Interfaith relations between Christianity and Islam in Ethiopia
Abstract
Ethiopia is now the second most populous country in Africa, with more than 110 million inhabitants, after Nigeria, 200 million. On both western and eastern sides of the continent, these two countries present situations of religious plurality reflective of the variety of historical dynamics of Christianity and Islam in Africa. In Nigeria the population is almost equally divided between Christians in the southern tropical humid regions and Muslims in the northern, drier, parts. The Christian faith was introduced by missionaries who went along the processes of settlement of European colonial rule, whereas Islam was established in earlier times, since the 11th century, along the trade (and slavery) roads going through the Sahelian southern fringe of the Sahara desert...