War breaks out between the kingdoms of Axum, in northern Ethiopia, and Meroe in the upper Nile valley around 330 AD. By this time, Meroe was probably no longer ruled by its traditional dynasties, but had fallen to a little-known people, the Nobatae, who were apparently desert nomads. Meroe/Nobatae is defeated and disappears as a major power. A kingdom based on the city of Axum, the forerunner of the kingdom of Abyssinia, becomes the dominant power in eastern Africa.

The city of Axum develops into the main trade centre south of the Sahara. Shortly after the conquest of Meroe, 350 AD, King Ezana of Axum converts to Christianity and declares it the state religion. From 500 AD, Axum, now more properly called Abyssinia, becomes a major power or empire, ruling not only the territory of modern Ethiopia, but parts of southwestern Arabia and much of the Sudan--an area almost as large as the Western Roman empire. An Abyssinian attack on the Arab city of Mecca was defeated in 570. Having to fend off repeated Arab invasions after 800 AD, the empire went into decline but managed to survive as a independent state.

Malay sailors reach the large island of Madagascar and begin to establish settlements and trading posts.