Home  |  E-Mail  |  Download Lessons  |  Interactive Quiz  |  Quiz 2

The Missionaries

Africa has more than 250 million Christians, making Christianity the second most prevalent faith on the continent. Africans learned of the faith through devout Christians who traveled to Africa on a mission to teach their religion. The missionaries did more than share their faith; they also taught the African people modern science and medicine.

David Livingstone was the most famous African missionary. Livingstone first planned to become a medical missionary in China, but the Opium Wars made China a bad place for a westerner with good intentions. Livingston turned instead to Africa and, after a four-month journey, landed in Cape Town, in modern South Africa, in 1841.

Livingstone treated the Africans with respect. He learned their languages and customs and explored a great portion of the continent. Livingstone believed the best way to share his faith with the Africans was to teach them about the outside world. Livingstone supported his missionary work by writing books about his travels.

Livingstone was a very religious man who was appalled by the way the Dutch and Portuguese colonists treated the African people. His writings told the world about the slave trade, which Livingstone called "the open sore of Africa." When he died in 1873, most of his body was returned to England, but Livingstone's many friends buried his heart in Africa.

To cite this page:
Dowling, Mike, "Mr. Dowling's African Missionaries Page," available from http://www.mrdowling.com/609-missionaries.html; Internet; updated Sunday, April 2, 2006 . ©2009, Mike Dowling. All rights reserved.