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2,000 Years Ago in East Africa

Temple ruins in Meroe City

Queen Amanirenus leads the army of Meroe against a Roman invasion in 24 BC. She wins the first battle, and in spite of losing a second battle, the Romans had had enough, agreed to a truce and went back home. Rome never did conquer Meroe, and the kingdom survived as the most powerful Black African state in east Africa for another 200 years. Actually "queendom" would be more accurate, since the leader of Meroe was usually a warrior queen, called a "kandake" (which means "queen mother") or more simply "gore" (meaning "ruler").

The Meroeans developed a unique form of art uniting styles from Black Africa and Mediterranean Egypt. The kingdom declined under attacks by little known invaders, desert nomads, called the Blemyes and Nobatae by around 200 AD (just as the Roman and Han Chinese empires were also under attack by strange invaders). Meroe was finally taken over by Axum.

Kingdom of Axum (Abyssinia) rises in northeast Ethiopia, expands into southern Arabia and conquers Meroe around 350 AD.

Maritime trade between the east coast of Africa, Arabia and India increases. For Europeans, much of Africa was cut off from their knowledge and experience. What lay south of the Sahara was a big mystery. But for the North Africans, Arabs and Indians, contact with Africa south of the Sahara was not uncommon.

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