The popularity of Christianity after the edict of Milan is nowhere else as visible as in North Africa where many huge baptistries were built to facilitate the spread of the religion in the fourth century.

By the mid-seventh century, the majority of North Africa's population had been Christian for a long time, though it was far from homogenous and some remote autochthonous tribes remained pagan.

[9] After the Muslim conquest of North Africa, indigenous Christian communities did not vanish immediately but disappeared in the eleventh and twelfth as part of a long and slow process.

[13] A new chapter for the North African church begun in the thirteenth century when newcomers from Europe took up residence in the larger coastal towns.

[15] A new era begun for the Church with the arrival of French forces in 1830, in which many settlers from France, Spain, Italy and Malta came to Algeria.

[16] After some early conflict about the application of the concordat between France and the Holy See and the right to appoint priests to Algeria, a papal bull announcing the creation of the diocese of Algiers resolved these issues tentatively in 1838.

[17] Cardinal Lavigerie founded the White Fathers in an effort to spread Christianity among the Muslims while intending to understand and respect the native culture.

Charles de Foucauld, a hermit whose life and teaching inspired the foundation of many spiritual congregations, also encouraged the respect for the native religion and culture.