Trade relations between Africa and India date back to the 1st century AD, when the Kingdom of Aksum was established in present-day Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Aksum's strategic location in the Horn of Africa with access to the Red Sea, made it an important link in the direct trade route between southern India and the Roman Empire. By the 1st century AD, trade routes between India and the Roman Empire had been well established and trade relations between the two regions had developed significantly as the demand for goods from southern India in the Roman Empire increased. Aksum benefited as an important transit point on the busy route. Silks, spices, pepper, glass, brass and copper from India, Egypt and Arabia passed through Adulis, the empire's main port. Aksum primarily exported ivory which was abundantly available within their empire. A Greek-Byzantine ambassador in Aksum recorded in the 5th century that he witnessed a herd of 5000 elephants in the region. A record from the 6th century notes that large elephant tusks were transported by boats from Aksum to India, Persia and Romania.