This paper explores how the expansion of Christianity in Northeast Africa between the second and sixteenth centuries played a central and often complex role in the dissemination of colonialism. Initially introduced to first- or second-century Egypt, the religion spread in subsequent centuries to Aksum and Nubia. Gradual personal conversion preceded state-sponsored Christianity in all three regions, but ‘official’ conversion differentially accelerated the transition. Despite little evidence for direct colonisation, Coptic (and, less significantly, Byzantine) ecclesiastical practices strongly influenced the spread of Christianity in Nubia and Ethiopia, which remained independent states. Already well-established before their physical isolation from the Mediterranean world with the Muslim invasion of Egypt (639–646), their doctrines and practices then developed semi-independently from ecclesiastical authorities to their north. Theological, political and historical perspectives highlight the complicity of Christianity in the establishment of relations of colonial dominance and its use as a tool of resistance and cultural negotiation. The power dynamics involved variable forms of communication and behaviour, from gradual replacement of other cultural and religious forms to overt enslavement and violent control. Visual materials and archaeological and ethnographical data provide an insight into this evolution
