Christianity & Islam

What it is

Christianity grew out of first-century Judea around the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and his early followers, spreading through the Roman world to become its dominant religion; Islam is dated from Muhammad's Hijra from Mecca to Medina in 622, and rapidly unified Arabia before expanding across the Near East and North Africa. Both are monotheistic, scriptural traditions — built on the Bible and the Qur'an respectively — with developed bodies of law, theology and a strong missionary impulse. Together they became the two largest religions on earth. Each shaped, and was shaped by, the empires and states that adopted it.

Why it matters

Christianity and Islam defined the moral order, institutions and built environment of vast regions, with their churches, cathedrals, mosques and religious endowments organising the layout, skylines and social life of countless cities.

Plans it shaped

• Constantinople (Byzantine) (330 CE)
• Córdoba (Umayyad Caliphate) (c. 756–1031)
• Baghdad (Round City of al-Mansur) (762)
• Djenné (c. 800 / 13th c.)
• Cairo (Fatimid al-Qahira) (969)
• Kilwa Kisiwani (c. 11th–15th c.)
• Kano (c. 1095–1450)
• Lalibela (c. 12th–13th c.)
• Shibam (c. 1532)
• Fatehpur Sikri (1571–1585)
• Isfahan (Safavid replanning) (1598–1629)
• Gondar (Fasil Ghebbi) (1636)