Adulis

Adulis was an ancient Red Sea port in present-day Eritrea and a major maritime outlet for the Kingdom of Aksum. Its trade linked the African interior with Arabia, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean.

Kingdom of Aksum: An ancient African kingdom centered in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, prominent from roughly the first to seventh centuries CE. Adulis served as Aksum’s principal port and gateway to overseas commerce.
Adulis archaeological site: The remains of the ancient port city of Adulis on Eritrea’s Red Sea coast. Its excavated structures and objects provide direct evidence for the city’s history.
Ivory trade: The commercial exchange of elephant tusks and worked ivory across regional and long-distance networks. Ivory from the African interior was among the commodities associated with Adulis’s trade.
Christianity in the Kingdom of Aksum: The adoption and development of Christianity in the Aksumite state, traditionally associated with the fourth century CE. Adulis’s maritime links placed the kingdom within networks through which Christianity circulated.
Red Sea trade: The exchange of goods and people along maritime routes linking northeastern Africa, Arabia, and the wider Indian Ocean world. Adulis occupied a strategic position on the African side of these routes.
Cosmas Indicopleustes: A sixth-century Byzantine merchant and Christian writer whose works describe regions around the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. His account preserves details about Adulis and Aksumite trade in his era.
Obsidian trade: The exchange of volcanic glass used for tools and ornaments, often sourced from the Horn of Africa. Obsidian found in the region illustrates the movement of local materials through coastal networks.
Ezana of Aksum: A fourth-century ruler of Aksum associated with the kingdom’s conversion to Christianity and expansion of its power. His reign reflects the inland state that benefited from Adulis’s commercial connections.
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: A first-century CE Greek-language account of ports and trading routes around the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It describes Adulis as a key port and records goods traded there.
Francisco Alvares: A Portuguese priest and traveler whose early sixteenth-century writings describe Ethiopia and the Red Sea region. His account helped preserve knowledge of Adulis after its decline.

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