DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70004#0017
15
I. Introduction
During the period of European imperial and colonial expansion, which started
around the middle of the 19th century, Christian missions of many denomina-
tions and countries played an important role in the ‘Europeanization’ of Africa
and other parts of what we now term the Third World. There are different
views of the missionaries’ role. For example, there are those who consider the
missionaries as merely the cultural agents of colonialism. This was the view
held by the Guyanese historian, Walter Rodney who said that
“the Christian missionaries were as much part of the colonial forces
as were the explorers, traders and soldiers ... there is no doubting
the fact that missionaries were agents of colonialism in the practical
sense, whether or not they saw themselves in that light” (RODNEY
1972, 277).
This was also the view of the East German historian, H. Loth, who pub-
lished in 1960 a book with the title Kolonialismus unter der Kutte [Colo-
nialism under the cowl]. By contrast the historian J. Kl-ZERBO (1979, 481)
from Burkina Faso states in his history of Black Africa: “Alles in allem waren
die christlichen Missionen wesentlicher Motor der sozialen, intellektuellen und
moralischen Entwicklung” [On the whole, the Christian missionaries were the
major motor of social, intellectual and moral development]. Similar opinions
are usually expressed in the traditional histories of the different missionary so-
cieties. There is an intermediate view, held, for example, by the West German
historian H. GRUNDER (1982). In essence, his assessment is that the activities
of the missions resulted in a humanizing of imperialism, an opinion which had
earlier been expressed by GROVES (1969, 493). Whatever view one takes, it
is indisputable that the activities of the missions have influenced and changed
the African continent. This must be accepted, even if one sees the colonial
period as only one episode in Africa’s long and eventful history, and one which
did not basically alter the continent, a position held by the Nigerian historian
J. F. A. Ajayi (1969).
If one considers the religious composition of the African population, these
changes are obvious: according to BARRETT (1982, 6 and 780 - 783), 74% of
the population of Black Africa were adherents of traditional African religions
in 1900 as against only 9% who were Christians1, whilst by 1980 the respec-
tive percentages were 17% and 53%2. The others are mainly Muslims. Other
changes in religious demography of a similar magnitude in this century have
only come about through the communist revolutions in the Soviet Union and
China.
The impact of Christian missions on Third World societies, cultures and econo-
mies has been given little attention by geographers, despite the fact that during
I. Introduction
During the period of European imperial and colonial expansion, which started
around the middle of the 19th century, Christian missions of many denomina-
tions and countries played an important role in the ‘Europeanization’ of Africa
and other parts of what we now term the Third World. There are different
views of the missionaries’ role. For example, there are those who consider the
missionaries as merely the cultural agents of colonialism. This was the view
held by the Guyanese historian, Walter Rodney who said that
“the Christian missionaries were as much part of the colonial forces
as were the explorers, traders and soldiers ... there is no doubting
the fact that missionaries were agents of colonialism in the practical
sense, whether or not they saw themselves in that light” (RODNEY
1972, 277).
This was also the view of the East German historian, H. Loth, who pub-
lished in 1960 a book with the title Kolonialismus unter der Kutte [Colo-
nialism under the cowl]. By contrast the historian J. Kl-ZERBO (1979, 481)
from Burkina Faso states in his history of Black Africa: “Alles in allem waren
die christlichen Missionen wesentlicher Motor der sozialen, intellektuellen und
moralischen Entwicklung” [On the whole, the Christian missionaries were the
major motor of social, intellectual and moral development]. Similar opinions
are usually expressed in the traditional histories of the different missionary so-
cieties. There is an intermediate view, held, for example, by the West German
historian H. GRUNDER (1982). In essence, his assessment is that the activities
of the missions resulted in a humanizing of imperialism, an opinion which had
earlier been expressed by GROVES (1969, 493). Whatever view one takes, it
is indisputable that the activities of the missions have influenced and changed
the African continent. This must be accepted, even if one sees the colonial
period as only one episode in Africa’s long and eventful history, and one which
did not basically alter the continent, a position held by the Nigerian historian
J. F. A. Ajayi (1969).
If one considers the religious composition of the African population, these
changes are obvious: according to BARRETT (1982, 6 and 780 - 783), 74% of
the population of Black Africa were adherents of traditional African religions
in 1900 as against only 9% who were Christians1, whilst by 1980 the respec-
tive percentages were 17% and 53%2. The others are mainly Muslims. Other
changes in religious demography of a similar magnitude in this century have
only come about through the communist revolutions in the Soviet Union and
China.
The impact of Christian missions on Third World societies, cultures and econo-
mies has been given little attention by geographers, despite the fact that during