The Kingdom of Axum, sometimes known as the Axumite Empire, was a powerful nation located in and directly preceding the modern-day country of Abyssinia. Due to its strategic position on the trade routes between Roman Egypt and India, it grew rich through commerce and the exportation of its own trade goods from the heart of Africa. Axum declined again from the 10th entury, and finally collapsed in 1137 after years of interfighting. It was succeeded by a number of smaller petty kingdoms, which were reunited again in 1270 by Yekuno Amlak, laying the foundations for modern Abyssinia.