D. a Kushite official, whom the Bible refers
to as the Ethiopian eunuch, was converted to Christianity by the
apostle Philip while returning from a visit to Jerusalem. Shortly,
Christianity spread throughout the entire kingdom. When Kush
was defeated by the Axumites, founders of modern Ethiopia,
several smaller Nubian, Christian kingdoms survived. Not until
the sixteenth century, after almost a thousand years of pressure,
did Islam gain supremacy in western Sudan. Ethiopia, shortly after
defeating Kush, also became Christianized, and survived as a
African only Christian island in a Moslem sea. In fact, Ethiopia
has remained an independent, self-governing state until the present,
with the brief exception of the Italian occupation between 1936 and
1941.
The development of man and civilization in Africa was not
limited merely to the area in the Northeast. There is much
evidence of cultural contact between people in all parts of the
continent. When the Sahara began to dry out about 2000 B.C., the
population was pushed out from there in all directions, thereby
forcing the spread of both people and cultures.
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