1. Biblical Notices. — Africa was peopled principally by Ham, or his descendants ; hence it is called the " land of Ham" in several of the Psalms. See Ham. Mizraim peopled Egypt (Gen. x, G, 13, 14), and the Pathrusim, the Naphtuhim, the Casluhim, and the Ludim, peopled other parts ; but the situations the}' occupied are not now known distinctly. It is thought that man}' of the Canaanites, when expelled by Joshua, retired into Africa; and the Mohammedans believe that the Amalekites, who dwelt in ancient times in the neighborhood of Mecca, were forced from thence by the kings descended from Zioram. — Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. See Canaanite.
The necessary information relative to those places in Africa which are spoken of in Scripture will be found under their respective names, Abyssinia, Alex- andria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Cyrexe, etc.
II. Early Christian Church in Africa.— The conti- nent of Africa, in the ancient Church, contained: 1. The Exarch'Ue of Africa Proper. This contained, in Africa Proconsularis, fourteen dioceses; in Numidia, fifteen ; in Mauritania, eighteen ; in Tripoli, five. A list of these is given, from the Xn/itia of Leo, by Bing- ham (Prig. Kecks, bk. ix, ch. vii; see also ch.'ii, § 5).
2. The Patriarchate of Alexandria, called also the Egyptian Patriarchate. It comprehended Libya, Pen-
tapolis, Egypt, from Tripolis to the Red Sea, and Abyssinia, and contained more than a hundred Epis- copal sees. Thus the whole of the north of Africa was, in the early ages, Christian. In the fifth cen- tury the Vandals, who were Arians, founded an em- pire there. The worst enemies, however, of the Church in Africa were the Saracens, or Oriental Arabs, who, in the seventh and eighth centuries, overran the coun- try, and almost entirely extinguished the light of Christianity. The ancient sees which still remain are filled by Coptic prelates [see Copts], the chief of whom is the patriarch of Alexandria, and dependent upon him is the abuna, or patriarch of the Abyssini- ans. Of the ancient sees, although the names are known to us, the situation is entirely lost, owing to the change wrought in the names of places by the Arabs. Little, then, can be said of the geography, and as little of the chronology, of these bishoprics ; for, as to the former, all that we know is the provinces in which they were situated ; as to the latter, we have no proofs of the most ancient before the third century, and of very few later than the seventh. — Bingham, Oriff. Eccl. ix, 7. See Abyssinia ; Alexandria ; Ethiopia ; Carthage.
III. The Roman Catholic Church. — The circumnavi- gation of Africa in the fifteenth century led to con- quests of the Portuguese and Spaniards, and, in con- nection with them, to the establishment of Roman Catholic missions. In Western Africa the population of several entire kingdoms [see Angola ; Congo], and of a large number of islands, became, at least nominally, connected with the Roman Church. In Eastern Africa, Mozambique and the islands Bourbon and Mauritius were the principal missionary fields. In Northern Africa several bishoprics were establish- ed in the Spanish possessions. The establishment of the French dominion in several parts of Western and Northern Africa, especially in Algeria, likewise en- larged greatly the territory of the Roman Catholic Church and improved its prospects. Also in the Eng- lish possessions a considerable Roman Catholic popu- lation gradually gathered, especially among the Irish immigrants. Great efforts were also made by the Roman missionaries to eft'ect a union of the Copts and Abyssinians with their Church, but without much per- manent success. See Copts; Abyssinia. Repeat- edly Roman missionaries penetrated farther into the interior, but no great results have as yet been obtain- ed. In 1859 there was, outside of the possessions of Christian nations and of Tunis, Tripolis, and Egypt, only one vicariate apostolic for the Gallas.
IV. The Protestant Missions. — Protestantism got a firm footing in Africa after the beginning of the seven- teenth century, in the possessions of the Dutch, English, and Danes. The foundation of another Protestant state was laid in 1823 by the establishment of the negro republic Liberia, whose growth and prospective influ- ence is entirely under the control of Protestant Chris- tianity. See Liberia. Missionary operations among the natives were commenced in South Africa, in 1737, by the Moravians. Their early operations, however, were greatly embarrassed by the Dutch colonial gov- ernment, and, for fifty years (1744 to 1792), entirely interrupted. During all this time nothing was done for the conversion of the pagans. The London Mis- sionary Society established its first mission in 1795, the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1814. In 1820 a mission was established by the Glasgow Missionary Society, a union of members of the Established Church of Scotland and Dissenters. In 1838 this union was dissolved, the members of the Established Church re- taining the old name, and the Dissenters taking the name of the Glasgow African Missionary Society. After the division in the Church of Scotland in 1843, the Glasgow Missionary Society became merged in the foreign mission scheme of the Free Church of Scot- land. The Glasgow African Missionary Society trans-
AFRICA
05
AFRICA
.L.rstf
OLONGITUDE EAST 20 FROM GREENWICH -10
Map of Modern Africa.
ferred its operations, in 1847, to the care of the United Presbyterian Church. The first missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society came to Africa in 1822, and commenced, in 1830, their present mis- sion among the Bechuanas. The American Board re- solved in 1834 on a mission among the Zulus, which was commenced in 1835. The Rhenish Missionary Society sent to Africa, in 1829, four graduates of their Mission Seminary at Barmen. Most of the flourish- ing stations founded by it are within the limits of the territory of the Dutch Boers. The operations of the Berlin Society commenced in 1833 ; those of the Nor- wegian Missionary Society, near Port Natal, in 1853. In West Africa the first efforts to introduce the Gos- pel were singularly disastrous. Attempts made by the Moravians in 1736, and by several English soci-