The geographical proximity between the Horn of Africa and the Indian subcontinent has played an important role in the development of the relationship since ancient times.

Indo-African relations date back to the Bronze Age period of the Indus Valley civilization, Pearl millet first domesticated in Africa have been discovered from the site of Chanhu Daro and there is at least one burial of African women from the same site as well, it is thus postulated that Indus valley maritime activities included journey to the horn of Africa and bringing back African crops along with African diaspora to the Indus valley since Pearl millet was cultivated in South Asia since 2nd millennium BC but there is no such evidence from the Near East.

[2][3] Black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death in 1213 BCE.

Helped by the monsoon winds, merchants traded cotton, glass beads and other goods in exchange for gold and soft-carved ivory.

):[12] "At any rate, when Gallus was prefect of Egypt, I accompanied him and ascended the Nile as far as Syene and the frontiers of Kingdom of Aksum, and I learned that as many as one hundred and twenty vessels were sailing from Myos Hormos to India, whereas formerly, under the Ptolemies, only a very few ventured to undertake the voyage and to carry on traffic in Indian merchandise.

The Periplus Maris Erythraei describes Greco-Roman merchants selling in Barbaricum "thin clothing, figured linens, topaz, coral, storax, frankincense, vessels of glass, and silver and gold plate" in exchange for "costus, bdellium, lycium, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, Seric skins, cotton cloth, silk yarn, and indigo".

[16][17] Relations attained stronger levels during medieval times due to the development of trade routes between the Mediterranean and Asia, through Arabia (see also: Indo-Mediterranean).

[18] Indian Hindu traders were reportedly present according to the records of Vasco da Gama in the south eastern African coast of Mozambique.

These was due to slave trade in the Indian Ocean, where non-Muslim enslaved Africans, who were sold to India to mainly to serve as eunuch bodyguards of high-ranking Muslim officials & their harems (quarters for Muslim concubines & enslaved Hindu women) & zenanas were freed from slavery by their owners and appointed in high offices after converting to Islam.

The Africans, who arrived in Hyderabad apart from playing their traditional role as bonded guards and servants, were recruited as the Nizam's private bodyguard.

[21] The stay of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa between 1893 and 1915 remains one of the main events which paved the road to the modern-day political relations.

At the wake of the Cold War, many African countries joined the non-aligned movement pioneered by Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia and Yugoslavia.

During the years of decolonisation, India exerted considerable political and ideological influence in Africa as a role model and a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Its commitment to decolonisation through nonviolent means made it relatively reluctant to provide military assistance to national liberation movements.

India's role in East Africa was also constrained by the large Indian ethnic population that was often resented by black African nationalists.

In November 2012 FICCI President led a business delegation to Ethiopia to meet the new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and reaffirm India's commitment to the growth and development of Africa.

[35] At the second India–Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2011, then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed India's desire to help African nations with their development needs.

Singh announced that India would invest $700 million to establish educational institutions and training programs in several African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Botswana and Burundi.