African Hindu State?

what is the possibility for a Hindu state in East Africa? Islam spread to this region via trade if I remember correctly, could Hinduism do the same? If so, what is the latest possible POD?
 
Get a powerful South Indian state to trade that way. The Chola, who are most likely to reach them, are too late, but it's conceivable with another. Then, over time, you can see some sort of cultural colonization and the two religions syncretize, as what happened with Hinduism in Southeast Asia. Such a POD would have to be quite early, bordering on antiquity and it's difficult to see Indian traders travel that far so early.
 
Such a POD would have to be quite early, bordering on antiquity and it's difficult to see Indian traders travel that far so early.

Disagree. Alexander the Great joined India with Africa and if he'd lived a little longer would have attempted to do the same to yemen.

Ashoka converted to buddhism and sent buddhist missionaries through the greek territories to libya and egypt. Now prior to Ashoka the mauryans were probably some mix of jainism and proto hinduism.

If Ashoka can send buddhist missionaries to alexandria to the extent that chrstian romans can still meet them there hundreds of year later then a hindu Maurya could do the same.

And once you're in egypt and arabia, it's a short hop through established trade routes to east africa.

When the portuguese arrived in the swhaili coast they found seperate villages for nestorian christian indians. I think any pre Muhammed POD could see it happening quite reasonably.

Hinduism spread east along the trade routes with great success, it didn't come west largely because the persians proved reluctant to adapt it and blocked spread that way, remove or skp them and it's relatively trivial.
 
Disagree. Alexander the Great joined India with Africa and if he'd lived a little longer would have attempted to do the same to yemen.

Through land. I'm talking about through the sea. If there's some sort of Persian intermediate between the two as there was IOTL, Hinduism wouldn't spread. And that's a massive expanse of ocean for Indian traders to cross to avoid those Persian intermediates, and I suspect in antiquity it would not be worth it.

If Ashoka can send buddhist missionaries to alexandria to the extent that chrstian romans can still meet them there hundreds of year later then a hindu Maurya could do the same.

That same missionary culture didn't exist in Hinduism, or even in Hinduism at that point. You'd need a POD further back to do that, and people that converted to Hinduism IOTL only became so because of either trade links (like Southeast Asia) or cultural fascination (like Central Asia). I suspect it would be the former for the Swahili city-states (which I guess would be the focus).
 
I do not mean an entirely Hindu east africa, but just one or two societies. Is this still equally as hard to produce?

Not really, east africa was ripe for new religions and had contact with india.

A lot, though far from all, of indian hindus didn't travel by boat at all and @fjihr is right that hinduism didn't have a culture of missionaries at that point. The active conversion attempts of say the chola dynasty happened long after islam had become cemented on the coast. So it won't be easy.

But I think it's perfectly possible. Again Hinduism made huge inroads into South East Asia. So it does travel with trade as much as any other religion.

Maybe kill off Muhammed, that'll buy india a few more centuries to convert the swahili coast before an abrhaamic religion becomes entrenched.
 
Maybe kill off Muhammed, that'll buy india a few more centuries to convert the swahili coast before an abrhaamic religion becomes entrenched.

I'll second the Swahili Coast as being the best location for Hindu conversion in Africa, given it's long history of trade with India. I don't really see it penetrating the interior if all else remains equal to OTL, but a united front of Swahili city-states under one empire or confederacy could result in the religion getting pushed inland.
 
Maybe kill off Muhammed, that'll buy india a few more centuries to convert the swahili coast before an abrhaamic religion becomes entrenched.

Yes, that's a good POD. Potentially, butterflies could lead to an earlier super-powerful South Indian thalassocracy. But the Swahili city-states will be at risk at being eliminated by Christianity when its power expands further.
 
Why is it that SE Asia became Indianised while other regions with trade links to India didn't? How come places like the southern coast of Arabia or Africa before Islam didn't adopt Hinduism?
 
Why is it that SE Asia became Indianised while other regions with trade links to India didn't? How come places like the southern coast of Arabia or Africa before Islam didn't adopt Hinduism?

Because India's trade links with Southeast Asia are literally ancient. With east Africa and southern Arabia, not so much.
 
Because India's trade links with Southeast Asia are literally ancient. With east Africa and southern Arabia, not so much.

Interesting. When and why did the latter two trading with India start picking up? After Islam? I know that the Arab conquests of Arabia, Iran, north India, and Egypt gave a large boost to Arab merchants...
 
Interesting. When and why did the latter two trading with India start picking up? After Islam? I know that the Arab conquests of Arabia, Iran, north India, and Egypt gave a large boost to Arab merchants...

With Southern Arabia, it picked up in late antiquity, and with east Africa a bit later, in the early Middle Ages. With both, it was prior to Islam, though of course trade with Arabia picked up after the Arabs conquered the Indian hinterlands.

So yes. You could see Indian influence spread to the two even with a POD as late as no Islam. Though the great danger is that these new syncretic religions get destroyed by the expansion of Christianity if Europeans outpace Hindus in terms of trade.
 
With Southern Arabia, it picked up in late antiquity, and with east Africa a bit later, in the early Middle Ages. With both, it was prior to Islam, though of course trade with Arabia picked up after the Arabs conquered the Indian hinterlands.

So yes. You could see Indian influence spread to the two even with a POD as late as no Islam. Though the great danger is that these new syncretic religions get destroyed by the expansion of Christianity if Europeans outpace Hindus in terms of trade.

If forms of Hinduism were adopted, then I don't think we need to worry about Christianity. It's as hard to get rid of as Abrahamic religions. Just look at how many Hindus in India there are despite the centuries long procession of powerful and prestigious Islamic states.

From what I've read, SE Asia adopted Indian culture because it aided in state development and the legitimization of kings. This is why Brahmans were invited to the courts to spread Indian culture and knowledge. Does Southern Arabia share the same need or is it developed enough? Furthermore, I would think that the Roman and Sassanid Empires would provide closer and more relevant models of civilizational prestige. Thoughts?

Also, IIRC Arabs acted as the middlemen for East African trade with India. Is this correct?
 
If forms of Hinduism were adopted, then I don't think we need to worry about Christianity. It's as hard to get rid of as Abrahamic religions. Just look at how many Hindus in India there are despite the centuries long procession of powerful and prestigious Islamic states.

Hinduism in India shouldn't be our model. Rather, it should be Hinduism in Southeast Asia, which got almost entirely wiped out after Muslims superseded Hindus in terms of trade.

From what I've read, SE Asia adopted Indian culture because it aided in state development and the legitimization of kings. This is why Brahmans were invited to the courts to spread Indian culture and knowledge. Does Southern Arabia share the same need or is it developed enough?

Southern Arabia is quite well-developed; however, it would also never be as Hindu-influenced as Southeast Asia (which was quite literally invaded by Indians at one point). Southern Arabia, rather, would have its already-existing pantheon influenced with Hinduism, as its native polytheism is already quite well developed.
 
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