1.70
I 3 |10 ! 5 ; 39
S,-'Si) 10,214
175 1213
r:;3
?5C0
"?2
1555 3S71
Other Christian denominations are found only in Egypt and Abyssinia (q. v.). Jews are numerous in all Northern Africa, especially in Morocco, where, be- fore the persecution in 1859, they counted over 300,000 souls. Mohammedanism prevails in Egypt, Tunis, Tripolis, Algeria, Morocco, Fez, and also throughout Soudan. Dieterici estimated this part of the popu- lation at about 100 million souls. The rest are pa- gans. The following table, taken from Schem's Ec- clesiastical Year-book for 1859, presents the statistics of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Christian pop- ulation in the various portions of Africa :
1 Roman 1 Protes- | Catholics. | tants.
Christians.
201,000
Other English Possessions
1-20,001) 133,000
439,000 12,000
noo.ooo
igo,ooo
27.000 30,000
' '200
10.000
400,003
10,000 2,000
?50,o6o
534,000 140,000
Portuguese Possessions
439,000 12,000
Angola, Benguela, Mozambique
100,00 1 170,000
200,000
3,000,000
53,000
200
Tunis and Tripolis
10,000
Total
1,051,200 720,000
See Newcomb, Cyclopedia of Missions.
VI. Literature. — The religious aspects of the sub- ject are treated in the following works : Sanchez, Hist. Eccles. Africans (Madrid, 1784) ; Morcelli, Africa Christiana (Bresc. 1816, Gott. 1820); Munter, Primor- dia Eccles. Africanee (Hafn. 1829) ; Loscher, De patrum
j Africanor. meiitis (Roehlitz, 1712) ; Kellner, Nord-Af- rika's Eelig. in the Deutsche* Magaz. v, 256 sq. ; Von Gerlach, G'esch. d.Ausbreit. d. Christenth. in Siid-Afrika (Berl. 1832). The most recent geographical informa- tion is contained in Livingstone's Travels in S. Africa
\ (Lond. 1857, N. Y. 1858); Zambesi (Loud, and N. Y. 1865) ; Barth's Travels in Ar. and Cent. Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1857-1850) ; Krapf 's Trar. and Afissions in Ens/em Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1860); Burton, Lake Reports of Cent. Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1860); An- dersson, Lake Ngami (Lond. and N. Y. 1850) ; Bald- win, South Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1863) ; Cumminir, Hunter's Life in Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1850) ; Wil- son, Western Africa (N. Y. 1856) ; Dti Chaillu, Equa- torial A frica (N. Y. 1>-'61) ; Moffat, Adventures in South
| Africa (Lond. and N. Y. 1865).
AFRICAN M. E. CHURCH
97 AFRICAN M. E. Z. CHURCH
African Methodist Episcopal Church, a body of Christians composed entirely of colored peo- ple in the United States and Canada.
I. History. — The early Methodists labored zealous- ly for the welfare of the Africans, both slaves and free, in the United States. Multitudes of them be- came Methodists, and thousands are now in the fel- ' lowship of the Methodist Episcopal Church (q. v.), which, at its General Conference of 1864, organized two new conferences, consisting exclusively of col- ored members. In 1810, a number of these Metho- dists, believing that they could be freer and more use- ful in a separate communion, called a convention in Philadelphia, which, in April of that year, organized the "African Methodist Episcopal Church." The Rev. Richard Allen (q. v.) was elected first bishop, ! and was ordained by five presbyters. He served until his death in 1831. In 1828 the Rev. M. Brown was also elected bishop. In 183G the Rev. E. Waters was ordained bishop. The growth of the Church has been steady, and man}' of its preachers have been men of ability. It had, in 1858,8 conferences: Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Ohio, Indiana, New Eng- land, Missouri. In 185G the Canada Conference was organized as a separate body. The civil war which broke out in the United States in 1861, and the grad- ual destruction of slaver}', greatly enlarged the terri- tory of this Church and added to its membership. In May, 1864, the Quadrennial General Conference of the Church was held at Philadelphia, simultaneously with the General Conferences of the Methodist Epis- copal Church and of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The General Conference was visited by a deputation from the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, to reciprocate this act of fraternal sentiment, appointed in its turn a committee, consisting of five members, to visit the latter body. A committee was also appointed to ma- ture, with a similar committee appointed by the Afri- can Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a plan of union of these two denominations, to be laid before the next General Conferences of both.
On June 14, 1864, twenty -five delegates of this Church met, with an equal number of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, at Philadelphia, to | consider the terms upon which the two bodies could unite. The session of the joint convention was en- tirely harmonious. All the arrangements for the con- summation of a union were perfected, and all were satisfied that at the next meeting of the General Con- ferences of the two Churches in 1863 the union would be effected.
On May 15, 1865. Bishop Payne reorganized the South Carolina Annual Conference of the A. M. E. Church. This Church was first established in Charles- ton forty years ago. Among those concerned in the movement was Morris Brown, the second bishop of the connection. The church then founded existed in pros- perity for six years, worshipping in a house erected by themselves, when the African M. E. Church as a sepa- rate organization was overthrown, and ever since, un- til the breaking out of the rebellion, the colored people were compelled to worship with the whites, and were brought under the pastoral care of the white pastors. Upon the fall of Charleston, Bishop Payne proceeded to that city, and, the laws of South Carolina to the contrary notwithstanding, reorganised an Annual Con- ference.