Editing Horn of Africa (section)

=== Ancient history ===
{{main|Land of Punt|Dʿmt|Aksumite Empire|Maritime history of Somalia|Barbaria (East Africa)|Macrobia|Sesea|Ancient Somali City-States}}
{{further|History of Ethiopia|History of Eritrea|History of Somalia|History of Djibouti|Ethiopian historiography}}

The area comprising [[Somaliland]], [[Somalia]], [[Djibouti]], the [[Red Sea]] coast of [[Eritrea]] and [[Sudan]] is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient [[Egyptians]] as ''[[Land of Punt|Punt]]'' (or "Ta Netjeru", meaning god's land), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BCE.<ref>Simson Najovits, ''Egypt, trunk of the tree, Volume 2'', (Algora Publishing: 2004), p.258.</ref>

[[Dʿmt]] was a kingdom located in Eritrea and northern [[Ethiopia]], which existed during the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. With its capital probably at [[Yeha]], the kingdom developed [[irrigation]] schemes, used [[plow]]s, grew [[millet]], and made [[iron]] tools and weapons. After the fall of Dʿmt in the 5th century BCE, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller successor kingdoms, until the rise of one of these kingdoms during the 1st century, the [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite Kingdom]], which was able to reunite the area.<ref>Pankhurst, Richard K.P. ''Addis Tribune'', "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060109162335/http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2003/01/17-01-03/Let.htm Let's Look Across the Red Sea I]", 17 January 2003 (archive.org mirror copy)</ref>

[[File:Stela aksum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[King Ezana's Stela]] at [[Aksum]], symbol of the [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite civilization]].]]

The [[Kingdom of Aksum]] (also known as the Aksumite Empire) was an ancient state located in the [[Eritrea]] and [[Ethiopian highlands]], which thrived between the 1st and 7th centuries CE. A major player in the commerce between the [[Roman Empire]] and [[Ancient India]], Aksum's rulers facilitated trade by minting their own [[Aksumite currency|currency]]. The state also established its [[hegemony]] over the declining [[Kingdom of Kush]] and regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the [[Arabian Peninsula]], eventually extending its rule over the region with the conquest of the [[Himyarite Kingdom]]. Under [[Ezana]] (fl. 320–360), the kingdom of Aksum became the first major empire to adopt [[Christianity]], and was named by [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] as one of the four great powers of his time, along with [[Sassanid Empire|Persia]], [[Roman Empire|Rome]] and [[Han dynasty|China]].

[[File:MapHymiariteKingdom.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Ancient trading centers in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula according to the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'']]

Somalia was an important link in the Horn, connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of [[frankincense]], [[myrrh]] and spices, all of which were valuable luxuries to the [[Ancient Egyptians]], [[Phoenicians]], [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaeans]], [[Babylonians]] and [[Roman Empire|Romans]].<ref>Phoenicia, pg. 199.</ref><ref>Rose, Jeanne, and John Hulburd, ''The Aromatherapy Book'', p. 94.</ref> The Romans consequently began to refer to the region as ''Regio Aromatica''. In the [[Classical antiquity|classical era]], several flourishing [[Sesea|Somali city-states]] such as [[Opone]], [[Mosylon]] and [[Malao]] also competed with the [[Sabaeans]], [[Parthia]]ns and [[Axumite Empire|Axumites]] for the rich [[India|Indo]]-[[Greco-Roman]] trade.<ref>Vine, Peter, ''Oman in History'', p. 324.</ref>

The [[History of Islam|birth of Islam]] opposite the Horn's Red Sea coast meant that local merchants and sailors living on the [[Arabian Peninsula]] gradually came under the influence of the new religion through their converted [[Arab]] Muslim trading partners. With the migration of Muslim families from the [[Islamic world]] to the Horn in the early centuries of Islam, and the peaceful conversion of the local population by Muslim scholars in the following centuries, the ancient city-states eventually transformed into Islamic [[Mogadishu]], [[Berbera]], [[Zeila]], [[Barawa]] and [[Merka]], which were part of the ''[[Barbara (region)|Barbara civilization]]''.<ref name="Laitin">David D. Laitin, Said S. Samatar, ''Somalia: Nation in Search of a State'', (Westview Press: 1987), p. 15.</ref><ref>I.M. Lewis, ''A modern history of Somalia: nation and state in the Horn of Africa'', 2nd edition, revised, illustrated, (Westview Press: 1988), p.20</ref> The city of Mogadishu came to be known as the "City of Islam"<ref>Brons, Maria (2003), ''Society, Security, Sovereignty and the State in Somalia: From Statelessness to Statelessness?'', p. 116.</ref> and controlled the East African gold trade for several centuries.<ref>Morgan, W. T. W. (1969), ''East Africa: Its Peoples and Resources'', p. 18.</ref>