The expansion of Christianity and the decisive role of Spain depicted on a map

With almost 2,000 years of history, Christianity is today the most widespread religion in the world, with more than 2,400 followers of different branches.

The 20 Islamic offensives that the Christian territories suffered before the Crusades
Spain did not commit any genocide in America: what it did was to end one

Unlike Islam, which had a much faster expansion in the Middle East and North Africa through conquest, Christianity had a remarkably slow spread in its first centuries, largely due to the persecutions it had to face until it became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380, with the promulgation of the Edict of Thessalonica by Theodosius I the Great. Ollie Bye has published an interesting video showing the expansion of Christianity since the 1st century, showing its advances, setbacks, and divisions over the years:

There are some details in the video that could be clarified, such as the case of Celtic Christianity, which, regardless of its peculiarities, should be considered part of the Catholic Church. The map also contains interesting information, such as the evolution of Eastern Christianity and the isolation of one of its branches in the Far East, or the resilience of Eastern Christianity in Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, belonging to the Miaphysite branch, which still survives today.

The most striking aspect of the video is the significant contribution Spain made to the spread of Christianity throughout the world. In the 15th century, when the Discovery of America took place, Christianity was a dominant religion only in Europe, with a few isolated pockets in Asia Minor and East Africa. In the following centuries, the Spanish Empire incorporated Spanish America and the Philippines into the Catholic Church, two regions where Catholicism remains the majority religion today. The Philippines is, in fact, the only major Asian country with Catholicism as its majority religion. Furthermore, it has a strong presence in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, and in Oceania it is the dominant religion in two other former Spanish territories, Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as in some French colonies.

---

Main image: HighInBC / NASA.