Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. More women than men attend church, and the more strict churchgoers tend to be wealthier and of higher social status than less churchgoers or non-Presbyterians. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. During the first half of the 19th century they targeted healthier places, with relatively lower malaria-risk, where European missionaries could survive and train local African missionaries and teachers (Jedwab et al. Christian converts were indoctrinated to frown upon the use of indigenous first names in favour of Christian ones. hb```,,g@( B(Pi xD r[e}v'$ImK *e()dP#jjTNl=VtN(%!30p0040tt0B GGc2m2@M``a$]x2\YkvIaB1b`h6f` (eAKPU d Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba. It is obvious that the main reason why the missionaries came to Ghana was to convert the indigenous people to the Christian faith. Thus missionaries, by imparting education that promoted dependence on colonial rule, arguably contributed to the political instability that continues in the present day in many former African colonies, such as Kenya and Eritrea. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. began work in many parts of Africa. Also, Christian missionaries in Ghana were as zealous as their counterparts in Nigeria in pioneering medical services. endstream endobj 504 0 obj <>>>/Lang(en)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 55 0 R/Outlines 135 0 R/Pages 498 0 R/StructTreeRoot 142 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 505 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 499 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 506 0 obj <>stream The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. Clarke, Peter Bernard. Another important Catholic missionary in this area was the Irishman, Bishop Shanahan. This chapter traces the origins and long-term development of African mass education in colonial sub-Saharan Africa. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. CUP Archive, 1979. A notable example was the Asafo Company, a purely military and social organisation of the peoples of Ghana, which was condemned by the early missionaries because of its presumed connection with fetish practices. It also talks about all the mission societies from all denominations engaged in educational works. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. Within ten years of Father Bergheros visit, the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria had become so well established that it ceased to be under administration from Dahomey. Establishment of Christian Churches In Ghana. He knew me as a boy [in Ghana] who washed his car and went with him when he said Mass at mission stations, yet [as an adult] he treated me as an equal, Father Tetteh said. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. During this period, difficulties encountered were different from the initial difficulties which will more related to sickness, deaths and the suspicion of indigenous people in accepting the Gospel. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. This conditioning was focused on norms that missionaries deemed incompatible with a Christian way of life. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd, Bristol Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The missionaries opened schools further inland, and by 1880, the Wesleyan Mission had eighty -three schools. They need YOU. His immigrant Irish-born parents instilled faith and a firm work ethic in their sons. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in 1842. An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially . In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. The effects of work done by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, assisted by the Igbo recaptive the Rev. S.J. hR]0+^$%K{_"/HevgV+bH6L %)`\ #\E*63Z_TsxlRZj:[/\IL-1b-i Until almost the end of the colonial period education was still largely in the hands of the churches. Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. They were followed by other major missionary bodies, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. Another important German missionary was Wilhelm Johannson, better known by the English version of his name, William Johnson, who is revered in the history of the CMS in West Africa. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. However, by the turn of the Nineteenth Century there was systematic efforts by churches of Christian Europe, namely: Anglicans, Methodists, and Baptists who were active in Sierra Leone and, with Presbyterians, in Nigeria, while Methodists also set up missions in Ghana, Gambia, and Dahomey. Mr. Henry Kwadwo Amoako is a Ghanaian Social Scientist, Researcher and Acclaimed Historian for over two decades. These missionaries saw death in the course of their evangelizing work as a means to ascend to heavenly glory. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! They impressed it upon their converts not to have anything to do with these traditional practices. Unlike the Portuguese, the French colonial officials encouraged the Christian missionaries in the promotion of formal education and social services, notably health. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. I have used my expertise to design and implement strategies for major projects including new programme development, global proposals, book launches, international talks, lectures, and executive . One Liberian student recalls that we were taught to dress properly, to eat properly, to speak properly. Get full access to all 9,566 pages that make up the Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 collection. His funeral Mass was Sept. 27, followed by burial at St. Mary Cemetery at Techny. further studies That missionaries used the vernacular illustrates the fact that missionaries were principally evangelists, and that they considered their other roles, including their role as educators, as less important. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease. For instance, in southern Nigeria, the CMS policy was to teach in the vernacular at the primary level, while the Roman Catholic Missions policy was to teach in English (Bassey 1991:42). Kuhne , his fellow captive and co-author joined him at the mission as a trader in cotton, an activity which was part of, and a means of, financing the mission. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, 1986, Fage, J.D. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. Please click this link to download the chapter. This was a bitter pill for the Basel Mission to swallow after 19 years of devoted service in the mission field in the Gold Coast but they were not dismayed when they considered that in education and agriculture and artisan training and in the development of commerce, and medical services and concern for social welfare of the people, the name Basel by the time of expulsion of the mission from the country, had become a treasured word in the minds of the people. For example, they preached against human sacrifice. 2 Longman Group Ltd. London 1974, Ampadu B.K Notes on History of Ghana for Senior High Schools. In due course leprosariums and orphanages were built to supplement their medical services. Amidst much honest missionary activity in the country for two centuries, prosperity gospel teachers have also gained influence, and numerous indigenous cults have arisen with distinct appeal and just enough truth to create confusion and syncretism. Missionary, educator contributed to building independent Ghana. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. education was an important means for mission evangelization. They worked to write the bible, dictionaries and textbooks in such Ghanaian Languages as Ewe, Fanti, Ga and Twi. Being ignorant of the significance of certain institutions and practices of the people of West Africa, and occasionally being misled by their over-zealous followings into wrongly interpreting the peoples heritage, the missionaries compelled pupils in their schools and docile adult converts to shun their own ancestral practices. This company promoted the import and export trade in Ghana. Economics However the superficial motivations and ideologies have changed, at the most basic level both contemporary Northern charities and nineteenth century missionaries share the belief that the North must come and save the suffering natives, which in the case of the missionaries, has been proven to have inflicted more harm than provided relief. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropong on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. 522 0 obj <>stream First, alignment can help you communicate your . The country has diverse geography, people groups, and languageswith English as the common language, and more than 11 others with state recognition. This was because all the ships that came to the coast at that time were owned by trading firms and companies whose interest were basically on trade. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in 503 0 obj <> endobj These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. 26. Their converts increased steadily in numbers until 1821 when a section broke away to form the first independent African, Christian church in West Africa, called the West Africa Methodist Church. By the close of the nineteenth century the major Christian missionary churches had opened elementary schools in many part of southern Nigeria with an enrolment of about 74,000 by the First World War. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. Governments are also not free from blame even if they had a laissez-faire educational policy, as in Ghana, where until 1944 the registration of schools was not required and no attempt was made to exert detailed control even over the activities of grant-aided [by the government] institutions except for a series of minimal registrations (Foster 1965:114). Included on the website is information about the charitys programs, such as their Leadership Development Program in which participants earn a degree in their chosen field of study, and participate in Christian leadership training, enabling them to become a fully developed agent of change in their nation (Compassion Canada 2011). Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. The tropical climatic condition in the country was not favourable to the early missionaries who came to the shores of West Africa. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. Isichei, Elizabeth. In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. It is interesting to note that this project is not a new concept. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. As negative as all these impacts of the missionaries undoubtedly were for the African pupils, the long-term consequences are arguably as serious. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. Furthermore, they were skilled farmers that could grow cash crops to be consumed back in the mother country, such as cocoa from Ghana (Foster 1965: 153). These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. Given the fluctuating standards between schools and regions and the lack of qualified teachers in the mission schools which had monopolies in well into the mid-twentieth century, it should come as little surprise that the quality of education continues to be a concern in many former colonies. People all around the world are searching for hope, but many dont have someone to tell them about the hope found in Jesus. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. Their activities had both positive and negative effects on Ghanaian society. The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. The evangelical societies founded in the Americas included the Baptist Missionary Board and the Nova Scotian Methodists, whose members went to work among the Maroons, who had settled mainly in Liberia. Operational Christianity started 267 Years ago. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. The kingdom of God in Africa: A short history of African Christianity. homework help In Ghana, for instance, they persuaded their converts to reject polygamy and human sacrifice. The work of the missionaries also had little success initially. famous poems It was however in the coastal territories filled with mulattos and other European trading communities that Christianity won some of its early success. These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. They often attributed natural ailments to supernatural causes and resorted to mystic cults to appease the unknown spirit, before applying medicine to the sick person. It was also terribly hard for a woman to be driven away, and to lose her status in the society where she is respected as a wife and a mother. While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. Cookies are small, safe and secure text files that sit on your computer which we use to give you a better experience on our site and help us improve the service that we provide to you. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. Many Ghanaian communities got divided along religious lines. Mission Statement All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! crs questions and anwers station in 1858, it was not until 1889 that the missionaries entered Hausaland, which was predominantly Muslim. The missionaries condemned African religion, music, art, festivals and customary practices. With the arrival of more missions into the country came an explosion in mission schools across southern Ghana. Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. Other Roman Catholic hospitals were built in all the nine regions of the country; including those at Asikuma and Foso (Central Region), Akyem Swedru (Eastern Region), Berekum (BrongAhafo), Maase (Asante Region) and Anfoega (Volta Region). There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. It happens that some people convert at the end of their life in order to be buried in the prestigious Presbyterian cemetery. For example, the missionaries preached against certain aspects of African culture they considered barbaric or satanic or both. Again, the Wesleyan missionaries established Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast in 1876. Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into . Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. Two other training colleges opened by the missionaries, in the early days, were the Wesley College in Kumasi (1922) and the Roman Catholic Training College at Amisano, near Elmina (1931) which in 1936 moved to the campus of the newly founded secondary school, St Augustines College at Cape Coast. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. Christianity in West Africa: The Nigerian Story. In the later 19th century, the immense African interior remained the principal object of the Catholic Priests, and from 1867 until his death in November 1892 Cardinal Lavigerie planned the planting of churches in Africa South of the Sahara. In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. quiz They were to spread the message of the Gospel, render social services to the people and to assist in the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies. In my study, I explored how colonial era conflicts and disagreements over marriage norms lastingly affected educational development. Father Jean Marie Coquard, operating in and from Abeokuta for forty years, was renowned among the Egba as a priest and surgeon in the second half of the nineteenth century. Johannes Zimmermann, for example, produced a Ga dictionary, Ga bible and grammar book. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. In 1858 the Rev. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. Just look at the lyrics of this evangelizing song written in 1819 by Reginald Heber, a prolific English hymnist in the Anglican church. The role of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and West Africa was not limited to the education and agricultural sectors alone. DISCLOSURE. Volunteers and donors to organizations such as Compassion Canada believe that they are being humanitarian when they build schools in Africa, volunteer as teachers or help in other ways to improve the quality of education in African nations, yet missionaries and colonial governments were similarly lauded as performing a great work of humanity (Beck 1966:117) and likewise believed that they were helping their African pupils. The training college later became part of Achimota College. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. I wanted to buy a smartphone for him, but when he got to know the price of the cell phone, he humbly declined. Box 2 of the papers relating to the Society's activities in West Africa. Buchi Emecheta WAEC In Ghana, missions strategically weighted costs and benefits when choosing where to establish their churches and schools. Theres still so much to be learned from the history of education in Africa and its long-term consequences. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. Above, we have described the role that trading companies, missionaries, and the government played for the spread of Western education in the coastal areas from the late sixteenth century onwards.
How To Copy All Messages From Discord Channel,
Randy Mott Age,
Shaquille O'neal Daughter Volleyball,
Articles C