ections: eastward along the equatorial forest and southward through the forest itself. A second expansion began in 500BC and followed the already traveled directions. The Bantu spread the knowledge of the Iron Age.The Kingdom of Kush: The Kings of Kush ruled over Egypt for a long period of time and established a new capital city in Meroe. It was there that they abandoned the Egyptian pictorial script and developed their own. They became known as the Meroitic civilization. Unfortunately their civilization greatly declined and the Kingdom of Aksum grew more powerful. The kings of Aksum came and burned Meroe causing the final collapse.Stalae: was a monument built by the Aksum reaching 30m high using a single block of stone.The Kingdom of Aksum: was in northern Ethiopia. Arab immigrants who became assimilated by 1000B.C had settled Ethiopia. Aksum was able to control the rich trade route from the lowlands of the Sudan to the Red Sea coast. This brought Ethiopia in to the trade network with the eastern Roman Empire, whose international language was Greek. The kings of Aksum struck coins with their names and wrote on them with the Greek language. They ate from silver and gold plates, and also had the best ivory market in northeast Africa. Aksum was a beautiful city with rectangular palaces several stories high and stalae. The kings became Christian in AD 350. With iron weapons the kings of Aksum marched into the Kingdom of Kush and burned Meroe causing the final collapse. Aksum remained the dominant trading influence in northeast Africa until the ninth century.Ophir: was a biblical region. Some believe that the Great Zimbabwe was really Ophir.Niger-Congo Family: was rooted in the region between Senegal and Cameroon since at least 3000 BC It was of great importance because of the subgroup that emerged speaking Bantu.The Great Zimbabwe: is situated near a tributary of the Sabi River on the edge of Mashionaland. It was dominated by the Acropolis...
