What Is The Role Of Islam And Christianity In Early Modern Africa
Islam and Christianity in Early Modern Africa
Indigenous Religions still present
Recognize a supreme, remote creator god, but devote most of their attention to powerful spirits.
Spirits associated with geographic features such as mountains, waters, or forests.
Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Most Africans maintained their inherited Religions.
Islam and Christianity attracted increasing interest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Islam most popular in West Africa and Swahili City-States.
Timbuktu – Islamic University & 180 Schools that taught the Quran.
African Muslims blended Islam with indigenous beliefs/customs creating a “Syncretic brand of Islam.”
“Syncretic brand of Islam” viewed as impure and offensive by others.
The Fulani and Islam
Fulani located
in West African Savannas.
Viewed a strict form of Islam like those in North Africa & Arabia.
From 1680 to 19th Century – Led a series of military campaigns to establish Islamic states and impose their own brand of Islam in West Africa.
Founded powerful states in what is now Guinea, Senegal, Mali, and northern Nigeria.
Promoted the spread of Islam to the countryside.
Strengthened Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa, and laid a foundation for Islamic State-Building and conversion efforts.
Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Christianity blended with traditional beliefs/customs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sometimes created “Syncretic Cults.”
Antonian Movement in Kongo in the early 18th Century.
Antonian Movement began in 1704 under an aristocratic woman named Dona Beatriz.
Dona Beatriz – communicated messages of St. Anthony of Padua, worked miracles, cured diseases, and promoted an African form of Christianity.
Jesus Christ was a black African man
Kongo was the true holy land of Christianity
Heaven was for Africans
Dona Beatriz’s movement was a serious challenge to Christian missionaries in Kongo.
In 1706, they persuaded King Pedro IV of Kongo to arrest Dona Beatriz on suspicion of heresy and the teachings of false doctrine.
Dona Beatriz was sentenced to death and burned at the stake.
Antonian Movement did not disappear: in 1708 an army of almost 20,000 challenged King Pedro.
Indigenous Religions still present
Recognize a supreme, remote creator god, but devote most of their attention to powerful spirits.
Spirits associated with geographic features such as mountains, waters, or forests.
Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Most Africans maintained their inherited Religions.
Islam and Christianity attracted increasing interest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Islam most popular in West Africa and Swahili City-States.
Timbuktu – Islamic University & 180 Schools that taught the Quran.
African Muslims blended Islam with indigenous beliefs/customs creating a “Syncretic brand of Islam.”
“Syncretic brand of Islam” viewed as impure and offensive by others.
The Fulani and Islam
Fulani located
in West African Savannas.
Viewed a strict form of Islam like those in North Africa & Arabia.
From 1680 to 19th Century – Led a series of military campaigns to establish Islamic states and impose their own brand of Islam in West Africa.
Founded powerful states in what is now Guinea, Senegal, Mali, and northern Nigeria.
Promoted the spread of Islam to the countryside.
Strengthened Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa, and laid a foundation for Islamic State-Building and conversion efforts.
Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Christianity blended with traditional beliefs/customs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sometimes created “Syncretic Cults.”
Antonian Movement in Kongo in the early 18th Century.
Antonian Movement began in 1704 under an aristocratic woman named Dona Beatriz.
Dona Beatriz – communicated messages of St. Anthony of Padua, worked miracles, cured diseases, and promoted an African form of Christianity.
Jesus Christ was a black African man
Kongo was the true holy land of Christianity
Heaven was for Africans
Dona Beatriz’s movement was a serious challenge to Christian missionaries in Kongo.
In 1706, they persuaded King Pedro IV of Kongo to arrest Dona Beatriz on suspicion of heresy and the teachings of false doctrine.
Dona Beatriz was sentenced to death and burned at the stake.
Antonian Movement did not disappear: in 1708 an army of almost 20,000 challenged King Pedro.