People all around the world are searching for hope, but many dont have someone to tell them about the hope found in Jesus. Furthermore, mission schools discouraged traditional ways of life outside of the classroom. 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. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. In line with this, formal education in Ghana was started by the western traders and the missionaries by the 15th century through the 18th century respectively. The missionaries opened schools further inland, and by 1880, the Wesleyan Mission had eighty -three schools. Besides being an online tutor, Ralph is an author and expert digital marketer with proven skills in SEO content writing. The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. 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. The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. By using postcolonial theory as a framework for analysis, it is evident that the Western formal education introduced to the people of the Gold Coast by the Christian missionaries and the British Colonial government did not serve the indigenous population well. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. In 1910, a prominent report of the World Missionary Conference concluded: [T]here can be no question of polygamy. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. *You can also browse our support articles here >. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. This hymn sums up the reasons why the Christian missionaries came to Africa and other parts of the world. Development of Education in Sierra Leone. For that matter, they rebelled against their chiefs and elders. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. 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. Human Zoos: Untold History of Suppression, The Legend of King Ulu (Ancient Thai Folklore), The Kingdom of Saud of The Arabs (Saudi Arabia), The Wesley Brothers of Oxford University (1700s), Razia Sultan of Medieval India (786 Years Ago), The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Revelation), Education in Africa: The Impact of Colonialism, Why The Legendary Geneva Bible was Banned. In fact, Jacobus Capitein, a former Ghanaian slave who became a priest in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 18th century was on record to have defended the practice of slavery. 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. The missionary and colonial education aimed at character training and civilization resulted in cultural annihilation and religious, and linguistic hegemony. 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. WhatsApp : +233204700052 They even considered traditional drumming and African clothing as practices that were not worthy in the sight of the Lord. Hilliard, F.H., 1957. These included the Basel Missionary Society, founded in Switzerland, and the Breman Mission formed in Germany. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. In 1858 ten years after the founding of the first college, the Presbyterians opened a sister college at Aburi for the training of women teachers. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Burke can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. It was not until 1909 that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra. The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. Copyright 2023 ABWE. In this essay on the impact of Christian missionary activities on Ghanaian society, we shall examine the role of the missionaries in the development of Ghana and the rest of Africa. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. The struggle over polygamy is well-known to historians and anthropologists. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Debrunner, Hans Werner. Your email address will not be published. Mr. Henry Kwadwo Amoako is a Ghanaian Social Scientist, Researcher and Acclaimed Historian for over two decades. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. Christianity in West Africa: The Nigerian Story. station in 1858, it was not until 1889 that the missionaries entered Hausaland, which was predominantly Muslim. For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. 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. The people received the message with indifference. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. This special relationship continued until 1960 when Fourah Bay became a college of the newly reconstituted University of Sierra Leone; the other constituent college located at Njala developed from a training college founded in 1920. Almost all the missions in West Africa faced financial problems in the early stages of their missionary work. The Basel Mission, as a result of this phenomenal expansion trained many local personnel to man the new stations. 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. Please read our privacy policy to find out more. There were no Bibles in local languages, likewise grammar books were scant, so the missionaries had to spend time learning local languages, and translated the Bible and wrote series of grammar books. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . Learn how your comment data is processed. Several missionaries died at a youthful age due to the unfriendly tropical climate. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Etherington, Norman. With the exception of the first two volumes, marked "West Africa", these items are drawn from the volumes Series CWW. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. However, the early missionaries established medical centres, at first at their mission posts, and later far and wide, to attend to the sick. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. which were for females (Graham, 1971). ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. 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. Last, missionaries provided a very poor education, causing their students to be ill-equipped for social or material success, as they believed education to simply be a means for proselytization, were unqualified teachers, and allowed inter-denominational rivalries to interfere. A History of West Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1969, Fynn , J. K and R. Addo-Fening History for Senior Secondary schools. student life New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. The Rev. At the time of its inception, however, there was no publication that systematically or comprehensively addressed the enormous problems that characterized the education of Blacks in the United States and elsewhere. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into . Again, in West-Africa, the efforts to go beyond the coast to reach those inland with the gospel coincided with the southwards expansion of Islam which posed some threat to the expansion of the work of Christian evangelizing missions. C.M.S. While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. Vol. A permanent station was established in Lagos in 1868, soon followed by others at Lokoja, Abeokuta and Ibadan. 2018). That there are parallels between contemporary Christian organizations efforts and the missionary efforts of the mid-nineteenth to mid- twentieth centuries is a reason for concern, considering the similar impact of missionaries of all Christian denominations on the education of Africans in the British and Italian colonies in Africa. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. Containing 9,566 pages belonging to 77 documents housed in 6 volumes As outlined in the short history entitled. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. Ghana sits on West Africas coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by the Ivory Coast and Togo to the west and east and Burkina Faso to the north. While colonial administration in colonies such as Kenya attempted to some degree to provide training for Kenyans to fill the high-level positions (Sheffield 1973:86), the attempts in many cases fell short, and when the European administration left, Kenya, for instance, had few sufficiently educated replacements (Sheffield 1973:88). Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. History There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. However, attending mission schools also meant exposure to colonial indoctrination. Joseph Dunwell. Although modern scientific research has confirmed the medicinal properties of these concoctions, traditional medical practice had several shortcomings. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Metadata. The South African War is not covered in this grouping of letters. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. Purchase a license below to view the full collection. A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. 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. Lastly, the missionaries were not used to eating our local foods. The missionaries also greatly improved the health services. The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a refereed scholarly periodical, was founded at Howard University in 1932 to fill the need for a scholarly journal that would identify and define the problems that characterized the education of Black people in the United States and elsewhere, provide a forum for analysis and solutions, and serve as a vehicle for sharing statistics and research on a national basis. Some of the missionaries came with them (549 years ago) but many died from the cruel tropical weather of forested West Africa. This research was funded by the European Research Council. It was not until the nineteenth century, that the new religion was really established in West Africa. 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. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. WAEC Another reason why the Europeans came to spread the Christian religion in Ghana was to pave their own way into eternal glory. senior high school economics After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies. Called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture. It was however in the coastal territories filled with mulattos and other European trading communities that Christianity won some of its early success. Their educational activities helped spread literacy and vocational skills training among Ghanaians. Porter, Andrew. Christian converts were indoctrinated to frown upon the use of indigenous first names in favour of Christian ones. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. 4; img 109. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. Other difficulties they 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. The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. Request Permissions. For instance, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche As they could not recruit British missionary volunteers initially, the Church Missionary Society sponsored the services of German missionaries, who were Lutherans, to come out to Sierra Leone. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com Mobility depended on the . The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835.Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. As happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the gospel alone. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. First, alignment can help you communicate your . 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). Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. Some early success included the Liberian coast where Afro-Americans and freed slaves were converted. 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Following agitation by the people in 1934, the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally. Grammar School for Boys in 1859, St Gregorys College opened by the Catholics in 1876, Methodist Boys High School 1878 and Methodist Girls High School 1879. Non-African Poetry The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. In addition to teaching, he served as national spiritual director of the Ghana Sacred Heart Enthronement Centre and spiritual director of the Accra Diocesan Sacred Heart Centre. Establishment of Christian Churches In Sierra Leone. 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. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. The kingdom of God in Africa: A short history of African Christianity. 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. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. Shaw, Mark. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. The Christian Connector Scholarship. 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. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. We were expected to accept the European language as the superior one, and this was reinforced throughout my school career (Abu cited in Berman 1974:536). hb```,,g@( B(Pi xD r[e}v'$ImK *e()dP#jjTNl=VtN(%!30p0040tt0B GGc2m2@M``a$]x2\YkvIaB1b`h6f` (eAKPU d Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. B. et al. 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. senior high school government Through academic lessons and lessons on Western etiquette and hygiene, mission students were isolated from their traditional cultures, a traumatic experience that would continue to trouble many students for the rest of their lives. Required fields are marked *. Get full access to all 9,566 pages that make up the Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 collection. 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. Apart from the extreme south and the Horn, the interior was hardly touched by Europeans before the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century. Among these were the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (commonly known as the Holy Ghost Father), the Society of African Missions (SMA), the Society of Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the White Fathers because of the white Muslim-like clothing which the Fathers wore, and the society of the Divine Word (SVD, abbreviated from its Latin name). 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. Under the Basel Missions Salem system, converts were separated from the traditional society. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. No plagiarism, guaranteed! The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. All rights reserved. Unsurprisingly, the level of education increased as one moved closer to the missionaries. To put it differently, the motive was to gain acceptance in the sight of God so that after death they would be judged kindly by the heavenly father. He moved to Techny in 2016. In such asituation, provisions and other things had to be sent into the country not in large quantities as would have been desired by the missionaries. In addition, while missionaries did run many academic primary schools, they provided little secondary education, a practice which prevented natives from becoming too educated (Ayandele 1966:286) and potentially subversive. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Father Burke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . They include Sierra Leone 1900-1933; Ghana 1903; Cape Verde 1904-1910; and St Vincent 1907-1912. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. From 1835 to the middle of the nineteenth century the Church was in opposition to traditional religion. The others include the French trading posts at Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast), Assinie and Libreville in Gabon. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! A history of Christianity in Ghana. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. Africa Christian Press, 1996. The Roman Catholic Sisters provided medical care in the Upper and Northern Regions of the country before the government started to provide hospitals and clinics in the regional and district headquarters. Kalu, Ogbu. It is interesting to note that this project is not a new concept. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND VERNACULAR LITERATURE; Another valuable contribution of the Christian missionaries in West Africa was the development of literature in the local vernaculars, this included the translation of the Bible into some of the important local languages.