RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Africa
(1903), 163,781; capital, Bathurst on the Island of Saint Mary. There are about 90,000 Mohammedans in the colony, 56,000 pagans, 4,000 Roman Catholics, and 2,000 Protestant Christians. All of these figures, however, are estimates, excepting as to the colony proper. The Roman Catholic mission is under the care of the Lyons Seminary for Missions in Africa, and carries on two or three schools. The Protestant mission is carried on by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society which entered the colony in 1821. It has 7 outstations, 4 schools, and about 2,000 adherents in the colony. The Society of Friends established a mission in this colony in 1822, and schools were carried on by Hannah Kilham until her death in 1832, when the mission was given up. The history of the Protestant missions here includes [a very considerable loss of life among the missionaries, due to the unhealthfulness of the country. The Arabic Bible is used to a limited extent, and parts of the Bible have been translated also into the Wolof and Mandingo languages.
German East Africa: A German colony and sphere of influence lying on the east coast of Africa, between British East Africa and Portuguese East Africa, and extending inland to Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. Area about 384,000 sq. miles; population (estimated) 7,000,000, including 1,437 Europeans. There are about 15,000 Arabs, Indians, Chinese, and other Asiatics in this territory. A railway has been built from Tanga on the coast about eighty miles inland to Korogwe; it is to be carried ultimately to Lake Tanganyika. In religion the people of the country are: pagans, about 6,500,000; Mohammedans, for the most part near the coast, 300,000; Hindus, Buddhists, etc., 12,000; Roman Catholics, 20,000; Protestants, 7,000. Roman Catholic missions are carried on by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, the Trappists, the Benedictines, and the Algerian Missionary Society. They have extensive establishments about the northern and eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, and report 58 stations, 195 missionaries, 77 nuns, and 295 schools with 17,823 scholars. It is possible that a part of the figures here given refer to missions lying beyond the border of the Kongo Independent State. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction centers at Zanzibar. The Protestant missions are carried on by the Church Missionary Society, the Universities Mission, the German East Africa Mission, the Leipsic Missionary Society, the Moravian Church, and the Berlin Missionary Society. The two last-named societies are active at the north end of Lake Nyassa; and the Moravians are extending stations thence northward. The Universities Mission has stations along the Rovuma River and on the eastern shore of Lake Nyassa. The Berlin society has a station at Dar-al-Salam on the Indian Ocean; and the other German societies have their stations mostly along the northern boundary and in the foothills of Mounts Kilima- Njaro and Mweru. All these societies together report 60 central stations, 123 missionaries, and 230 schools with about 11,000 scholars. The Leipsic society has a printing-press, and publishes a newspaper at one of the Kilima-Njaro stations.
The Suahili version of the Bible is used along the coast (completed in 1892). The New Testament has been translated into Yao (1880) and Gogo (1887). Some of the Gospels have been translated into Bondei, Chagga, Kaguru, Nyamwezi, Sagalla, Shambale, and Sukuma, and the translation is progressing in several of these as the people acquire a taste for reading.
German Southwest Africa: A German colony and protectorate on the west coast of Africa, lying south of Angola and bounded on the east and south by Cape Colony and the Bechuanaland protectorate. Area 322,450 sq. miles; population about 200,000, composed of Namaquas (Hottentots) and Damaras, with Hereros and Ovambos in the north, who are of Bantu stock. The European population numbers 4,682. Walfisch Bay on this coast is a British possession belonging to Cape Colony. The seat of administration is Windhoek. The chief seaport is Swakopmund, whence a railway of 236 miles leads to Windhoek. The Hereros in the north and the Namaquas in the south have been at war against the German authorities since 1904, and the colony has suffered much in consequence. .Roman Catholic missions are carried on by the Oblates of Hilnfeld, and the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales (Vienna). The latter have 2 missionaries and 4 nuns. The other missions have been disturbed by the war, and statistics are not given. Protestant missions are carried on by the Rhenish Missionary Society of Germany, and the Finland Missionary Society. Together these societies had about 16,000 adherents before the war; but recent statistics are lacking, a number of the stations having been destroyed. The Bible has been translated into Namaqua (1881), and the New Testament into Herero (1877). Some Gospels have been completed in Kuanyama and Ndonga (Ovambo).
Gold Coast Colony: A British crown colony and territory stretching for 350 miles along the Gulf of Guinea, in West Africa, between the Ivory Coast and Togoland. Area 119,260 sq. miles; population 1,500,000. About 32,000 of the people are Mohammedans; 35,000, Protestants; 6,000, Roman Catholics; and the rest are pagans of the animist type with deep veneration for fetishes. The Roman Catholic missions are connected with the Lyons Seminary for African Missions, and have 16 missionaries with 13 schools. Protestant missions were commenced in 1752 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. As a result of this mission an African, Philip Quaque, was taken to England, educated, ordained, and returning to the Gold Coast, preached there for some fifty years. The missions now existing are those of the Basel Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (England), the National Baptist Convention (U. S. A.), and, since 1905, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. These missions together report 875 places of regular worship, 82 missionaries (men and women), 1,088 native workers, 235 schools with 11,557 scholars, and 34,835 Christian adherents. The missions make steady progress; but, at the same time, they point out that Mohammedanism is also making progress among
Africa