Christianity, the most practiced religion on earth, began with the life of Jesus Christ, a Jew who lived in the Roman province of Judea. His resurrection and divinity are matters of faith, but his existence and death by crucifixion around 30 AD are widely accepted as historical fact. Christianity's early spread is credited to a small group of loyal followers, the apostles. They're joined around 36 AD by Paul, who has a vision of Christ while traveling to Damascus. Paul makes it his life's mission to spread the gospel or good news of Christ's death and resurrection. He is extremely successful winning Christian converts around the Mediterranean and as far west as Italy. According to tradition, the Apostle Mark establishes a church in Alexandria around 42 AD. The origin of today's Coptic Orthodox Church. Also according to tradition in 52 AD Thomas the Apostle arrives in India and establishes several small Christian communities. Most historians dispute this due to lack of evidence. Early missionaries such as Paul successfully spread Christianity across the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Christian communities are documented from North Africa to Italy. By 100 AD, the four gospels that make up the Bible's New Testament are complete. They form the foundation of Christianity to the present day. Christianity continues to spread in the Roman Empire and among its neighbors. Around 3001, Armenian King Tredates III converts to Christianity and proclaims it the state religion, making Armenia the world's oldest Christian country. Christians face persecution across the Roman Empire where it is emperors who are considered divine. But in 312, according to Christian chroniclers, Roman Emperor Constantine experiences a Christian vision just before the Battle of Milvian Bridge. The following year, he passes the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity across the Roman Empire. [Music] In 325, he convenes the Council of Nika, the first of many formal church gatherings aimed at resolving theological disputes. An estimated 300 bishops attend the council, evidence of Christianity's early growth and organization. The council establishes the Nyine Creed, a statement of Christian faith still used today. Nevertheless, Christianity is fragmented and numerous sects and doctrines flourish. Most disputes center on the precise nature of Christ and his relationship to God and the Trinity. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Around 3:30, Christianity spreads south into Africa. King Izana declares Christianity the official religion of Axom in the Horn of Africa. This is the origin of today's Ethiopian church, one of the oldest in the world. [Music] In 380, Emperor Theodosius passes the first Roman law to define Orthodox Christian belief. Christianity is on its way to becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire. Across its territory, Christians attack old temples, destroying some and turning others into churches. Later emperors outlaw worship of the old gods and persecute their followers who become known as pagans, a derogatory term for those who are backward and inferior. The so-called barbarian tribes that overrun much of the western Roman Empire, Visigothths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals also convert to Christianity, even if initially they adopt the heretical beliefs of Aryanism. Around 405, St. Jerome completes a new Latin translation of the Bible which becomes known as the Vulgate. It will become the official Bible text of the Catholic Church and remains the basis of the Catholic Bible to this day. Over the next two centuries, missionaries at great personal risk strive to convert pagan communities and their rulers. The conversion of an influential ruler proves a crucial strategy, often leading to the conversion of entire realms. Christianity spreads throughout Western Europe, even as the Western Roman Empire falls. Around 432, St. Patrick travels to Ireland to begin the conversion of the Irish. In 508, Clovis, king of the Franks, converts, completing the conversion of Gaul. In 563, Columba travels from Ireland to Western Scotland, establishing a monastery on the island of Iona, one of the oldest in Western Europe. In 589, Visigoth King Recured renounces Aryanism and converts his entire kingdom to Catholicism. In 597, Pope Gregory sends St. Augustine to Britain. He converts King Ethelbert of Kent, beginning the conversion of the English. [Music] In 635, Alopen becomes the first known Christian missionary to reach China. Emperor Titong of the Tang Dynasty issues an edict allowing Christianity to spread. Missionaries build churches and translate Christian texts into Chinese. Christian theology mixes with existing traditions, adopting tauist and Buddhist terminology. Meanwhile, Arab forces proclaiming the new faith of Islam conquer much of the Middle East and North Africa and seize control of Christianity's most holy sites in Jerusalem. [Music] By 720, Muslim conquests extend as far as the Iberian Peninsula. However, most Islamic rulers tolerate Christianity in their lands. And though treated as secondclass subjects, Christian communities endure. Medieval Europe has by now splintered into many kingdoms. Frankish King Charlemagne extends his rule across Frankia, Bavaria, Saxony, and northern Spain. Wherever he conquers, he converts new subjects to Christianity, often at the point of a sword. [Music] In 800, he is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, the first in an imperial line that lasts a thousand years. Christianity continues to spread north and east with the help of more royal conversions. In 965, King Harold Bluetooth of Denmark, followed by Duke Meshko and Poland's leading nobility. [Music] Vladimir the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev, regarded as the founder of Christianity in Ukraine and Russia. King Olaf Trigson of Norway who sends missionaries to Iceland and Greenland, King Steven of Hungary, and King Olaf eran of Sweden, whose attempt to convert pagans meets fierce resistance. In 1054, tensions between the Greek Eastern Church headed by the patriarch in Constantinople and the Latin western church ruled by the pope in Rome lead to a split known as the great schism. The result is the formation of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Roman or Bzantine Empire is hardpressed by the Seljuk Turks. And so in 1095, Pope Urban II calls for a crusade to aid the Bzantine Empire and reclaim the Holy Land for Christians. He promises forgiveness of sins to those who take part, and Catholic Christians sign up in droves. The success of the first crusade leads to the establishment of several Christian states in the Levant. But within 200 years, all have fallen to Muslim neighbors. [Music] Christian rulers have more success in Iberia, rolling back the Muslim conquests of the 8th century. In northern Europe, there are crusades against pagans in the Baltic and Finland. [Music] Meanwhile, Christianity continues to gain influence in the east. Papal Leot John of Monte Corvino crosses Armenia, Persia, and India to reach China, where in 1294 he becomes the first bishop of what will become Beijing. In 1386, Grand Duke Yoga, the last pagan ruler of Lithuania, is baptized and begins converting his subjects. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, the center of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Constantinople had been considered the new Rome. With its fall, the Russian Orthodox Church claims Moscow as the third Rome with a duty to protect all Orthodox Christians. [Music] The age of discovery marked by great pioneering maritime voyages will see western European powers carry Christianity to many far-off lands. In 1482, a Portuguese caravl reaches the kingdom of Congo. 9 years later, its ruler Zinga converts to Christianity along with many of his nobles. The king later abandons his Catholic faith, but Christianity remains Congo's state religion. In 1492, Catholic monarchs defeat the last remaining Islamic rulers in Spain in the Emirate of Granada. The Christian reconquest of Iberia, the Reconista, is complete. That same year, Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas. It is a moment of profound significance for the spread of Christianity. Further transatlantic voyages by Europeans will pave the way for colonization and conversion of this new world. In 1493, Pope Alexander V 6th issues a papal bull granting Spain the right to claim newly discovered lands in South America. The bull urges that the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself. The following year in the treaty of Totoas, Spain and Portugal agreed to divide the new world between them. Drawing a line on the map, Spain will get everything to the west, Portugal everything to the east. And wherever Spanish and Portuguese expeditions tread, Christian missionaries follow. Across what becomes New Spain, the Spanish impose Roman Catholicism with the forced conversion of indigenous peoples and attempts to eradicate native religions. The same process occurs further south in Peru and the Portuguese colonies in Brazil. [Music] This era also marks the dawn of the transatlantic slave trade as Europeans transport enslaved Africans to the Americas as forced labor. Christianity spreads in West Africa as a byproduct of the slave trade. And by the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries have established Christian communities along the coast. Meanwhile, in Europe, there is another major fracture of the Christian religion. In 1517, German priest Martin Luther launches a scathing attack on what he considers to be the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church. His actions trigger the Protestant Reformation. Protestant demands for church reform spread rapidly, aided by Gutenberg's new printing press. They are taken up by several European rulers for a mix of political and spiritual motives. Protestantism takes hold in Northern Europe. In 1534, English King Henry VIII breaks with Rome and makes himself head of the Church of England. From its birth, Protestantism is divided amongst a bewildering number of sects and movements from Calvinists and Lutherans to Baptists, Anabaptists, Moravian Brethren, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. Yet, Catholicism remains the dominant branch of Christianity. It will now travel to Southeast Asia alongside Portuguese and Spanish commercial interests. Missionary Francis Xavier journeys across Asia as a representative of the Portuguese Empire. He lands in Goa in 1542, sails to Portuguese outposts in Indonesia in 1545 and reaches Japan in 1549, where Christianity gains many followers. In 1565, the Philippines becomes a Spanish colony and a hub for European trade. Catholic missionaries ensure Christianity is soon the dominant religion. In the early 1600s, Protestants from England and the Netherlands established colonies along the North American coast. Many are Puritans seeking religious freedom and the opportunity to build perfect Christian communities. Missionary John Elliot contacts native tribes in Massachusetts and by 1663 he prints a Bible in their native language. But attempts at conversion have limited success. In the centuries ahead, it is the spread of European settlers that carries Christianity across the North American continent. By the end of the 18th century, Europeans have successfully embedded Christianity across the Americas. In both Britain and the future United States, this century sees several waves of religious revival known as the Great Awakenings. These lead to the birth of the modern evangelical movement with its emphasis on scripture and personal salvation. In the high age of European imperialism, Christianity travels to the remaining corners of the globe alongside European settlers and missionaries. In 1788, Christianity arrives in Australia alongside the first British penal colony. The London Missionary Society sends its first missionaries to Eastern Polynesia in 1797. Missionary work is largely responsible for Christianity's spread across the islands of the South Pacific. Christianity then reaches New Zealand where missionary Samuel Marsden preaches the first Christian sermon in 1814. Christian missionaries spread their faith across India. among them the Baptist minister William Kerry. Known as the father of modern missions, he translates the Bible into seven Indian languages. But Christian missionaries are resented by many Hindus and Muslims. This anger contributes to the great Indian uprising against British rule in 1857. This is the age of heroic missionaries. Men and women who embark on long and dangerous journeys to save souls in far-off lands. Scottish missionary David Livingston is perhaps the most famous, the first European to reach many parts of central Africa and to discover and name Victoria Falls. There are others Adoniram and Anne Judson who spent nearly 40 years as missionaries in Burma and Mary Sleser in Nigeria who learns the local language Ethi to preach Christianity. In 1884, American Presbyterians arrive in Korea, bringing both Western medicine and Christianity. The new religion takes off. Today, nearly a third of South Koreans are Christian. In the 1880s, European nations begin the scramble for Africa, a colonial carve up of the last independent African states. By 1914, they have claimed 90% of the continent, bringing Christianity with them. [Music] China had so far proved largely resistant to Christianity with only around 100,000 converts by the start of the 20th century. There had even been a violent backlash against the spread of Christianity, the Boxer Rebellion, with thousands of Chinese Christians killed. But extensive missionary work after 1900 leads to the construction of thousands of churches and around 4 million Chinese converts by 1945. [Music] In the 20th century, the rise of communism proves a major threat to Christianity and other religions. Communist governments in the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe dismantle the church and suppress worship. But Christianity proves the more resilient doctrine. When those governments fall, Christian churches reemerge with popular support. Even in communist China, there are today many millions of Christians despite tight state regulation. [Music] For nearly 2,000 years, the impact of countless missionaries and colonizers has helped to spread the Christian religion across the globe. Today, there are 2.3 billion Christians. Nearly a third of the world's population living and worshiping in almost every country on earth. For those of the Christian faith, another faith or none, it has incontrovertibly been the most astonishing historical journey. [Applause] If you've enjoyed this journey through the history of Christianity, then we highly recommend the channel Religion for Breakfast. Religion for Breakfast is dedicated to exploring humanity's beliefs and rituals throughout history. Their latest video delves into the fascinating Coptic Orthodox Church, tracing its origins in the 1st century AD, explaining its theology, and uncovering the lives of the Coptic community in modern Egypt. 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