A group affiliated to Al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq, stated that Iraq's indigenous Christians were a "legitimate target."
It was occupied during the Islamic period until the 14th century when Tamurlane conducted a massacre of indigenous Assyrian Christians.
After the Portuguese intermarried with local women or converted native Bengali people, their descendants became the first generation of indigenous Christians in Bangladesh.
Thus, Christians that live in Iran are primarily descendants of indigenous Christians that were converted during the 19th and 20th centuries.
It was at a stopover in Havana, Cuba where Woodberry sensed he should enter seminary teaching "as a means of equipping indigenous Christians for ministry".
In addition, Arab writers of the Medieval period referred the indigenous Christians of Mesopotamia as Ashuriyun.
Sadly enough, the Pakistani legal system condones the precarious position of the country's indigenous Christians.
The Dutch also referred to them as inlandse Christenen ("indigenous Christians").
After their intermarriage with local women, their descendants became the first indigenous Christians.
In 1998, all known Christian foreigners who were suspected of missionary work were expelled and some indigenous Christians were arrested.