It's really the only sub-Saharan African country that had what we'd consider a civilization.
Their king Kaleb of Aksum ended up killing Dhu Nuwas, the Yemenite Jew who was persecuting Christians in Arabia. Although this is certainly offset by the later king "Najashi" providing Muhammad refuge from persecution by Arab tribes, an historic mistake.
I don't know any of this history. I should probably spend more time looking into it.