History and Culture of East Africa

East Africa is a very diverse place in terms of its culture and history. Europeans introduced christianity to Ethiopia as early as 300AD. 200 years later, its spread a little more into parts of Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia even ended up having a Christian Emporor, Lilibela, who built many churches in the area. Islam also spread into East Africa. The main reason was trade. There were many traders who came across the Indian Ocean who would bring along their culture, language, and religion. As the years past by, the religion spread across the whole region. The slave trade was also big in East Africa. Africans were bieng kidnapped by the Europeans and imported as slaves. The island of Zanzibar became and international slave trading center. Most European countries stopped slavery in the 1800s. They started to focus mainly gold, ivory, and rubber. Later, Great Britain Set up its own colonies using imperialism. In the early 1960s, most east african countries finally gained indipendance from European colonizers. East Africa BY FAR does not have just one local language. They speak French, English, Swahili, and many other African languages.