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Perhaps this question shows a total ignorance of maritime technology or logic, but how would one get either a proto-Swahili, Persian, Indian or Arabian trade/exploration mission to round the cape of good hope going the other way, and also continue to do so? I know its not as if these powers didn't trade significantly in the Indian ocean anyways as far back as ancient antiquity - what kept them from using their oceangoing ships to explore further and either circumnavigate or at least explore Africa?

I know Africa was wealthy and filled with trade goods that would be worth exploiting even in early antiquity. Would a scenario like the one posed in the Nok Steel timeline be the best bet? What alternatives might work - I was thinking it might be as simple as having traditional Vedic religion not have a prohibition against crossing the black water, although I've heard such a prohibition was never really all that important anyways. And sides that never should have stopped the Persians or Arabs.
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