Following the collapse of Axum, let's say Ethiopia rises not as a Christian country but an Islamic nation?
You could have the Muslim Afar and Somali traders be more successful in penetrating into the Ethiopian interior than IOTL.Well, I suppose one of the key factors that would lead to this (You have a big of a self-supporting cycle/chicken and the egg issue of which comes first, but they'd feed into one another) being an Ethiopian plateu that's less isolated and more hooked into the Islamic dominated trade system. Maybe demand for coffee takes off on a larger scale earlier than IOTL and Yeman can't keep up, so the prices cause Ethiopian landowners to start cultivating it and building closer ties with the Red Sea states as a result? You'd certainly boost the relative wealth of the Eritrian coastal cities if they are a gateway for Ethiopian production into the market, and the *Sultans would be a major player for influence in the Holy Cities given proximity. I imagine the Shariffs will be able to play the inevitable Egyptian-Ethiopian rivalry to maintain more independence and get more generious charitable donations to the well-being of the Pilgramage.
You could have the Muslim Afar and Somali traders be more successful in penetrating into the Ethiopian interior than IOTL.
Could we see this Islamic Ethiopia attempting to expand even further than OTL's Ethiopia in search of fertile lands to grow coffee upon?They certainly would (Trade was a major vector for the spread of Islam, after all), but the question is why. Getting up to the main populated areas of Ethiopia from the Somali coastline takes alot of time, pain, and risk so they'd have to be offering something pretty valuble by weight to make it worthwhile. Hence my proposal for coffee; that stuff grows well and there's limited area it can be grown with a large enough settled population to scale it up in the Indian Ocean trade basis (The Ocean itself filling up alot of the coffee belt), and it was a very popular beverage among Muslims as a social drink in a religion that frowns upon alchohal consumption.
Could we see this Islamic Ethiopia attempting to expand even further than OTL's Ethiopia in search of fertile lands to grow coffee upon?
Could we see this Islamic Ethiopia attempting to dam the Nile?Geography is against them, but there's a possability they make a push into the main Nile river valley of the Sudan. I think that would be motivated just as much if not more so by military concerns that spawn from a rivalry with Egypt, wanting to secure their northern frontier from Egyptian expansion, but the added land (and populations to work it) would certainly be a bonus.
I was thinking more so as a way to provide an Islamic Ethiopia with more fertile lands, irrigation techniques, etc. but I'm not sure how plausible it is.... why?
Its not necessarily a matter of benefit - it might be forced upon groups that were considered Ethiopian at the time like the Tigrayans, Amharas, etc.I honestly don’t see any benefit for Ethiopia to be Islamic, there was plenty local Islamic states around them, and they was in no way better off than the Ethiopians.
And the answer would be that we look around at their neighbors and see how such a state would be.Its not necessarily a matter of benefit - it might be forced upon groups that were considered Ethiopian at the time like the Tigrayans, Amharas, etc.
I don't think you can really compare Ethiopia to the Islamic states that surrounded her, especially considering the history and culture - couldn't the same be said about Ethiopia IOTL?And the answer would be that we look around at their neighbors and see how such a state would be.
I honestly don’t see any benefit for Ethiopia to be Islamic, there was plenty local Islamic states around them, and they was in no way better off than the Ethiopians.
And the answer would be that we look around at their neighbors and see how such a state would be.