Christianity spread in Africa because of colonial bureaucracy, not just missionaries.
April 17, 2026
Original Paper
Colonial Rule and Religious Change: Evidence from Africa's Colonial Borders
SSRN · 6589331
The Takeaway
We often assume Christianity grew in Africa through the sheer effort of missionaries and religious conversion. However, this study shows the real driver was the type of colonial administration. In French and Portuguese 'direct rule' colonies, traditional social structures were dismantled, leaving a void that Christianity rushed to fill for social stability. Meanwhile, British 'indirect rule' preserved indigenous systems, and traditional religions survived much better. It turns out that religious shifts were often a byproduct of how taxes were collected and local chiefs were managed. For us today, it’s a striking reminder of how the 'boring' details of government policy can rewrite a continent's cultural and spiritual map.
From the abstract
The European colonization of sub-Saharan Africa drove a massive shift from indigenous religions to Christianity, yet the channels through which this transformation occurred remain poorly understood. Using a geographic regression discontinuity design at colonial borders in sub-Saharan Africa, I find that Christian adherence is substantially higher under French and Portuguese direct rule than under British indirect rule---a gap that implies a correspondingly greater persistence of traditional reli