Ethiopia Wank

  • Thread starter Deleted member 67076
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Cannons were pretty old hat by the time the Portuguese got to Ethiopia, some being used at the start of the 100 years war in the 1330s. If Ethiopia got them in the early 1500s I'd think their enemies would be able to get them as well.
The thing was Ethiopia wasn't a cannon using nation yet in 1500 but neither were their neighbors in the 1400s. Then in the 1500s the Ottomans started supplying their neighbors with cannons such as in the Conquest of Abyssinia by Imam Ahmad. This led to 2/3 of Ethiopia ending up under Muslim rule during this period and lasted a short while tile Ethiopia gained the same weapons.

In fact it was Portugal's help that saved Ethiopia in OTL from Muslim conquest as it sent 400 soldiers and cannons and weapons to help in the Ethiopia-Adal war. My suggestion is only that they send this help sooner.

If the Ethiopians can meet them on the battlefield with equal tech from the start they can reverse the losses sooner and prevent more allowing them to take control of the whole Horn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian%E2%80%93Adal_War
 
Instead of trying to be a continental power and take over Egypt, they should become a maritime power and go Phoenician. Set up a series of colonial city-states from the Red Sea down to the Cape. Ethiopia's temperate crops would do very well down in southern Africa.
 
The issue I suppose is the ethnic make up. The Sea ports were mostly in the hands of coastal peoples who were different then the inland groups.
 
Any way to assimilate them?

Well, given the ethnic nature of modern day Ethiopia it seems that even in OTL a good way was never found. A more likely solution would be for them the coastal peoples to have the same religion as the hinterland Empire...like say Islam...
 
Well, given the ethnic nature of modern day Ethiopia it seems that even in OTL a good way was never found. A more likely solution would be for them the coastal peoples to have the same religion as the hinterland Empire...like say Islam...

No, then they wouldn't be Ethiopia they would be something else. Ethiopian orthodoxy is unique and different then the west, it should be better if Ethiopia would unite Africa. They probably would need a vision of what there future would or could hold. When Portugal shows up lots of children should have been selected to learn in Europe and bring back Knowledge and return to help the nation.

Of course cannons from Portugal would also help.
 
Al-Habashah will unite Dar al-Islam and fighting the Portugese with their Islamic Brothers! Behold as the Call to prayer is heard from every mountaintop to the lowest valley as the Faithful gather together as one spirit amongst many bodies and minds! Just as the Ottomans took up the Legacy of Rome, so too shall the Negus Nagasa rule over Al-Habashah as a Nation of Islam!

Though, I am contemplating these Habeshans having their own form of Islamic Law. Probably a blend of the Shafi'i and Hanafi schools with some liberal Mu'talizaite thrown in.
 
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What would be a good PoD for a Great Power Ethiopia? I'm thinking if they could control the Horn of Africa, and if they need to expand southwards.
 
It's interesting that Ethiopia remains an important source of natural potash today, and they were mining it in the 14th century. If they learned to use it more effectively could they become an agricultural superpower with the population to match? It would be a valuable trade commodity as well, along with of course coffee.
 
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