Status Updates From An African History of Afric...

Keen to get a sense of the Coptic community today, I went to Cairo to meet Father Basilios Sobhy of the Church of the Virgin Mary in the district of Zeitoun. He explained how Coptic developed from the ancient Egyptian Pharaonic language and is still used in church services today.

The port-city of Utica became the capital of the North African province of the Roman Empire, which the Romans called ‘Ifrikiya’. Eventually the whole continent became known as Ifrikiya, or Africa.

Cristóvão da Gama’s troops were almost completely wiped out and Gama himself was captured with around ten of his men. He was offered the chance to live so long as he converted to Islam. He refused and was promptly executed.