[Map Telephone] The Sinna Realm of East Africa

Legend:
Green: Core of the Sinna empire along the Cuama river
Orange: Integrated Nations (Njengah, Mutupu, Maniqa, Khitehe, Lalaka, Qalonga, Baluhe)
Pink: Butwa (vassal)
yellow: Shewaa (vassal)

Compared to the other Azanian nations of the previous century, the Sinna realm had a particular history

Its rulers and privilegied caste, the Ashikhunda, were originally slave-soldiers answering to Prazos, feudal estates established by the Portugal Kingdom (an ancient kingdom in current western Hispania) in the 11th century along the fertile plains of the lower Cuama river and headed by ambitious Hispanian and Goan adventurers who managed to become veritable warlords, amassing thousands of slaves-soldiers and asserting their rule over local chiefs, the mwenes

The soldiers came from numerous background across the region and the slave status was for the most part voluntary, indeed the leader of the armies, the Mukazambo, benefited from the portuguese trade link, guns and raids to enrich themselves and increase their power and effectively became equals to the Prazeros - the owner of the estates -, and for the average soldier the guarantee of food and stay was attractive to many farmers who had lost their lands even if it came at the cost of their freedom. Thus dozens of thousands of diverse soldiers came to integrate a completely new society centered on war, and they soon became estranged from their former nation and custom, they would adopt a common language based on a mixture of the local languages with a sprinkle of Hispanian, they would create new dances and adapt their cuisine to the fluvial lowland of the Cuama river, their gender role also would be completely redefined after the second generations of warriors since they became more strict, with the women always relegated to farm work and ironworking while the man fought in the army, and since the man accumulated wealth through the raids their society became patrilineal despite that most soldiers came from matrilineal societies

But the balance of power between the Mukazambo and the Prazero was dependent on the Portuguese Crown's ability to safeguard oceanic trade and project their religious power, Portugal's luck in the region quickly declined in the mid 12th century however, when a combination of Oman's quick expansion along the coast of Azania to the detriment of Portugal's Naval power and the equally quick expansion of Changamire Dombo's empire which drove Portuguese garrisons back to the sea. With the balance of power between Ashikhunda and Prazeros gone, many warriors refused to fight for them, some just fled to the countryside, but other ambitious Mukazambo instead decided to overthrow the Prazeros and take all power themselves, followed by most of the Ashikhunda who were too acculturated to flee the only society they ever knew.
What followed was a chaotic period of warring warlord rulling over the various estates who despite their disunity were still forces to be reckoned with, individual Mukazambo would soon become involved in the wider politics of the region and both support neighbors and be influenced by them. To the north, for exemple, the ruler of the Titi estate would become allied to the rich Maravi confederation while to the south-west the Mashanjan estate would make close ties with the Rozwi, but the most successful warlords were those who looked to the sea, they established diplomatic and trade links with the newly established Arab and Swahili trader who had replaced the portuguese, and some eventually converted to Islam, even if most arab traders lamented their lack of devotion and syncretic worship
One warlord would manage to use this to vastly expend its domain and bring an end ot the period of division over the Lower Cuama: Abdulla Mutupu Shiskasa, he used a mixture of new war tactics that came from the south of the continent with large supplies of guns from Zungari Bengal to expend his domain of Sinna, and in his lifetime unified all of the Lower cuama from the coast to the Dzumbo estate, the westernmost of the Ashikhunda states

But his son, Omar Ibn-Abdulla Shiskasa went further, after a bloody succession crisis he set to break the power of the more rebellious former estates and brought Zanzibari administrators to help rule his realm, while he declared Ibadi islam as the belief of the realm and supported conversions through it.

Omar's greatest achievement was his conquests, not only by the gun but also through diplomacy, during his consolidation of power the Marawi confederacy and rozwi empire, who previous supported Ashihunda estates that would end up subjugated by Abdulla, set on to invade the Sinna from both sides. Omar however knew of the divides inside the Marawi Confederacy and used them, he approached the Shewaa nations who were on the ascendancy and saw the Invasion as a last ditch effort from the Manganja nation based in Shiqawa to keep their declining power, Omar and the Chewa agreed to a non agression pact and a small Ashikhunda army helped the Shewaa betray the manganja and become the master of the confederacy, this move enable Omar to keep the bulk of his nearly 100,000 strong army at the edge of the rozwi realm, where he built forts to take advantage in the Mountainous border regions, he then ordered his army to wait in the forts, as he had learnt from arab merchant that the high plains south of the rozwi empire were in turmoil and that various tribes and nations were forced to go north, forcing the Rozwi to divert their forces to the south, Omar then ordered a swift invasion that reached the Batwa center of the Empire within a month, he made the Rozwi king Shilimunhaw a vassal and snatched the peripherical regions of his empire.

Omar had been consecrated as the supreme ruler of the largest empire of Austral Africa, and he hadn't even come back to his capital in Sinna city that he planned his next conquests, targets were plenty: He could subdue the Lozi people to control the Upper Cuama valley, or pacify the anarchical highlands to the south of the former Rozwi, he even contemplated the invasion of the christians fort on the southern coast of the continent held by the Burgundians, but none of his plans would come to fruition, as he would suddenly die without a clear successor shortly after reaching his capital