African Renaissance in the Dark Ages Quiz

The leading civilizations during the African renaissance period were the Axum Empire, the Kingdom of Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Ethiopian Empire, the Mossi Kingdoms, and the Benin Empire.

The Axum Empire was located in the area that is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. It controlled northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, northern Sudan, southern Egypt, Djibouti, Western Yemen, and southern Saudi Arabia, totaling 1.25 million square kilometers.

During its height, the Axum Empire was one of only four major international superpowers of its day, along with Persia, Rome, and China.

The Axum Empire existed from approximately 100 to 940 A.D.

The Axum Empire traded and projected influence over a vast area, totaling 1.25 million square kilometers, almost half the size of India, and it was an important military power and trading nation in the region.

The barbarian kingdoms were states founded by various non-Roman, primarily Germanic, peoples in Western Europe and North Africa following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century.

The formation of the barbarian kingdoms was a complicated, gradual, and largely unintentional process, as the Roman state failed to handle barbarian migrants on the imperial borders, leading to both invasions and invitations into imperial territory.

The influence of barbarian rulers, at first local warlords and client kings without firm connections to any territories, increased as Roman emperors and usurpers used them as pawns in civil wars.

It was only after the collapse of effective Western Roman central authority that the barbarian realms transitioned into proper territorial kingdoms.

Roman emperors and usurpers used barbarian rulers as pawns in civil wars, which led to the increase of their influence during the decline of the Western Roman Empire.