is there a way for Ethiopia to have expanded and conquered the entire Sahel region, maybe to get closer to Christian Europe?
Ethiopia Conquers the Sahel, as Russia did with Siberia
- Thread starter FalseDmitryIV
- Start date
I don't see it as likely, but the whole point of Alternate history is to explore concepts that seem alien to OTL.
Geography says "almost certainly not." To the west of Ethiopia is a vast malarial swamp, the Sudd, whose natives were incredibly fierce. 19th century Egypt (with European officers and then-modern weapons) tried to conquer this land, but their control was restricted to only a few forts and they had the benefit of using the Nile (choked by cataracts as it is) as a supply line. Ethiopia was also a very decentralised state and after the 15th century or so more or less fell apart due to wars with the Somalis and Ottomans and the Oromo migrations, so they'd need to deal with that (I think this challenge is fairly plausible for Ethiopia to overcome).
If Ethiopia needed to reach Christian Europe, then they'd conquer the Sudan and Egypt. That's going to be difficult--the Sudanese states, even when they were Christian before the 15th century, have their own challenges (i.e. powerful migrating tribes from the west and pressure from whoever rules Egypt) and won't easily submit to Ethiopia. Egypt will be even more challenging. But that's the "natural" path of Ethiopian expansion, proceeding north to the land of neighbouring Christian states and the seat of the ruler of their church (Alexandria).
If Ethiopia needed to reach Christian Europe, then they'd conquer the Sudan and Egypt. That's going to be difficult--the Sudanese states, even when they were Christian before the 15th century, have their own challenges (i.e. powerful migrating tribes from the west and pressure from whoever rules Egypt) and won't easily submit to Ethiopia. Egypt will be even more challenging. But that's the "natural" path of Ethiopian expansion, proceeding north to the land of neighbouring Christian states and the seat of the ruler of their church (Alexandria).
I don't think so - the Sahel had multiple states that were more of a match for Ethiopia than the Siberian khanates and peoples were for the Russians.
Concerned Brazilian
Gone Fishin'
Highly unlikely. The climate would be way more hostile to them than Siberia's, and the kingdoms of Sudan could fiercely resist.
Probably not the "entire Sahel". If you want to chart out a path to the Atlantic for better access to Europe a reasonable goal might be to only go as far west into the sahel as lake chad
Lake Chad - Wikipedia
Chad Basin - Wikipedia
Nigerian traditional rulers - Wikipedia
Niger River - Wikipedia
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Would make for a good Ethiopia/Axum TL where they manage to centralize during the first centuries AD and use their newfound strength to eventually occupy Nubia, keep Yemen and Eastern Arabia under their control and if the Roman Empire goes against the Sassanids in it's usual devastation, could see the Ethiopians "holding" Egypt for them, meaning that when the Arab invasions do come, the Ethiopians are in a much better position to resist them and maybe actually beat them back, solidifying them as the local power.
I'd still wager that is equally as implausible.
Ehtiopia's historical power base was, well the modern borders of Ethiopia. For instance, Ethiopia did have wars with various Somali states, but they never even came close to subduing them. Simply because they couldn't extend their power to a place like Mogadishu.
I just can't see them even coming close to taking over Egypt. And that's Egypt fighting by itself, never mind such a war would cause other Muslim countries tojump in.
I've seen stranger things happen in history, although mundane things usually happen more often
More likely they can expand in Sudan taking the Orthodox States in Sudan, which grants them more access to the Sea.