DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70004#0100
98
means secure Monze to the Catholic Church” (quoted by PETERS
1976, 55).
The instructions from the leaders of the Jesuit Mission were, however, to build
a new station in the Karenga area, about 120 km south-west of Monze. In the
meantime, the Adventist missionary Anderson was also looking for a suitable
site for a mission station and he also chose Monze. Subsequently the plans
for the railway route were changed, taking it near Monze and Anderson was
quicker, starting in July 1905 to build his Rusangu station near Chief Monze’s
village. Three days later Moreau and his colleague Torrend arrived, having
also changed their mind in favour of Monze. They had, however, to make do
with their second choice, a somewhat more distant site3.
Further examples can be produced to show that the main criteria for the
founding of a station was the presence of a sufficiently large population con-
centration (see also FETTER 1983, 95). This was sometimes favoured at the
expense of an unsuitable location in a developing communication net. Thus the
Ching’ombe station was an extensive farm in the Lukusaski Valley, tributary
to the Luangwa, which had been started by a British settler. It was sold to the
Jesuit Mission in 1914, being too far from public transportation. The Polish
Jesuits took it over, there being 24 villages in the vicinity and the prospect of
rewarding work. However, this move was strongly criticised, amongst others
by Father Torrend, founder of Kasisi (COYNE 1970, 6 - 13). The Salvation
Army took over the old government station at Ibwe Munyama, which had been
abandoned in favour of a site more accessible to the railway when that was
built through Mazabuka.
When the first missionary societies arrived in Zambia the settlement structure
was, as in many other parts of Black Africa, very unstable. This was the
result of shifting cultivation and bush fallow ash-cultures (chitimene) on the
one hand and on the other the great insecurity associated with the slave trade
prevailing at the end of the 19th century. Depredations by slavers had caused
whole villages to flee. This unstable settlement structure led in many cases
to the closure or relocation of mission stations. Thus the SAGM stations at
Chisalala and Musonweji in the very thinly-populated Kaonde area were closed
in 1926, many people having left the area. Instead, a large mission station was
opened at Mukinge Hill in the Kasempa area (WlLKIN 1983, 229). Such moves
were exceptional, however. More often the establishment of a mission station
provided a stabilising element, encouraging settlement. Thus chitimene farm-
ers tended to settle near newly-built mission stations.
In North-eastern Rhodesia, where the influence of East Coast slave traders was
especially strong, the missions were seen as hiding places. Refugees settled in
the first LMS stations (ROTBERG 1964, 201 - 203), as well as in those of White
means secure Monze to the Catholic Church” (quoted by PETERS
1976, 55).
The instructions from the leaders of the Jesuit Mission were, however, to build
a new station in the Karenga area, about 120 km south-west of Monze. In the
meantime, the Adventist missionary Anderson was also looking for a suitable
site for a mission station and he also chose Monze. Subsequently the plans
for the railway route were changed, taking it near Monze and Anderson was
quicker, starting in July 1905 to build his Rusangu station near Chief Monze’s
village. Three days later Moreau and his colleague Torrend arrived, having
also changed their mind in favour of Monze. They had, however, to make do
with their second choice, a somewhat more distant site3.
Further examples can be produced to show that the main criteria for the
founding of a station was the presence of a sufficiently large population con-
centration (see also FETTER 1983, 95). This was sometimes favoured at the
expense of an unsuitable location in a developing communication net. Thus the
Ching’ombe station was an extensive farm in the Lukusaski Valley, tributary
to the Luangwa, which had been started by a British settler. It was sold to the
Jesuit Mission in 1914, being too far from public transportation. The Polish
Jesuits took it over, there being 24 villages in the vicinity and the prospect of
rewarding work. However, this move was strongly criticised, amongst others
by Father Torrend, founder of Kasisi (COYNE 1970, 6 - 13). The Salvation
Army took over the old government station at Ibwe Munyama, which had been
abandoned in favour of a site more accessible to the railway when that was
built through Mazabuka.
When the first missionary societies arrived in Zambia the settlement structure
was, as in many other parts of Black Africa, very unstable. This was the
result of shifting cultivation and bush fallow ash-cultures (chitimene) on the
one hand and on the other the great insecurity associated with the slave trade
prevailing at the end of the 19th century. Depredations by slavers had caused
whole villages to flee. This unstable settlement structure led in many cases
to the closure or relocation of mission stations. Thus the SAGM stations at
Chisalala and Musonweji in the very thinly-populated Kaonde area were closed
in 1926, many people having left the area. Instead, a large mission station was
opened at Mukinge Hill in the Kasempa area (WlLKIN 1983, 229). Such moves
were exceptional, however. More often the establishment of a mission station
provided a stabilising element, encouraging settlement. Thus chitimene farm-
ers tended to settle near newly-built mission stations.
In North-eastern Rhodesia, where the influence of East Coast slave traders was
especially strong, the missions were seen as hiding places. Refugees settled in
the first LMS stations (ROTBERG 1964, 201 - 203), as well as in those of White