Christianity in a Pre-Nineteenth Century Africa Research Paper

Christianity had its origin in Africa a long time ago, in the first and second centuries. It was in Egypt that we had important people influence the development of Christianity. People like Alexandria were very significant for the establishment of Christianity in Egypt. The first church of Alexandria was Greek-speaking, but later on, the scriptures were translated into other local languages in Egypt. Throughout the third and fourth centuries, there was the expansion of the church alongside the persecutions of Christians. With persecutions, Christians fled from towns into the deserts, but when the persecutions declined, some Christians remained in the wilderness praying, and this kind of culture started spreading to other parts of the Christian world. West African states were characterized by trading activities with a number of trade routes. For instance, Ghana was known to control trade in gold. It is through trade in slaves, gold, and ivory that Europeans started their entry into African states, and some of them came along with missionaries who were on a mission to spread Christianity. The Atlantic slave trade involved the trade of African slaves to the colonies of the new world by the developed countries. This trade occurred in the Atlantic Ocean and occurred between the 16^th and 19^th centuries. Most of the slaves in this trade came from West Africa and central African states such as Ghana, Mali, and Ivory Coast. The slaves were obtained along the coasts or even through kidnapping in some areas. African slaves were traded to go and work in South American colonies of Spanish and Portuguese empires. Brazil was a major region where slaves were traded for goods. Slaves were acquired from wars between African tribes where those who were captured could be sold out in exchange for goods along with the coastal areas.

During this time, Christianity had not gained popularity in Africa because the few missionaries who were around feared penetrating through the interior of Africa because of the fear of hostility from Africa and also due to the presence of tropical disease. Otherwise, the early Christians, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, were not opposed to the idea of the slave trade. It is quite interesting that some of them advocated for the enslavement of Africans who were not of the Christian faith. These are the likes of Pope Nicholas V,.From this time, all the other early Christians who came to Africa advocated for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. Other popes condemned the slave trade since it went against Christianity and its teachings. They also condemned the inhabitants of such places as Canary Island, which were characterized by slavery and its associated activities.

Therefore early Christians in Africa were against the slave trade because it went against Christian teachings and also it was inhuman. The slave trade before the nineteenth century took a triangular dimension whereby goods were exported from European countries to Africa in exchange for slaves. Kings and rulers in Africa were involved in this trade until around 1900. Merchants were also part of the trade. They received several goods from Europe from each captive they gave out. Examples of goods that were exported from Europe included ammunition, guns, and other manufactured goods.

Early Christian missionaries in Kenya, for instance, Livingstone, were convinced that the routes slave trade took could be suppressed by creating other routes through which European goods could reach the interior and be traded using other better means other than slavery. Therefore they were seeking an end to the slave trade by creating other humane trade activities. Christianity influenced most aspects of traditional African society.

This occurred specifically with the coming of the Portuguese with their evangelism in the 15^th century. Ancient churches were found in Egypt as It was the first African county to accept the gospel. It was also the first place in Africa whereby we have monastic life dominated throughout the life of the Christians. Christianity in this part of Africa was greatly affected by the invasion of Muslims of Arab origin. These Muslims led to the decline of Christianity in North Africa, such that by 1500 Christianity was extinct in North Africa. In North Africa, Christianity had penetrated all corners of life in the society by the end of the third and fourth centuries. There were also monasteries and Carthage by the year 400 in parts of Northern Africa. Before its extinction, Christianity in the North part of Africa never translated the Bible into native languages. This is unlike in the Ethiopian church, whereby Christianity was translated into local languages such as the Coptic and other Ethiopian languages. They did not include aspects of their traditions into Christianity so as to have a national outlook. The reasons why the church declined in North Africa were due to the Muslims causing population reduction in the Christian faith. This occurred to the many battles that took place in which Christian faithful were casualties.

There was a lot of pressure on Christians and pagans to be converted into the Islamic religion. In the North, it became compulsory for the Christians to pay tax to the authorities so as to freely practice their Christianity. In sub-Saharan Africa, Christianity was brought with the coming of Portuguese Pope Pius II was very significant in the spread of Christianity on the Guinea coast. The mission in Guinea was dependent on the other mission in Cape Verd. There was also another great mission that achieved a lot in Benin around 1485.

In other parts like Congo, Christianity was started by someone called Franciscan in 1490 who came from St John the Evangelist and other priests. Missionaries used to come to Congo from Portugal and also took people to their country for instruction and back. In Angola, Christianity started in the mid 16^th century. Significant people for the successful mission in Angola included Francis Borgia. As for the East African region, the advent and spread of Christianity along Mozambique happened when some of the missionaries made a stop there on their way to the east at around half the 16^th century. In some parts like Madagascar, the early missionaries did not have much success. Their missionary work declined with the French revolution that took place on the island. The spread of Christianity declined in Sub-Saharan Africa because of a number of factors, amongst which the exclusion of missionaries from other countries featured prominently. The Portuguese wanted to dominate all alone in their mission. They flourished only in regions where there was adequate Portuguese influence.

Another limiting factor for the spread of Christianity concerned the tropical climate, which proved to be quite unfavorable to the missionaries. The climate, in fact, killed some of the missionaries on arrival in Africa.

References

A History of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali.

The Atlantic Slave Trade.

African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade.