DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70004#0102
100
chiefs sent their sons to the newly opened mission schools to acquire mastery of
reading and writing and hence access to this power. The Ngoni Chief Mpezeni
invited the DRCM to build a mission station near his residence, although when
the station was built, at Magwero, it was 18 km distant. VERSTRAELEN-
GlLHUIS (1982, 44) takes this fact, together with the White Fathers’ “counter
foundation” in 1903 (see below pp. 110 - 111) of the more closely located
Kachebere Mission, as the main reason for the Catholics’ stronger influence
over the Ngoni elite, whereas the Reformed Church found their adherents
mainly amongst the Chewa who were subject to the Ngoni.
Some chiefs, however, were set against the settlement of any white people.
This applied to Mwata Kazambe, the Lunda leader in the Luapula Valley.
The CMML could not establish themselves permanently until Kazembe, who
opposed BSAC rule, was militarily defeated and fled into the Congo (accord-
ing to ROTBERG 1965, 68 - 70). Lewanika, the Lozi leader, kept the first
PMMS missionaries waiting for three years before allowing them to settle in
the country of the Ila who were tributary to him. The most senior Bemba chief,
Chitimukulu, was likewise unfriendly to the missionaries. GARVEY (1974, 133)
points out that he, like many other chiefs, was a religious leader and thus con-
sidered the missionaries to be rivals. He was, for example, frightened that if
he allowed a church to be built in his village it would kill him. It was not until
1922, 27 years after the founding of the first WF mission in Bemba country,
and after pressure from the colonial government, that Malole station could be
built, 10 km from Chitimukulu.
It is not possible to generalise concerning the relationship between the chiefs
and the missions and this also applies to the spatial relationship between the
chief’s residence and the mission stations. Some missions entering a new area
adapted themselves to the existing settlement and population structure5 but
then asserted their independence. Kayambi, mentioned above, is an example
of this. Another is Chipili: in 1917, two years after the mission was established
at Chief Chilikwa’s village, the chief moved his village but the mission stayed
on at the old site (Blood 1957, 142). When the Mambwe Chief Fwambo
wanted to move his village (in which the LMS had built a station of the same
name), the mission also chose a new place, Kawimbe:
“... the missionaries decided to start a centre of their own, instead
of following after the natives, they determined to encourage the
natives to settle around them”. (JOHNSON, n.d., 99).
The fact that the DRCM stations Hofmeyer and Merwe, founded in 1914 and
1923, carry the names of their founders, is indicative of the growing influence
of the mission stations in the consciousness of the population. It is also an
expression of the tendency for missionaries to be considered as having functions
chiefs sent their sons to the newly opened mission schools to acquire mastery of
reading and writing and hence access to this power. The Ngoni Chief Mpezeni
invited the DRCM to build a mission station near his residence, although when
the station was built, at Magwero, it was 18 km distant. VERSTRAELEN-
GlLHUIS (1982, 44) takes this fact, together with the White Fathers’ “counter
foundation” in 1903 (see below pp. 110 - 111) of the more closely located
Kachebere Mission, as the main reason for the Catholics’ stronger influence
over the Ngoni elite, whereas the Reformed Church found their adherents
mainly amongst the Chewa who were subject to the Ngoni.
Some chiefs, however, were set against the settlement of any white people.
This applied to Mwata Kazambe, the Lunda leader in the Luapula Valley.
The CMML could not establish themselves permanently until Kazembe, who
opposed BSAC rule, was militarily defeated and fled into the Congo (accord-
ing to ROTBERG 1965, 68 - 70). Lewanika, the Lozi leader, kept the first
PMMS missionaries waiting for three years before allowing them to settle in
the country of the Ila who were tributary to him. The most senior Bemba chief,
Chitimukulu, was likewise unfriendly to the missionaries. GARVEY (1974, 133)
points out that he, like many other chiefs, was a religious leader and thus con-
sidered the missionaries to be rivals. He was, for example, frightened that if
he allowed a church to be built in his village it would kill him. It was not until
1922, 27 years after the founding of the first WF mission in Bemba country,
and after pressure from the colonial government, that Malole station could be
built, 10 km from Chitimukulu.
It is not possible to generalise concerning the relationship between the chiefs
and the missions and this also applies to the spatial relationship between the
chief’s residence and the mission stations. Some missions entering a new area
adapted themselves to the existing settlement and population structure5 but
then asserted their independence. Kayambi, mentioned above, is an example
of this. Another is Chipili: in 1917, two years after the mission was established
at Chief Chilikwa’s village, the chief moved his village but the mission stayed
on at the old site (Blood 1957, 142). When the Mambwe Chief Fwambo
wanted to move his village (in which the LMS had built a station of the same
name), the mission also chose a new place, Kawimbe:
“... the missionaries decided to start a centre of their own, instead
of following after the natives, they determined to encourage the
natives to settle around them”. (JOHNSON, n.d., 99).
The fact that the DRCM stations Hofmeyer and Merwe, founded in 1914 and
1923, carry the names of their founders, is indicative of the growing influence
of the mission stations in the consciousness of the population. It is also an
expression of the tendency for missionaries to be considered as having functions