18th century – 19th century
West, East, Central and Southern Africa
From the final decade of the eighteenth century through the nineteenth century, Christian missionary activity expanded rapidly across Africa. Missionary societies multiplied in West Africa, entered East and Central Africa, and spread through southern Africa. Their work combined evangelization with schools, literacy, agriculture, technical training, trade, medical ideas, and Western education, while also reshaping social relations and political alignments.
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The Story
Christian missionary activity underwent a major transformation from about the last decade of the eighteenth century, especially during the first five decades of the nineteenth century. The expansion was linked in the chapter to the evangelical revival in Europe and to the anti-slavery and humanitarian spirit of the age. Missionaries used the Bible, agriculture, and commerce as instruments of expansion, working through European and American societies as well as African agents.
In West Africa, the number of missionary societies increased from three in 1800 to more than fifteen by 1840, with additional American societies joining during the following three decades. East and Central Africa saw a later but rapid expansion: by 1850 only the Church Missionary Society was operating there, while by the death of David Livingstone in 1873 the Universities Mission to Central Africa and the Society of the Holy Ghost had joined it. Within four years, several further missions entered the field.
Southern Africa experienced especially extensive missionary activity. From 1816, British, European, and American Protestant and Catholic societies entered the Cape, Natal, and the Transvaal, reaching areas as far north as modern Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Zambia by the 1860s. Missionaries also became involved in politics, acting as negotiators between colonial and African authorities and forming relationships with African kings.
Missionary societies established churches, schools, farms, workshops, printing presses, and training institutions. They promoted masonry, carpentry, printing, tailoring, trade, literacy, Western education, and rudimentary European medical ideas. Their activities also weakened some traditional religious and family structures and divided communities among converts, non-converts, and competing Christian denominations.
18th century – 19th century
West, East, Central and Southern Africa
From the final decade of the eighteenth century through the nineteenth century, Christian missionary activity expanded rapidly across Africa. Missionary societies multiplied in West Africa, entered East and Central Africa, and spread through southern Africa. Their work combined evangelization with schools, literacy, agriculture, technical training, trade, medical ideas, and Western education, while also reshaping social relations and political alignments.
Continue exploring
The Story
Christian missionary activity underwent a major transformation from about the last decade of the eighteenth century, especially during the first five decades of the nineteenth century. The expansion was linked in the chapter to the evangelical revival in Europe and to the anti-slavery and humanitarian spirit of the age. Missionaries used the Bible, agriculture, and commerce as instruments of expansion, working through European and American societies as well as African agents.
In West Africa, the number of missionary societies increased from three in 1800 to more than fifteen by 1840, with additional American societies joining during the following three decades. East and Central Africa saw a later but rapid expansion: by 1850 only the Church Missionary Society was operating there, while by the death of David Livingstone in 1873 the Universities Mission to Central Africa and the Society of the Holy Ghost had joined it. Within four years, several further missions entered the field.
Southern Africa experienced especially extensive missionary activity. From 1816, British, European, and American Protestant and Catholic societies entered the Cape, Natal, and the Transvaal, reaching areas as far north as modern Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Zambia by the 1860s. Missionaries also became involved in politics, acting as negotiators between colonial and African authorities and forming relationships with African kings.
Missionary societies established churches, schools, farms, workshops, printing presses, and training institutions. They promoted masonry, carpentry, printing, tailoring, trade, literacy, Western education, and rudimentary European medical ideas. Their activities also weakened some traditional religious and family structures and divided communities among converts, non-converts, and competing Christian denominations.