The opening of the Age of Discovery came about because Arab religious states monopolized trade between East and West. Coupled with the long history of Middle Eastern regimes such as ancient Persia, the Arab Empire, and the Ottoman Empire waging campaigns against Europe, this forced Europeans to seek new trade routes. Even after those routes had been opened, they spared no effort in continuing to compress the room for Arab religious influence to expand. East Africa had inherited this principle as well.
Compared with Europe, East Africa lay along the Indian Ocean and was naturally destined to form a competitive relationship with Arab religious influence. A major reason East Africa could now run rampant across the Indian Ocean was that the decline of Arab religious influence had cleared room for East Africa's expansion there.
Therefore, the "Arab religious threat theory" Freer spoke of was also determined by East Africa's national interests. There was consensus on this within East Africa.
Ernst affirmed, "In the future, there can be only one voice on the Indian Ocean, and that is East Africa's. Any force that may threaten the Empire is a target for our suppression."
"Since that is the case, we will temporarily take over local governance in Karikal, Yanan, and the third area, using these three places as bases to export ideology and dominance over public discourse to the South Asian subcontinent. We will stir up regional conflicts and stand guard as if defending a city to prevent Arab religious influence from rising from the ashes in the South Asian subcontinent, avoiding the emergence of a powerful and unified Arab-style Indian Empire."
"Besides supporting India's other native religions to achieve the quickest results, we must also strengthen the spread of external faiths such as Catholicism throughout the South Asian region."
"At the