From browsing this sub I've learned that Christianity outside of Europe has a much longer history than I thought. Apparently the Church of the East had communities in India, China, and Central Asia, while the Orthodox Church had a major presence in African regions like Ethiopia. From Western civ classes I've learned that Europeans rationalized their colonization and subjugation of more 'primitive' countries on the grounds that they were spreading Europe's superior civilization, technology, culture, religion, etc. When European missionaries arrived in the colonies on these homogenization missions were they surprised to find centuries-old Christian communities already present? Or did they already know about these distant sects and simply write them off as heretics in need of conversion? Specifically I'm interested in the Habesha(Semitic) people of Ethiopia as I understand that a country most Europeans thought at the time as being apart of the inferior "black nations", they had Christian traditions that rivalled Europe. Not to mention a rich history of foreign conquests and seafaring kingdoms that had trade links with major empires such as Persia, Rome and Greece(Aksumite empire)
Why do you call East Africa the "wilderness"? Why do you imagine that Europeans would ever have been totally ignorant of the lands of the Horn of Africa?
Historically such lands have always been powerful with far reaching influence, even occasionally hubs (or at least major spokes) in trade routes that spanned the Indian ocean.
There was a gap of diplomatic relations between East African states (typically sultanates) and Europe from about the 10th century through the 14th century, but I am not aware of a general ignorance of the existence of states in East Africa. And, indeed, when diplomatic relations between East Africa and Europe resumed it was not a relationship of missionaries and "primitives" it was a relationship of state to state (Ethiopia sent a mission to the popes in Rome and Avignon in the 14th century, for example).
Why do the mods keep deleting answers?