Uganda
POPULATION 24,699,073
CHRISTIAN 78 percent
MUSLIM 9 percent
AFRICAN INDIGENOUS BELIEFS 8 percent
AFRICAN INDEPENDENT CHURCHES 4 percent
OTHER 1 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
Situated in East Africa, the Republic of Uganda is a country of savannas and plains surrounded by mountain ranges. It is bordered by Tanzania and Rwanda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, the Sudan to the north, and Kenya to the east. Lake Victoria extends across its southeastern corner. Uganda became independent from Britain in 1962 and a republic in 1963. During the country's colonial history a massive conversion to Christianity took place, so that today Christians make up the large majority of the population.
In 1877 Anglicanism arrived with the first colonial explorers at the court of the kingdom of Buganda. They were followed two years later by Catholic missionaries. The advantages of literacy for court functionaries, and the sympathies of the king of Buganda, secured a massive conversion to Christianity by the king's elite group. Anglicanism was initially considered the official colonial and state religion, but a large number of conversions to Catholicism, supported by foreign missionaries, followed within the next few years. With an even number of Anglicans and Catholics, Christians in contemporary Uganda have a population of more than 19 million.
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