EduNETConnect.com - Time Machine

Please select a historical period:

25 years ago / 50 years ago / 80 years ago / 125 years ago / 150 years ago
250 years ago / 400 years ago / 700 years ago / 1,200 years ago
1,500 years ago / 2,000 years ago / 3,000 years ago / 4,000 years ago / 5,000 years ago / 10,000 years ago

1,200 Years Ago in East Africa

The Ka'bah, focal point of Muslims' prayers

In 570, an Abyssinian army attacked but failed to take the Arabic city of Mecca, marking the highpoint of the Abyssinian Empire. The rise of a Muslim Arabic kingdom after 632 forced the Abyssinians to give up their Arabian provinces. The Arabic conquest of Egypt in 641 cut Abyssinia off from the other Christian states to the north. In a similar way, the Arabic occupation of North Africa would entirely cut Europe off from Africa. European knowledge of Africa slowly declined until it became a place of legend and mystery.

The capital of the Abyssinian kingdom moved from Axum to Lalibela. Trade routes in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, once dominated by Abyssinian ships, more and more, are taken over by competition from Arab and Persian merchants.

Swahili culture develops out of a mixture of Arab, Bantu and Indian cultures (swahila is Arabic meaning "peoples of the east"), forming trading states along the northern coast of Kenya and Somalia. The Swahili were Muslims, followers of Islam. Major trading cities were the ports of Sofala and Kilwa.

The first Arab settlement on the east coast of Africa south of the Sahara probably was on the Lamu island group off the north coast of Kenya. From here trade routes were opened up into the interior of Africa. Islam also began to spread inland.

back to map