Christianity in Africa

Christianity is now one of the two most widely practised religions in Africa, with most adherents outside Ethiopia and Eritrea being Roman Catholic or Protestant. The presence of Christianity in Africa began in the middle of the 1st century in Egypt, and by the end of the 2nd century in the region around Carthage. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity includes Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.

The later spread of Islam into North Africa reduced the size and numbers of Christian congregations, leaving only the Coptic Church in Egypt and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (including the Eritrean Orthodox Church) in the Horn of Africa. The latter professes its own distinctive customs, a unique canon of the Bible, and a distinctive architecture illustrated by the structures of Axum, Debre Damo and Lalibela. It is the one community of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa which is not the product of European missionary work, but can document its foundation prior to any European countries.

Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern and Central, as well as in some Eastern and West African nations.^{[citation needed]} In North Africa, Coptic Christians make a significant minority in Egypt. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, it was estimated in 2002 that Christians form 40% of Africa's population, with Muslims forming 45%. Overall, in a relatively short time Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of African traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims - as these two Abrahamic religions spread rapidly at the expense of indigenous African religions.