Islam's arrival in East Africa brought into contact the Ethiopian Christian faith, and Islam, as well as traditional belief systems of the myriad Kikuyu, Swahili, and Maasai groups of people living there. While Islam took root, it did not supplant or replace these groups, nor completely dominate them. However, there was an East African slave trade that was part of the source of animosity that still exists in places like the Sudan, where the Muslim northern part has had a civil war with the black Christian/traditionalist south. This condition continues today, but not really much different from other places where two large and influential religions come into contact.
In West Africa, Islam brought with it a flowering of culture and knowledge, manifested in places like Timbuktu and Jenna. Despite the many groups in West Africa, the Hausa and Fulani, Yoruba, Mali, etc., Islam was initially a culturally unifying element and commonality among different groups. However, Christianity was introduced later in West Africa, and it was the introduction of Christianity that created a divisiveness not known before. The West African slave trade was much greater in impact, and volume, than in East Africa. This was driven by Christian Britain, Portugal, and Spain. Today, there is the residual effects in places like Nigeria, where the population is half and half, Christian and Muslim, pitted in a duality and animosity as in Bosnia and Serbia.
It's a shame. The meeting of cultures should mean sharing and learning and understanding. All cultures have this capacity.
Well, you will have more sympathizer's. You will have more terrorist coming out of Africa. Maybe more civil wars due to conflicts between Christianity and Islam.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Islam's arrival in East Africa brought into contact the Ethiopian Christian faith, and Islam, as well as traditional belief systems of the myriad Kikuyu, Swahili, and Maasai groups of people living there. While Islam took root, it did not supplant or replace these groups, nor completely dominate them. However, there was an East African slave trade that was part of the source of animosity that still exists in places like the Sudan, where the Muslim northern part has had a civil war with the black Christian/traditionalist south. This condition continues today, but not really much different from other places where two large and influential religions come into contact.
In West Africa, Islam brought with it a flowering of culture and knowledge, manifested in places like Timbuktu and Jenna. Despite the many groups in West Africa, the Hausa and Fulani, Yoruba, Mali, etc., Islam was initially a culturally unifying element and commonality among different groups. However, Christianity was introduced later in West Africa, and it was the introduction of Christianity that created a divisiveness not known before. The West African slave trade was much greater in impact, and volume, than in East Africa. This was driven by Christian Britain, Portugal, and Spain. Today, there is the residual effects in places like Nigeria, where the population is half and half, Christian and Muslim, pitted in a duality and animosity as in Bosnia and Serbia.
It's a shame. The meeting of cultures should mean sharing and learning and understanding. All cultures have this capacity.
Well, you will have more sympathizer's. You will have more terrorist coming out of Africa. Maybe more civil wars due to conflicts between Christianity and Islam.