Empire of Ethiopia (Merveilles du Monde)

The Empire of Ethiopia (Kingdom of Abysinnia) is a monarchy located in East Africa. The Empire is mostly based in the mountanous highlands north of the Great Rift Valley, though the Empire rules territories in the northern coast of the Horn of Africa. The Empire was founded by Yekuno-Amlak in 1270 A.D., who established the Solomoid dynasty, the current ruling dynasty. The Empire focused on defending its borders until the reign of Amda Seyon, who greatly expanded the Empire's borders and defeated the Empire's main political and theologoical rival the Sultanate of Ifat. As a result of Amda Seyon's military conquests and political maneuvering, Ethiopia emerged as the foremost Christian kingdom in East Africa, eventually leading an alliance of Christian kingdoms and Christian vassals kingdoms.

History
The Kingdom was formed in 1270 A.D. by Yekuno-Amlak, who proceeded to establish the Solomonid dynsaty as the royal family of the Empire after defeating the previous Kingdom of Zagwe. The Solomonid dynastly claims descent from the ancient Kingdom of Axum, the first major Christian kingdom in East Africa. The Empire further claims legitimacy by having defeated the allegedly "illegitimate" Zagwe Kings, who the Solomonid dynasty claims usurped power from the Kingdom of Axum, and replacing their illegitimate dynasty with a legitimate one descended from Axum.

Until the reign of Amda Seyon, the Empire focused primarily on defending its borders from rival Christian states as well as Muslim states. Under the reign of Amda Seyon however the Empire focused on expanding its borders. After expanding the Ethiopian military and arming the military with better weaponry, Amda Seyon proceeded to invade the Empire's primary military rival, the Sultanate of Ifat. Emperor Seyon's campaign climaxed at the Battle of Zeila, where the Sultanate's forces were defeated and the Sultan himself killed. With the Sultan dead and the city captured Amda Seyon established a Christian kingdom in the area and annexed the northern half of the Sultanate. Naming this new state "Axum" in tribute to the prior Kingdom and receiving the Axumite rulers' submission as a vassal, the Emperor returned home in victory.

Unfortunately the defeat at Zeila spurred the rise of a radical new militant sect of Islam in the Middle East, and this new sect of Islam successfully converted the ruling Caliph and spread from Baghdad to Egypt. The radical new sect promoted the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Christian communities, and began persecuting and killing Christians in the Middle East. Faced with this new threat, Amda Seyon took advantage of the situation and emphasized the threat to all Christians in the East African region. He then invited each Christian kingdom to form an alliance with Ethiopia to defend against this new threat, an offer all nearby kingdoms accepted. With the nearby Christian states allied to Ethiopia and with some choosing to become vassals, the Empire effectively asserted its hegemony over the Christian kingdoms in the area.

Eventually the Caliphate fell into civil war, as Muslims who disliked the Caliphate's policies of persecution rebelled in Egypt. Taking advantage of this civil war, Amda Seyon led the Ethiopian army into the Horn of Africa, where he successfully defeated the Somali tribes and the Warsangali. Having established Ethiopia's control over the northern coast of the Horn of Africa, the Emperor returned home once again in triumph.

Economy
Until the reign of Amda Seyon the economy of Ethiopia was primarily agricultural, with feudal lords paying taxes in the form of labor and food to the royal court. The Empire also engaged in limited trade with southern Arabia and Egypt. However during the reign of Amda Seyon the Empire's trade flourished thanks to the conflict between the Sultanate of Hindustan and the Caliphate. This conflict led the Sultanate of Hindustan to cut trade with the Middle East and instead direct its trade to Africa, mainly through Ethiopia. This trade network, which became known as the "Trans-African Silk Road", led to trade flourishing throughout the Empire as goods from China and India flowed through Ethiopia to Mali, who then traded them to Europe. The Emperor decreed that trade tariffs would exclusively go to the Crown, and as such the personal wealth of the Emperor grew dramatically as trade with India flourished. To accomodate trade the Emperor built two trade cities, one in the east to import trade, Beri, and one in the west to export trade, Weri'Kama Beri.

Government
The Empire of Ethiopia is, by virtue of its name, an Empire, with a dynastic monarchy and a series of nobles, known as Ras, to rule lands in the Empire on the Emperor's behalf.