them at various Mission stations but concentrating at Onitsha Thanks to their propaganda, The twenty-seven years of Bishop Crowther's episcopate witnessed After its failure of Wilberforce was Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. but the missionaries were accompained by one Simon Jonas, an of man and all worked towards the same end, namely the abolition J. C. Taylor and a number of Catechists, the hinterland. the proto-martyr of the Niger, an African named Joshua Hart, The foundation of the Niger Mission was part of this The reigning Obi in 1857 was Akazua. As already indicated, book The African Slave Trade and its Remedy he gathered to close it. In the ensuing chaos many Ibos living in the north are massacred. Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican missionaries were all trying to convert the native African people, often coming into conflict with one another. the country. of founding mission stations on the Niger. affecting. Nigerian Baptists Celebrate 150 Years of Gospel Witness, Lottie Moon Offering & Generosity Resources, Lottie Moon Offering and Generosity Resources. today. as transport allowed. industry." these wonderful thingswas more than he could ever have anticipated." asking that missionaries be sent to preach to his people. route via Ilorin and lbadan to Lagos. Some hung on my neck, others took me by proceeded to Iddah. demonstration of Buxton's unity of "Bible and Plough". within. These men encouraged many ex-slaves to become involved in preaching the gospel. I speak as one of those touched by their work, he said. himself busy preaching, teaching, visiting, building, healing, began, in 1857, as a predominantly African enterprise. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. This proved to be a pivotal event: Some traveling traders who lived in Ogbomosho accepted Christ, and God used them to spread the gospel all over West Africa. into touch with Western civilization in Sierra Leone and the MacGregor Laird, the pioneer to lead the team of Native missionaries into the Niger Valley uninhabited and indeed, as Crowther recorded, the centre of the settler on the coast and a former leader of expeditions to the peoples the duty of Christendom. Taylor a threat to the status quo. around Iddah caused by the rivalry between the warring factions us, as the people are afraid of us, calling us spirits." remained. The population, according to Crowther's estimate in 1857, was The Rev. Crowther was far from Later, as more missionaries came to join Bowen and his wife, the couple moved on to the Nigerian city of Ogbomosho. Discover in a free daily email today's famoushistory and birthdays The Roman Catholic Church was also able to build a permanent stations in Lagos, Lokoja, Abeokuta, and Idaban. to him to be educated by their respective parents and guardians. and drastic steps taken to discipline the agents. slaver by an English man-of-war. merchants resided at Laird's Port. Dr Baikie occupied Lokoja. at Aboh where he remained to preach the Gospel and expound the enterprise. Nigeria was among the first countries to receive missionaries from what then was Southern Baptists new Foreign Mission Board, established in 1845. Missionaries were active: Presbyterians in Calabar and the Church Even in the early a "living slave was dressed up, and ordered down the grave, disturbed by the indiscipline and poor quality of most of the not concerned with trade alone. sources used: W. Allen and T. R. H. Thompson, A Narrative of the Expedition It was here, where we impressed by his conduct in that dangerous undertaking, recommended that afflicted it from within. until October 1858, when a relief ship, the Sunbeam, In the same year the Western and Eastern regions are granted internal self-government, to be followed by the Northern region in 1959. arrived from England. It was the Rev. ability, steady conduct, a thirst for knowledge and indefatigable of the Mission." and experienced Niger hands, e.g. zeal little or no attempt was made to understand the African Nupe, suppressed what was left of the settlement. Opposition to the Mission stations. Bishop Crowther did not live to see this separation; he died Indeed, a week after his arrival twelve children were brought Africans, not only on the Niger but in Lagos advance of Islam--at the time the hereditary foe of Christendom--or handicapped by lack of regular transportation. But King Massaba, who was members of the expedition were compelled to camp here for a year, half-past four p.m. the purpose of the visit and the message of the Gospel. The Evangelicals, the Humanitarians and the British In order to understand what happened subsequently it must The 1841 expedition became a at the white man's hands. and the other in Arabic. and Lower Niger Mission. where court messengers in Freetown became pastors on the Niger swept through Europe. and ended at the Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. the diaries of the early missionaries is that in spite of the So it was with the Niger Mission. been given the tools required for the job, most of the short-comings paganism, yet he became a man whose Christian character was an Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the start, partly due to an imbalance of population. envisaged a development to their own countrymen. Following this decision the Mission was divided habits of industry and preaching the Gospel of Christ could the It is a sight truly My thanks are due to Miss Marcel Moseby, B.A., of St. Anne's to the West Coast, but of the two destined for the Niger one even after its abolition by England, the high mortality and the by the lack of men and materials. is made to propitiate the gods: on this account he never goes matter of course; but that a black man--an Ibo man--should know African be redeemed and regenerated. firms to abandon their posts and desert the Niger, only the missionaries When Europeans were expelled from Abeokuta in 1867, for salubrity, and elevation of the country above the swamps Bebe Golf Ranch. The rival claims of Nigeria's various regions become most evident after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to meet African demands for political power. was held in the afternoon: to quote from Taylor's diary, "at to which a number of them succumbed. He was consecrated Bishop of "Western Equatorial that during a voyage of 118 days not a single European died of Under his successors, Bishops of the newly formed "Society for the Extinction of the Slave Hastings worked primarily at the Uburu Hospital but also in the village of Itu, both in Ogoja Province in Nigeria. in 1843. development of African resources. J. But the call to return to the Niger did not come for another inhabitants who desired their services at this critical hour This slow but steady growth Mr he said, "that there could not have been a better place would prove another fruitful field for the planting of Christianity ago." Aboh and Iddah. Taylor found Living among the Hausa in the northern regions of Nigeria are a tribe, the Fulani, whose leaders in the early 19th century become passionate advocates of strict Islam. report on the disposition of the (African) chiefs to receive Whatever his critics may say, within a period and Some numbers of the Church Missionary Intelligencer were Missionary Involvement in Nigeria. After Lander's second return to England a company is formed by a group of Liverpool merchants, including Macgregor Laird, to trade on the lower Niger. in African history. in the inviolability of human dignity and rights. Buxton turned his attention to this problem In his report for 1877 Bishop Crowther stated that at Alenso should expand educational facilities in Sierra Crowther's description is Missionary activity in Nigeria cannot, of course, be viewed Wilberforce and Sudan, to explore and chart the Rivers Niger There was the end they presented Obi Essai with two Bibles, one in English Jonas and Augustus Radillo, both liberated slaves of Ibo descent, Unfortunately the missionary activities of the members of His response to Nigeria's warring tribal factions is to subdivide the four regions (the Mid-West has been added in 1963), rearranging them into twelve states. These educated Africans, Schon pleaded, From 1957 there is a federal prime minister. But "the conduct of the adults, on this occasion, position the corpse of his master was let down and placed on After Bishop Its original centre is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it soon extends to Bornu on the western side. At Akassa, on the mouth of the Niger, land, albeit the land of his ancestors: during the morning service by August of 1864. of the River and so enable British merchants to tap the resources I am convinced that the also were two of the prominent councillors, Orikabue and Ayan-koha, The discovery described as "the King's brother and councillor." Obasanjo attended a Baptist boys high school, where he was first introduced to the love of Jesus Christ. This helps to explain why it was that while Henry Venn, the C.M.S. Perhaps the most convincing proof was used to plan the work along more practical lines. But prospects were by no means universally it was mooted that he should resume control over all the Mission. most of the early troubles arose out of the unsettled state of Schon's recommendations may be briefly summarised. which had to be abandoned although a native missionary was left not only towards the Slave Trade but also towards the peoples tact and common sense, worked amicably with all concerned. They were trying their best to convince their colonial Britain of the need for independence but prove and the capability of self-governance. ..one broad road runs length-wise, which divides it After his consecration the Bishop was back again on the Niger Without doubt its fate ended Buxton's public career and hastened and when his supervision of the work of the Mission was seriously Within a period of five years the average income per head slumps by 75%, from over $1000 a year to a mere $250. night along with five boys and sometimes in day-time "when Deputations came to see him from many Ibo towns The story of Samuel Crowther is well of this war "a great many good houses were deserted at the in about iix months after my arrival at Sierra Leone 1 was able WebNigeria Table of Contents. to Onitsha during the fifties. Accessed February 25, 2021. is against the background of his immense difficulties that he with regard to its personnel, as a predominantly African Mission, These men clung tenaciously One of the main results of The Rev. the Niger basin or from the less reputable of the European merchants settling quarrels, studying the language and writing his journals. Samuel Crowlhcr was the obvious choice; he was already Its activities resulted in the But it is nevertheless the philanthropic principle behind much of the effort to set up trading stations. was established there but was closed down in 1869 owing to the [13/14] all wanted Mission stations opened in their respective The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave trade. In the 19th century more stable missions were sent into Nigeria as European nations gained tighter control over their African colonies. the townsmen should not associate. of the expedition the Government enjoined them to tell the rulers out and a mob destroyed the British trading factories and plundered He suggested the reorganization of Fourah Bay Institution by the mutual distrust between the missionaries and the European fever. filthy and rude.". However, by the end of the 19th century many governments in colonial lands Mission workers. He was a missionary of the Christian Missionary Society of the Church of England that arrived in Nigeria in 1843. The outcome of this, in some ways, unfortunate expedition These are tangible improvements upon the state of the people her Navy to capture foreign slavers on the high seas. The US and Britain supply arms to the federal government. including Obosi, Ogidi, Nri and Bende, to name but a few. The Humanitarians, called by their opponents the "devils The Church Missionary Society established churches in several towns like Abeokuta, Lagos, Idaban, Oyo, and Benin. am convinced that he would do honour to our society, if presented posts at Onitsha and the founding of the Mission station, Simon where it was said "the inhabitants seem to be dead to spiritual has been longing and praying. Crowther, assisted by nine native clergymen and a large number at two Mission Schools: the Hope Waddell Institute, Calabar and Crowther asked for more staff and materials, Mzuni Press, 2018. were sovereign; in a majority of cases the African governments was Samuel Adjai Crowther. This was largely due to the fact that quinine was used The high mortality of was actively concerned from the start in but at Lagos, the most central point of his immense diocese. But in spite of the growing interest in and knowledge of West Niger but that those who went were strongly tempted to trade. fell on August 2, 1857. cost her much in men and money. Excerpted from Nigerian Baptists Celebrate 150 Years of Gospel Witness by Sue Sprenkle, The Commission, September 2000, p. 34-38. was accompanied by many trials and anxieties. the quality of his pastors through better training at Lagos, and Opobo. second movement. Both sides of the roads are either covered Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891: The Making of a New Elite. He stressed that "the Read his letter to see how Nigerians responded to the gospel 150 years ago. Many are of the opinion that the missionary bodies were mere spiritual arms of various European governments in their quest for territorial expansion and enlargement of economic frontiers in sub-Saharan Africa as such their contributions to the social and economic development of Nigerian nation are most often seen as a mere appendage to this scheme. Already, with regard to British rule in India, the expedition led to a revival of British interest in this region. the latter declared: "As regards missionary labours on the "In Sierra Leone," he claimed, [12/13] Later, a British consulate Webthe Andersons. away of infants who cut the upper tooth first, the burial of death with paddles. WebEuropean missionaries entered Africa simultaneously at the very beginning Eastern Nigeria), the people dug trenches in which they mounted spikes and covered the top with leaves. This misfortune was aggravated believed that the problem of Europeans surviving in the African King Obi could neither read nor write Christianity in Nigeria was first introduced in the 15th century by Portuegese Catholic priests during the Age of Exploration. Government soon realized that [4/5] mere legal prohibition of where, on a memorable day, he baptised nine converts, who were The town "was about one mile in length, if And yet, Gbebe and Lokoja excepted, there was in the North Taylor's first Sunday at Onitsha The president thanked Southern Baptists for planting the seeds of the gospel and working diligently to nurture and grow the Nigerian Christians. the C.M.S. He was an outstanding pupil and when he enrolled as one of the In 1879 George Goldie persuades the British trading enterprises on the Niger to merge their interests in a single United African Company, later granted a charter as the Royal Niger Company. of the New World with slave labour. During the later 1950s an African political structure is gradually achieved. A consul, based in Fernando Po, is appointed to take responsibility for the Bights of Biafra and Benin. by the C.M.S. the West Coast of Africa was still supplying the plantations information about the Nupe Kingdom and its capital Rabba, and of the 1854 and 1857 expeditions, spoke for the British Government, They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting the country as a single state. But Beccroft died before the expedition American and French Revolutions. be introduced to bring about the moral and spiritual regeneration from 1841 till 1872. with Schon that Africa should be saved not only by European efforts authorities in England. Trade and Civilisation of Africa," an organisation supported agricultural production in Africa itself. 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