ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


African History Videos 63 videos

African History 1: Intro
225 Views

Home to the biggest river, the biggest desert, and some of the biggest land animals in the world, Africa is so much more than what most media would...

African History 2: Carthage
44 Views

Stop everything and check this video out. This guy from Carthage named Hannibal used battle elephants. Battle. Elephants. Carthage has a pretty ric...

African History 2: The Nubian city of Meroe
42 Views

Today's lesson: Nubia. Remember not to call it Egypt Jr. to its face...it's kind of a sensitive issue.

See All

African History 3: From Aksum to Ethiopia 31 Views


Share It!


Description:

Today we're learning about an Aksum—er, awesome  warrior woman, and the many rises and falls of what is now known as Ethiopia.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

After Islam put up its feet on North Africa's couch, saying "I think I'll crash here for [Foot crushes couch]

00:09

a couple thousand years"—the poor kingdom of Aksum went kaput.

00:14

Without money from trade revenues, the government didn’t have the cash to fund the necessary [Man scooped up by hand]

00:17

stuff, like armies.

00:19

So eventually local lords got grabby. [Man shooting gun]

00:23

And civil wars, coups, and rebellions ensued.

00:26

Legend says that the death knell for Aksum was a rebel warrior woman named Gudit [Gudit fighting king]

00:32

It’s said that she overthrew the Christian king in the 900s CE and basically wrecked

00:36

the place.

00:37

History is a little foggy on whether this really happened—she supposedly got rid of

00:42

the record-keeping bureaucrats.

00:43

But there probably was a queen ruling the land around that time, and it's a cool story,

00:47

so, uh…we're going with it. [Gudit sitting on throne]

00:48

With Gudit and her descendants in charge, Ethiopia entered a Dark Age where everybody

00:54

said…meh...to writing things down.

00:56

But every age has to end.

00:58

The Ethiopian Dark Ages ended in 1137 when the last of Gudit's descendants got the boot. [Boot kicks away Gudit]

01:04

Who were the new rulers on the block?

01:05

A Christian dynasty called Zagwe which founded the new Ethiopian Empire.

01:11

The Zagwe Dynasty whipped the land back into shape. [Woman performing sit ups]

01:14

And along the way, they built some pretty impressive monuments: the rock churches of

01:19

Lalibela Major pilgrimage sights to this day, these

01:23

churches were carved directly from the stone of the earth. [Man carving church]

01:26

Which is an insane way to build something.

01:29

But TOTALLY awesome.

01:30

Of course, like every dynasty the Zagwe eventually lost their grip. [Zagwe drops Ethiopia]

01:33

Talk about butterfingers.

01:35

The Zagwe were replaced by the Solomonic Dynasty, which claimed to be descended from [Solomonic king and soldiers appear]

01:40

King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

01:42

Nobody knows if that was true or not, but again…it sounds good, right?

01:46

Rule of the Ethiopian Empire changed hands plenty over the next 500 years. [Kings tossing Ethiopia]

01:50

But the thing that makes Ethiopia truly remarkable is that, for the most part, it kept itself

01:54

free of foreign rule.

01:56

Muslim invaders tried to step in, but no dice. [Muslims attempt to enter Ethiopia]

01:59

Throughout the ages, Ethiopia stayed…Ethiopian.

02:02

It wasn’t until 1935 that the Italians under Mussolini got close to taking over.

02:08

Still, after a relatively short occupation, the Ethiopians kicked out the Italians with [Boot kicks away Mussolini]

02:12

the help of the British.

02:13

Yeah, modern Italians are good at making pasta, but not so good at… empiring. [Woman holding bowl of pasta]

02:19

Somewhat miraculously, the British actually didn’t stick around…instead letting Ethiopia

02:23

continue to rule itself.

02:25

Ethiopia’s last ruling emperor was Haile Selassie who claimed

02:30

to be descended from the Solomonic Dynasty.

02:34

Oh, and he also managed to inspire the Rastafarian religion, which still worships him as a messiah. [Rastafarian man worshiping Selassie]

02:40

In the 1970’s, Haile was deposed and possibly murdered in a socialist coup, sweeping Ethiopia

02:44

violently into the modern age. [soldiers firing cannons]

02:46

You have to hand it to the Ethiopian Empire, though.

02:48

Despite all the odds against it, it was the longest-lasting African empire, next to Egypt. [Ethiopia on stage]

02:54

And sometimes second place is…still pretty darn impressive. [Audience giving round of applause]

Related Videos

African History 1: Intro
225 Views

Home to the biggest river, the biggest desert, and some of the biggest land animals in the world, Africa is so much more than what most media would...

Modern World History 2.11 French Revolution: Phase Two (and Three)
176 Views

Didn't get enough of the French Revolution the first time around? We've gotcha covered. Check out our second French Revolution video, preferably wi...

Modern World History 1.4 Government Produced Famine in Africa
70 Views

Famine is one of the biggest problems in Africa. Find out why it's such a complex problem, and what's being done to combat it.