Though present on the East African coast for nearly a thousand years, Islam only began its expansion into the interior in the nineteenth century. One of the most significant areas of Islamic penetration in East and Central Africa was the Kingdom of Buganda, where Islam predated the arrival of Christianity by several decades and secured a strong foothold. Buganda was won to Christianity amidst much turmoil and bitter struggle between the adherents of Islam and of two forms of Christianity, represented by Anglican Church Missionary Society and Roman Catholic White Fathers, for the dominant position in the kingdom. Despite severe defeats suffered in Buganda in the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s Islam recovered and survived as a minority religion. However, the latent fear of Islam influenced the language policy and ruined the prospects of Kiswahili in Uganda.