CHURCH AND STATE

The Aksumite state seems to have declined and disappeared sometime between about 1300 and 1000 years ago. It appears that the loss of the Red Sea trade and environmental deterioration in the Aksum region led to a change in the economic basis of society. Probably the control of productive land became more important than the procurement and exchange of trading commodities; consequently the political centre of Ethiopia moved south into areas with a greater rainfall. Subsequently it shifted frequently within those areas, and the extent of its territories varied greatly from one period to another, but the Ethiopian state endured. Partly this was because of a mountainous landscape that discouraged external aggressors, partly it was because of a distinctive set of cultures, but mainly it was because of the powerful belief of Ethiopian people in their own particular form of the Christian faith. Their church supported the state, which in turn supported the church. It was this alliance of church and state that ensured the survival of Ethiopia until modern times, however much its fortunes fluctuated. Indeed, Ethiopia was one of the very few parts of Africa that was never successfully colonized by Europeans.