Economy

ECONOMY:    A-                (Hunter)

The economy for the Axum Empire was farming and trading. Though the Aksumites farmed, trading was the main objective of their life. In the Aksumites economy they produced many goods that they used to trade. One of their main goods that they produced was manufactured luxury goods, but also they had ivory, gold, iron, salt, copper, wheat, barley, and other agricultural goods. In return for those goods the Axum Empire imported silk, spices, silver, olive oil, and wine. The Aksumite rulers facilitated their own trade by starting their own currency. An important reason why the Axum Empire was a large part of their economy was because they were able to use the trade routes of the Silk Road and also the Southern Spice (Eastern) trade routes. The empire also had the ability to use both the Nile River and the Red sea for trading. Those trading routes enabled the Axum Empire to trade with Roman traders, Egyptian merchants, Persian merchants, and also others within their range like African, Arabian, and Indian states. Since the Axum Empire had all of those trading of products, it improved the quality of life for the citizens because they received many useful and helpful goods for the products that they exported. Later on in the empire the Aksumites benefited from the transformation of the maritime trade system that had linked them to Rome and India using monsoon winds. This started around the beginning of the Common Era. There was an advanced level of trade for the Axum Empire because of all of the reasons listed and also their strong navy to profit from the trade. For those reasons I have given the Axum empires economy an A-.