Throughout time religion has shaped many civilizations, affecting peoples views, constantly influencing human culture and behavior. When focusing on the religion of Christianity this is quite apparent. Christianity has successfully spread all over the world and when looking at specific civilizations it is fascinating because the manner in which it spread and how it affected the people is often different in each civilization. If you specifically take a look at Ethiopia and Charlemagne's empire there is clear evidence that show these differences. Both of these civilizations were affected largely by christianity. Christianity had different things to offer each society and ultimately the way it spread, the effect it had on the people as well as the ideology of the rulers and how it influenced the peoples interactions were very different in Ethiopia and Charlemagne's empire. .
When looking at christianity, Ethiopia was an active center of christian culture and one of the earliest civilizations affected by the religion. Christianity was spread to Ethiopia mostly through Egyptian culture. For example " African kingdoms that arose in modern Sudan and Ethiopia in northeast Africa were heavily influenced by Egyptian culture".1 Egypt was largely influenced by Roman culture and the hellenistic ways of christianity would be introduced to Ethiopia through the trade they would do in the upper nile area. Ethiopia thrived on trading and it is this constant trade that would lead to the spreading of christian devotion throughout the civilization. For instance, " but through trade, word gradually spread about the christian devotion of this African kingdom".2 While trade was the main method for christianity spreading in Ethiopia, in Charlemagne's empire the reasons for the spread of christianity had more to do with warfare and expansion. Charlemagne, who was the ruler of the Franks, was able to reunite the many Germanic kingdoms that were present after the fall of Rome.