Adulis became an important trade center because it rose to be the main port for trade between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean on the African coast of the Red sea.
It was the main port town of the Aksumite Empire and one of the most prominent Red sea ports during the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Exported products from Adulis included ivory, obsidian, rhinoceros horns and tortoise shells, as well textiles from Egypt and the East, glass from Judea, metals from India, oil and wine from Italy and Syria.