senior high school crs He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. The city of Akuropong capital of the Akan state of Akuapem in Ghana, has known the Christian presence during the last 186 years, initially centered on the Basel Mission, then on the Free Church of Scotland, and now on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. The Christian Connector Scholarship. essay writing We shall now turn our attention to the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana. Without denying that prior to the introduction of Christianity in West Africa the people had developed their own crafts, one must admit that it was Christian missionaries who introduced modern forms of crafts such as carpentry and masonry. self help Even if secondary education was provided, it was often reserved for the sons of local chiefs (Oliver 1952:212; Beck 1966: 120), an elite the colonial government could then call upon to help rule the colony, a common practice in colonial Africa. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. This was around the same time that the first Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of Ghana. wassce literature questions. A notable example, in Ghana, was the Methodist experimental farm near Cape Coast whose crops included cotton, coffee, black pepper, mango, ginger, cinnamon and olive trees. Kalu, Ogbu. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century, informal education existed in Ghana with the goal of introducing young people into the society. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. The country has diverse geography, people groups, and languageswith English as the common language, and more than 11 others with state recognition. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Another contribution of missionaries to the development of Ghana was their pioneering role in writing many local languages. The Akim area had about 3400 converts over 32 villages and there were about 900 children distributed in 27 Schools. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Notable among these were cocoa and coffee. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. One of the missions most important contributions to the colonial regimes was their role in educating the native Africans. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. faceless characters Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. Although it can be said that Christian missionaries benefitted Africans by bringing in the more advanced Western education to the European colonies in Africa, it is believed that the mission schools in fact had a negative impact on the native peoples. It is one of the oldest continuously published periodicals by and about Black people. Missionaries continued to be the main providers of education even after colonial powers established control during the so-called Scramble for Africa which occurred between 1884-1914. As much as the governments liked to assign blame to the missions, they were also accountable for the poor education through their educational policies. While they frowned upon bridewealth, female genital cutting, or matrilineality, they held a special grudge against polygamy. better grades Indeed, most of our early nationalists were all products of mission schools. As long as the Africans could read the Bible, the missionaries were satisfied that they had had enough academic education. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. In the Gambia, the Methodist missionary and first principal of what later became known as the Gambia High School, the Rev. Being ignorant of ones history causes one to lose part of ones identity and pride in that identity, and one is therefore more vulnerable to attacks denouncing ones culture as inferior, especially if at the same time one is being taught the noble history of another culture. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Brief History. Ghana continued to call. Initially, their activities focused on coastal areas. Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. 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. The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. WAEC I found that while educational outcomes are generally better in places that were exposed to Christian missions in the colonial era, traditionally polygamous societies benefited less. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. This box contains: the correspondence of Bishop See thematic groupings of our digital collections, See all of our digital collections in one place, Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951, Copies of letters received, 1890-1927; West Africa, vol. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. As an institution introduced by agents with radically different values, the Christian religion damaged the culture and traditional beliefs of the people of West Africa. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. Yes! In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles. Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in 1855, the C.M.S. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of privately owned higher education institutions in Nigeria, including those owned by religious bodies and even by their individual members. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. The South African War is not covered in this grouping of letters. WhatsApp : +233204700052
In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. Required fields are marked *. In the days of Portuguese contacts with Nigeria, Catholic priests had established missionary stations in Benin and the neighbourhood. Missionary, educator contributed to building independent Ghana. Seeing as missions in the British and Italian colonies had monopolies on education for the nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, this reluctance meant that there were few secondary schools at all (Ayandele 1966:287; Beck 1966: 120). . The common response among traditionally polygamous people is well illustrated by a passage in Jomo Kenyattas famous book on the Gikuyu in colonial Kenya: This [the insistence on monogamy] caused a great confusion, for the African could not understand how he could drive away his wives and children, especially in a community where motherhood is looked upon as a religious duty; the children are regarded as part and parcel, not only of the father, but of the whole clan (mbari), and without them the mbari is lost. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. Required fields are marked *. And thats why I decided to look deeply into this issue. But despite the work of Portuguese missionaries based on the island of Sao Tome and later of Spanish missionaries in Benin, it was not until the nineteenth century that the Christian religion was firmly established in Nigeria. The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. The vast majority of the people of The Gambia are Moslems; but a sizeable percentage of the population, especially in and around the capital Banjul, are Christians. They also introduced vocational education in the country. endstream
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After six years at St. Peters, Father Burke was named chaplain and professor of English literature at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Osu, Ghana. station in 1858, it was not until 1889 that the missionaries entered Hausaland, which was predominantly Muslim. The anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience also played a vital role in stimulating European interest in Africa and gave an impetus to mission work. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. From 1870 to 1914 the Basel Mission succeeded in extending its work from the Akwapim Ridge to Kwahu, Akim and Asante and across the Volta as far as Yendi the north in 1913. For instance, in the Salisbury region of Rhodesia, it was reported in 1924 that no male teachers had educational qualifications (Bone 1969:28). As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. In 1902 the Methodists opened a clinic at Igbo-Ora. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. 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. Babalola, E. O. Christianity in West Africa. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. Reiterating what teacher education must encapsulate, Adegoke (2003) and Benneh (2006) indi-cated that the mission of Ghana's teacher education is to pro- He also blogs at BloggingtotheMax.com. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Following agitation by the people in 1934, the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. In the Western Region, the Catholic Sisters running a hospital at Eikwe specialized in maternity cases, and like Slessor in Nigeria succeeded in stamping out the practice of killing twins at birth. Ayandele (1966:283), writing in the 1960s, says, By their [the missions] efforts the main languages of Nigeria have been preserved as a lasting legacy to the Ibo, Yoruba, Efik, Nupe and Hausa. However, this practice was in fact probably more due to stereotypes of African ignorance than an interest in being culturally respectful: missionaries may have believed that it would take too long to teach a superior European language to the unintelligent natives when the natives souls were in such desperate need of saving. In Sierra Leone, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), offshoot of the Anglican Church, was the first to become firmly established chiefly among the freed captive and freed slave settlers from Britain, Nova Scotia and other parts of the New World. Besides education, they cared for the sick. CUP Archive, 1979. (with Examples), Top 20 Topics in English for Academic Purposes, 7 Rules of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, 10 Importance of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, How to Get a Degree Without Going to High School, Joseph Rhodes Dunwell Methodist Missionary, 1835, Thomas Birch Freeman Methodist Missionary, 1838, Thomas Thompson Society for the Propagation of the Gospel/Anglican, 1752, Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast Methodist missionaries, Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast Methodist, Adisadel College, Cape Coast Anglican Missionaries, Holy Child School, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, St Augustines College, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, Archbishop Potter Girls School, Takoradi, Aburi Girls Secondary School Presbyterian, St Monicas High School, Mampong Anglican. 4>Ofv}TMdQ! Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. Origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa, 3: Islam in West Africa. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. Efforts to change these norms were often aimed at women. The quest for an all-inclusive development model of Ghana and other developing nations, therefore, calls for an insight into the role and responsibilities of religion toward education. 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. One Liberian student recalls that we were taught to dress properly, to eat properly, to speak properly. Renewed evangelism started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). Another missionary whose memory is revered in Nigeria was Mary Slessor, she arrived in the country in 1876, and for many years worked assiduously as a missionary nurse. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. 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. Their activities had both positive and negative effects on Ghanaian society. The most momentous discovery in western Africa came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Some of these effects are still with us today. Was this information useful? Vol. We must not lose sight of the fact that the colonial government in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa relied on the activities of the missionaries to help them achieve the objectives of colonial rule. Help those suffering in Turkey and Syria. famous poems Other missionaries opened mission stations in the country. He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. The next major Christian missionaries to go out to Sierra Leone were the Roman Catholics. 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. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem in 1835, the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. %%EOF
Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. They were closed down in 1852 in favour of schools opened in Lagos which, in 1851, had one time British control. 503 0 obj
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Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. A second reason for the poor education of the mission schools was that in many cases the teachers in mission schools were unqualified as teachers, but were instead preachers by training. Although the aim of the traders was to practice commerce We shall begin with the positive contribution of the Christian missionaries in Ghana. university courses First, missions saw education foremost as a means of conversion (Ayandele 1966: 286; Bassey 1991: 36; Berman 1974:527; Foster 1965:85; Sheffield 1973:11). The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. Also, Christian missionaries in Ghana were as zealous as their counterparts in Nigeria in pioneering medical services. 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. Ghana Education Service seeks to create an enabling environment in all educational institutions and management positions that will facilitate effective teaching and learning and efficiency in the management for the attainment of the goals of the Service. Father Burke became director of the Divine Word Language and Cultural Centre in Ghana. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. ABWE first began work in Ghana with a goal to reach unchurched Ghanaians in the Volta Region with the gospel and then to expand evangelism efforts to other parts of the country. 2: Trans-Saharan Trade. Introduction, spread and effects, 6: Christian Missionary Activities in West Africa, 7: Scramble for and Partition of West Africa, 9: Problems of Independent West African States, 10: West Africa and International Organizations, 11: Women and Authority in West African History, 12: The Environment in West African History. He moved to Techny in 2016. 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). Father Burke spent more than half of his lifealmost 50 yearsin Ghana on the West Coast of Africa, said Father Edward Tetteh SVD, pastor of Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J. During his many years in Ghana, since he worked mostly in educational institutions, he produced excellent professionals: teachers, priests, ministers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, journalists and many others who work in different parts of the world.. 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! They worked tirelessly to lay a foundation for formal education The European missionaries established elementary and second-cycle institutions in the country. Church history, history of Christianity, religious history: some reflections on British missionary enterprise since the late eighteenth century. Church History 71, no. The missionary and colonial education aimed at character training and civilization resulted in cultural annihilation and religious, and linguistic hegemony. Just look at the lyrics of this evangelizing song written in 1819 by Reginald Heber, a prolific English hymnist in the Anglican church. The others include the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804, which was tasked with the responsibility of promoting the translation and printing of the Holy Bible. Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. First, I looked at how educational outcomes depended on the distance to historical missions. To apply, students simply fill out a quick form. Lets now take a closer look at both the positive and negative impacts of the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and the rest of Africa. The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. began work in many parts of Africa. past questions This conditioning was focused on norms that missionaries deemed incompatible with a Christian way of life. A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. For the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. Debate Speech: Religion Has Failed Society, A Speech Outlining the Achievements and Problems of Your School, 7 Factors Accounting for the Shortage of Capital In West Africa, The Resurrection of Jesus According to Marks Gospel. For instance the scholar E.A. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? The Portuguese were the first to introduce the Christian faith into West Africa but following their departure from the West Coast in the mid-seventeenth century, the Christian religion survived only in Upper Guinea where a bishop was maintained in the Cape Verde Islands serving also a part of the mainland. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. In Fanteland, the Methodists and Roman Catholics pioneered similar works. The result is that today, many Africans are alienated from their authentic ways of life. Father Burke, whose students included Father Tetteh and Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, arrived in Ghana, West Africa, in 1963, only four years after the country gained independence from Great Britain. Thus, despite what the images of suffering African children on websites such as that of Compassion Canada might lead one to believe, it is time for Africans to educate their own, without any interference. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. We're here to answer any questions you have about our services. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem 1835 the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. Lewis, Donald M., ed. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. History of the church in Africa: a survey. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. Other difficulties the early Christians faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. churches were firmly established in several important towns, such as Abeokuta (1846), Lagos (1851), Ibadan (1853), and Oyo (1856). No plagiarism, guaranteed!