History of Christianity in Malaysia
The old Christ Church in Stunggang, Lundu (Sarawak), was built in 1855.
Persian and Turkish traders with Nestorian Christian origins were in the region as early as the 7th century. Catholicism was introduced by the Portuguese in the 15th century while Protestantism was introduced with the capture of Melaka by the Dutch in 1641. The decline of the Portuguese and the ascent of the mainly Protestant Dutch in the 17th century led to Catholicism being suppressed. It gained a new lease of life through missionaries under British rule in the 19th century in Peninsular Malaysia and was also introduced in Sabah and Sarawak.
- Information in the full article includes
- The origins of Catholicism
- The early development of Protestantism
- The Church in the 20th and 21st centuries