alternatehistory.com

Geographically there doesn't seem to be a reason why there couldn't have been an Italo-African civilization, to the extent of the Swahili (Arabian-African) or more so. What would it take for the Roman Empire to leave behind a multicultural hybrid civilization in this vein? Something involving the salt trade and the Empire going humanist and stopping the enslavement of the peoples it conquered? Someone having the brilliant idea to import the camel so Sahel economics become worthwhile before muslim expansion does it?
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