As the name suggests, the missions were collective group of religious bodies that toured the world in the early ages of African coastal territorial development.
The missionaries that journeyed to this part of the world were the Basel missions now Presbyterian Church, Wesleyan mission, Roman Catholic mission, Seventh Day Adventist mission,Bremen mission among others.
Some of the coastal territories they explored include the Gold Coast now Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria among many other coastal African States.
Reasons for the Coming
The missionaries had a host of reasons why they journeyed this way. Amongst them include;
To spread the Christian education
To reduce the spread of Islam across West Africa
To help abolish the Slave trade
To reduce formal education
To introduce legitimate trade
To introduce western culture and promote it
To abolish outmoded socio- cultural practices as human sacrifice
Inspire the good reasons why they came here, Positively imparted society in this areas.
The introduction of formal education led to the establishment of schools and ability of our local people to learn to read and write.
They taught literacy, arithmetic skills and infused their norms and doctrines among the local people. About 1835,the first school was built by the Wesleyan Methodist Mission in the Cape Coast, the Basel mission did some about that time establishing schools along the coastal towns of Ada, Accra and Keta.
Even though it was confined to only set of people , it later became easily accessible by the public.
They introduced new crops such as cocoa, Pineapple, Cassava, Coffee among many others. This created a sense of diversity among others . This created jobs for the local people and employment for the general populace. The first of which is the first cocoa trees planted in the Gold Coast at Akropong Akuapem now a historical site on the PCE campus ,Planted by the Basel missions.
They introduced legitimate trade. They built enterprises and regulated the procedures of trade at the time. The establishment of UTC in Accra is one of many such examples.
They converted and produced our language into writing. This allowed them to be written and read. The first of such is the production of the Bible in Akan now a historical artifact on the PCE campus. This Bible was penned down by Johann Gottlieb Christaller of the Basel missions.
They introduced new building styles or architecture
They promoted and spread the Christan religion and promoted its values. The spread of Christianity enveloped the age of the construction of churches and Salems. This changes the behavioural traits of the people to an extent
They introduced scientific medicine and hospitals. This is just to mention a few of their positive impacts.
These missions deserve to be acknowledged in many ways.why?
Because of how selfless they gave themselves to educate and promote West African Development despite the obstacles they encountered. Some of these challenges include;
Harsh weather conditions that existed at the coastal States due to extreme sun activities made it hard for them. They then resulted to moving to the Highlands of the Eastern region as areas of settlement. Akropong Akuapem is an example of such places
Most of the missionaries died as a result of tropical diseases such as fever, malaria,chorela among others
Language barriers was a major hindrance. Since they could not understand our language and neither could the local the locas understand theirs, they had to spend time to study the linguistic of our local people so they could write our language.
They faced attacked and oppositions from the local people, in that, they were commonly attacked by the traditional believers because they condemned this form of religion. An example is the King Amoako Atta I of Akyem Abuakwa in the Eastern Region who was noted for burning down churches in Akyem Abuakwa. He was even nicknamed “the enemy of Christians “
Inadequate road networks made it difficult for the missionaries to extend to their gospel preaching work to far territories.
They also faced financial difficulties which made it hard for more missionaries to come and proclaim the gospel.
These in short highlight some of the missionaries interventions on the Gold Coast