Roman Continent of Africa

As i said, the Arab sea was known to Romans at the time.

During some peacefull period, why didin't Roman bothered to explore East African coast, wcih is more easy tha for Vikings to settle Vyneland.

Yuu can re-stock easily.

Africa is rich in minerals,trees, slaves,animals.

For begginig a couple of thousands troops would be enough for the coastline.

After initial success, it would be more profitable to seriously start colonization.

There was no powers of kingdoms to stand in their way, so the military part would be very easy
 
There were actually a few quite powerful kingdoms there at the time, e.g. Ethiopia. Anything further would be more difficult, since it is quite a long journey. The Roman boats were less good than the Viking ones.
 
Why would they want to? Maritime power projection was quite limited at the time, not to mention risky, especially since the Romans enjoyed no significant technology advantage over Axum or the Arabs. The estimate of a few thousand troops is extremely optimistic, and of course, you have to keep replenishing them as the garrisons die off. All of this for - what? Trees, slaves, and minerals could be had from closer to home, and exotic valuables traded. Maybe if the Romans had known about the gold mines, but I don't think they did.
 
Good question.

My guess is that any such settlements would have to be funded or at least organized on an imperial level. And they were already extremely busy ruling North Africa, All of Europe up to the middle of Germany and even England, as well as Asia minor and the Holy Land. They were pretty much operating at full capacity.

I guess that even the most ardent imperialist will eventually go "meh, enough is enough..."
 
Good question.

My guess is that any such settlements would have to be funded or at least organized on an imperial level. And they were already extremely busy ruling North Africa, All of Europe up to the middle of Germany and even England, as well as Asia minor and the Holy Land. They were pretty much operating at full capacity.

I guess that even the most ardent imperialist will eventually go "meh, enough is enough..."

Indeed the amount of money draining away in trade of bullion for spices with India basically led to Augustus shutting the whole system down because it was bankrupting the Imperial finances.
 
The Red Sea is 2000 miles long. [know it dosen't look it, but.]
Whe are talking a month with Roman Ships.
2000 miles of desert shoreline, limited water controlled by the Natives.
The Romans traders headed south, and the Axumites & Indians headed north had long standing trade arrangements for this.
Otherwise there was nothing along the desert to encourge any settlement.
 
They tried that. Twice. The locals were less than welcoming.

Third time is the charm? :D

More to the point, even if the locals are beaten, this is going to be rather far from Rome.

That's never a good thing in an empire like Rome. Distance simply in terms of communication is bad enough. But do you really need more regions that will either rebel and be hard to resecure, or spawn usurpers, or both?

No.
 
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