Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009
Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. It is also divided on religious grounds with a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south. Christians make up the majority of the population (52.6 per cent) compared with Muslims (41 per cent). The 17 million Anglicans are the second largest Christian group. With its large and religiously divided population Nigeria is one of the main countries in Africa, and the world, where large numbers of Muslims and Christians live and interact together. In today's world where the ‘Christian’ West and the Islamic world are becoming increasingly polarized, the history of Anglican/Muslim relations in Nigeria provides a key case study with important implications for Anglicans all over the world.
1. Johnstone, Patrick and Mandryk, Jason, Operation World (21st Century edn; Carlisle: Paternoster Lifestyle, 2001), pp. 487–88.Google Scholar
2. Even today Kano is Nigeria's third largest city and the real heartland of the Islamist movement in the country.
3. The Sultan of Sokoto is still regarded by Nigerian Muslims as their traditional leader and supreme spiritual authority.