Why was Ethiopia considered an empire?
Ethiopia has been the seat of several empires, Axum and its successor Abyssinia are two examples.
Axum, which controlled parts of Yemen and Oman, and rivaled Persia, China and Rome:
The Aksum or Axum Empire was an important military power and trading nation in the area that is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, existing from approximately 100 to 940 A.D.
At its height, it was one of only four major international superpowers of its day along with Persia, Rome and China. Axum controlled northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, northern Sudan, southern Egypt, Djibouti, Western Yemen, and southern Saudi Arabia, totaling 1.25 million square kilometers, almost half the size of India. Axum traded and projected its influence as far as China and India, where coins minted in Axum were discovered in 1990.
Axum was previously thought to have been founded by Semitic-speaking Sabaeans who crossed the Red Sea from South Arabia (modern Yemen) on the basis of Conti Rossini’s theories —but most scholars now agree that when it was founded it was an indigenous African development. 7 Medieval African Kingdoms Everyone Should Know About - Atlanta Black Star
The ancient Semitic kingdom of Sheba- famous in the Old Testament and Quran- was a vassal state and colony of Axum:
The ancient Sabaean Kingdom established power in the early first millennium B.C. It was... a part of Yemeni Province dominated by Axum. When Black Men Ruled the World: 5 Arab Kingdoms, Cities Dominated By Africans Before Rise of Islam - Page 2 of 6 - Atlanta Black Star
As early as the first quarter of the third century, the Aksumite Empire invaded and captured the capital of the Arab kingdom of Himyarite. King GDRT of Aksum dispatched troops under his son BYGT, sending them from the western coast to occupy Thifar, the Ḥimyarite capital, as well as from the southern coast against Ḥaḑramawt. The invasion of Hadramawt was done in cooperation with the then King of Saba. When Black Men Ruled the World: 5 Arab Kingdoms, Cities Dominated By Africans Before Rise of Islam - Page 3 of 6 - Atlanta Black Star
The Axumite empire would eventually expand to the Horn of Africa and the Nile River Valley as well.
By the early fourth century A.D., King Ezana (reigned 325-60) controlled a domain extending from Southwest Arabia across the Red Sea west to Meroe and south from Sawakin to the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden. As an indication of the type of political control he exercised, Ezana, like other Axumite rulers, carried the title Negus Nagast, king of kings, symbolic of his rule over numerous tribute-paying principalities on both the African continent and Arabia. Ezana dominated states on the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea, making them pay regular tribute to Axum. When Black Men Ruled the World: 5 Arab Kingdoms, Cities Dominated By Africans Before Rise of Islam - Page 4 of 6 - Atlanta Black Star
Events involving the Axumite Empire's involvement in Arabia figure prominently in the Quran. Chapter 106, "Chapter of the Elephant", is named after a particular historical encounter that led to a march towards Mecca shortly before the Prophet Muhammad's birth there.
Around 517 A.D., King Kaleb of the Axum Empire sent his army across the Red Sea to invade and annex what is today called Yemen, on report that the Jewish King Yūsuf Asar Yathar was persecuting Christians and Axumites. Abraha, a general in the Axumite army, was reported to have led the army of 100,000 men with hundreds of elephants to successfully crush all resistance of the Yemeni army. Yūsuf Asar Yathar was killed in the battle and King Kaleb appointed a viceroy to rule in his place. The Yemenite Kingdom was then forced to pay tribute to the Axum empire. When Black Men Ruled the World: 5 Arab Kingdoms, Cities Dominated By Africans Before Rise of Islam - Page 5 of 6 - Atlanta Black Star
General Abraha invaded Mecca (in 570 A.D., the same year as the birth of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, according to some Muslim historians). This attack took the form of a sort of religious crusade in which the Ethiopian Orthodox Axumites planned to destroy the center of pagan Arabic religion. Some scholars believe the actual campaign occurred as much as a decade earlier than the date given by Islamic sources. When Black Men Ruled the World: 5 Arab Kingdoms, Cities Dominated By Africans Before Rise of Islam - Page 6 of 6 - Atlanta Black Star
The Abyssinian Empire, famous among Rastafarians especially for its Solomonic dynasty, incorporated what is now modern Ethiopia, and some parts of modern day Eritrea and Somalia, under its rule, which only ended 40 years ago. Their might rivalled that of the Ottoman Turks, Imperial Italy and the Arabs. It was the successor of the Axumite Empire.
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia covers. It existed from approximately 1137 (beginning of Zagwe Dynasty) until 1975 when the monarchy was overthrown in a coup d’état. In 1270, the Zagwe dynasty was overthrown by a king claiming lineage from the Aksumite emperors and, hence, Solomon. The thus-named Solomonic Dynasty was founded and ruled by the Habesha, from whom Abyssinia gets its name.
The Habesha reigned with only a few interruptions from 1270 until the late 20th century. It was under this dynasty that most of Ethiopia’s modern history occurred. During this time, the empire conquered and incorporated virtually all the peoples within modern Ethiopia. They successfully fought off Italian, Arab and Turkish armies and made fruitful contacts with some European powers, especially the Portuguese, with whom they allied in battle against the latter two invaders. 7 Medieval African Kingdoms Everyone Should Know About - Page 3 of 4 - Atlanta Black Star
