In Nigeria, there are almost equal numbers of Muslims and Christians. Most of the Christians live in the south, and most of the Muslims live in the north. Contrary to some beliefs, the Nigerian civil war was not only attributed to religious intolerance. The war which took place between 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. The conflict was the result of economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.