall. Within these domestic animals such as cattle and sheep were fattened, for consumption by the family or as status symbols used in gift and marriage exchanges.

The remains of many disused iron-smelting furnaces can still be found. These shaft-type furnaces, blown with bellows, were usually sited close to the houses of their owners. It is clear that iron production involved complex socio-economic relationships and that there was a considerable ritual associated with it.

There are a number of shrines and altars, many of them ceramic, in the Sukur cultural landscape particularly in and around the Hidi Palace. The landscape as a whole is an integrated one, which symbolizes the political and economic structure of the Sukur people. Authority, in the form of the Hidi, is located in an elevated position overlooking the mass of the people in their low-lying villages. Complex social relationships can be observed in the disposition of the cemeteries, while the relationships between iron furnaces and settlements and within the agricultural terraces illustrate an elaborate economic pattern of production and distribution.

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Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove Nigeria

The town of Osogbo is believed to have been founded around 400 years ago. It is part of the wider Yoruba community, divided into 16 kingdoms, which legend says were ruled by the children of Oduduwa, the mythic founder, whose abode at Ile-Ife, south-east of Osogbo, is still regarded as the spiritual home of the Yoruba people. The earliest settlement seems to have been in the Osogbo Grove and included palaces and a market. When the population expanded the community moved outside the Grove and created a new town, which reflected spatially the arrangements within the Grove.

Continent: Africa

Country: Nigeria

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (II)(III) (VI)

Date of Inscription: 2005

Osogbo Became Refugee Town

In the 1840s Osogbo became a refugee town for people fleeing the Fulani Jihad, as it moved south from what is now northern Nigeria. The Yorubas retreated further south into the forests and Osogbo, right at the northern edge of the forest, became an important centre for northern Yorubaland. The Fulani attacks on Osogbo were repelled and, as a result, Osogbo has become a symbol of pride for all the Yorubas.

During the first half of the 20th century, the town of Osogbo expanded considerably. In 1914 British colonial rule had begun. As it was delivered under a system of indirect rule through traditional rulers, the authority of the Oba and priests were sustained. A greater change was brought about from the middle of the 19th century through the introduction of both Islam and Christianity. Islam became the religion of traders and ruling houses - as it gave contacts to northern trade routes and links to returning exslaves from Central and South America. For a while all three religions co-existed but as time went by it became less fashionable to be identified with the Ogboni and Osun cults.

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove Nigeriae

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By the 1950s the combined political and religious changes were having a marked detrimental effect on the Grove: customary responsibilities and sanctions were weakening, shrines were becoming neglected and traditional priests began to disappear. All this was exacerbated by a rise in the looting of statues and movable sculptures to feed an antiquities market. At around this time part of the Grove was acquired by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry for agricultural experiments. Trees were felled and teak plantations established; sculptures were reportedly stolen and hunting and fishing begun to be recorded - previously forbidden in the sacred Grove.

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It was at this crucial point in the history of the Grove that Austrian born Suzanne Wenger moved to Osogbo and, with the encouragement of the Oba and the support from local people, formed the New Sacred Art movement to challenge land speculators, repel poachers, protect shrines and begin the long process of bringing the sacred place back to life through once again establishing it as the sacred heart of Osogbo.

The artists deliberately created large, heavy and fixed sculptures in iron, cement and mud, as opposed to the smaller traditional wooden ones, in order that their intimidatory architectural forms would help to protect the Grove and stop thefts. All the sculptures have been done in full respect for the spirit of the place, with inspiration from Yoruba mythology and in consultations with the gods in a traditional context.

The new work has made the Grove a symbol of identity for the Yoruba people. Many from the African Diaspora now undertake a pilgrimage to the annual festival. In 1965 part of the Grove was declared a national monument. This was extended in 1992 so that now the whole 75 hectares are protected.

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The Ancient City of Aksum Ethiopia

The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are found close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum.

Continent: Africa

Country: Ethiopia

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (I)(IV)

Date of Inscription: 1980

The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum

The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are located close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and 13th centuries, include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum.

Beginning around the 2nd millennium BCE and continuing until the 4th century CE there was immigration into the Ethiopian region. The immigrants came mostly from a region of western Yemen associated with the Sabean culture. Conditions in their homelands were most probably so harsh that the only means of escape was by a direct route across the Red Sea into Eritrea. By the 4th century, Aksum was already at its peak in land sovereignty, which included most of southern Yemen.

Aksum Ethiopia

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The city of Aksum emerged several centuries before the birth of Christ, as the capital of a state that traded with ancient Greece, Egypt and Asia. With its fleets sailing as far afield as Ceylon, Aksum later became the most important power between the Roman Empire and Persia, and for a while controlled parts of South Arabia. Aksum, whose name first appears in the 1st century AD in the Periplus of the Eritrean Sea, is considered to be the heart of ancient Ethiopia. Indeed, the kingdom which held sway over this area at this time took its name from the city. The ruins of the site spread over a large area and are composed of tall, obelisk-like stelae of imposing height, an enormous table of stone, vestiges of columns and royal tombs inscribed with Aksumite legends and traditions. In the western sector of the city there are also the ruins of three castles from the 1st century AD.

The earliest records and legends suggest that it was from Aksum that Makeda, the fabled Queen of Sheba, journeyed to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem. A son was born to the queen from her union with Solomon. This son, Menelik I, grew up in Ethiopia but travelled to Jerusalem as a young man, where he spent several years before returning to his own country with the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, according to Ethiopian belief, has remained in Aksum ever since (in an annex to the Church of St Mary of Zion).

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In addition to the old St Mary of Zion church, there are many other remains in Aksum dating back to pre- and early Christian times. Among these, a series of inscriptions on stone tablets have proved to be of immense importance to historians of the ancient world. They include a trilingual text in Greek, Sabaean (the language of South Arabia) and Ge'ez (classical Ethiopian), ordered by King Ezana in the 4th century AD, along with the 3,000-year-old stelae and obelisks. The standing obelisk rises to a height of over 23 m and is exquisitely carved to represent a nine-storey building in the fashion of the 'tower-houses' of southern Arabia.

Aksum inherited a culture highly influenced by southern Arabia. The Aksumites' language, Ge'ez, was a modified version of the southern Arabian rudiments, with admixtures of Greek and perhaps Cushitic tongues already present in the region. Their architectural art was inherited from southern Arabian art; some Aksumite artwork contained combinations of Middle Eastern deities.

From its capital on the Tigray Plateau, Aksum was in command of the ivory trade with Sudan. It also dominated the trade route leading south and the port of Adulis on the Gulf of Zola. Its success depended on resourceful techniques, the production of coins, steady migrations of Graeco-Roman merchants and ships landing at the port of Adulis. In exchange for Aksum's goods, traders offered many kinds of cloth, jewellery and metals, especially steel for weapons.

At its peak, Aksum controlled territories as far as southern Egypt, east to the Gulf of Aden, south to the Omo River, and west to the Cushite Kingdom of Meroë. The South Arabian kingdom of the Himyarites was also under the control of Aksum. Unlike the nobility, the people used salt and iron bars as money and barter remained their main source of commerce.

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