Episode 22 - The Year of the Elephant and the First Plague

<p>In the 530s AD, a mysterious disease swept across the Aksumite territories of Ethiopia and Yemen. The black plague, with mysterious origins somewhere in the interior of East Africa, would soon spread on the ships of Aksumite merchants across the world. To make matters worse, a surge in volcanic activity caused a drop in global temperature, causing further chaos in the agrarian economy of Aksum. Meanwhile, as Abraha&apos;s kingdom of Aksumite Arabia struggled to recover from the plague, the former general concocts a plan to restore his economy through ancient religious tourism, only to have his scheme ruined by a single elephant.</p><p><a rel="payment" href="https://patreon.com/historyofafrica">Support the show</a> (https://patreon.com/historyofafrica)</p>