Abstract
This book reconstructs important episodes in the 19th-century East African Church, demonstrating the historical significance of artefacts and edifices in Mombasa – the island, the mainland and surroundings. Warren Smith was ably assisted by co-author Kennedy Ofundi, an Anglican priest from Mombasa.
The work mainly concerns the period between the departure of long-time CMS missionary Johannes Rebmann in 1875 and the official colonisation of what are now Kenya and Tanzania by Britain and Germany respectively. During this time, ex-slaves took up residence at Frere Town, named after British envoy Sir Henry Bartle Frere.
The book employs primarily non-written sources, mainly material constructions made by British missionaries, soldiers and officials, and is richly illustrated with pictures of ‘early Christian Mission’: churches, houses, monuments, photographs and paintings.
To understand what happened in East Africa in the 19th century, it is important to grasp that the Rebmann and Krapf period was quite different from that after the establishment of Frere Town; the authors could have given a more detailed treatment of the shifting political circumstances. Until the beginning of the Protectorate in 1895, missionaries lived under the rule of the Sultans of Oman and Zanzibar, who generally facilitated their work, granting Krapf and Rebmann permission to come, giving them a place of residence, expediting the purchase of land for Frere Town by the British and donating land for a hospital for Muslims and Christians. The Sultans and the British benefited from their commercial relations, although there was conflict between the British Empire and the Sultanate’s Muslim slave owners.
Rebmann and Krapf were Germans working for a British mission in the midst of a Swahili-Arab Muslim culture. In many ways they were dependent on the Sultan and on the African chiefs, planting the Gospel in a foreign culture without protection from their home countries.
After 1875 the Sultanate was increasingly forced to abandon slavery, and gradually became subject to British rule. In Frere Town, African ex-slaves found a safe haven and the number of missionaries grew. A British ‘government gun … on top of the mission buildings [w]as a reminder of the authority of the missionaries’ (p. 60) and the British flag flying over Frere Town (p. 99) was something Rebmann could not have dreamt of.
Rebmann’s period of service was longer and more intense than those of his predecessor and erstwhile colleague Krapf and his Frere Town successors, and the former was instrumental as the 19th-century planter of the Church in East Africa. He also compiled lexicons of local Swahili and Nika and his collection of Kiniasa words placed him at the genesis of Chichewa lexicography.
Smith and Ofundi’s description of almost forgotten episodes in ‘early’ East African Christianity rightly devotes considerable space (p. 94–131) to James Hannington (b. 1847), the first Anglican Bishop of ‘Eastern Equatorial Africa’, whose ‘short life played an important role in hastening the ordination of native African clergy, of furthering the effort to build a permanent church in Frere Town, and of expanding the Christian mission westward to Uganda’ (p. 94). Hannington’s main significance is probably his martyrdom. After consecration as a missionary bishop he soon began to lead expeditions to the west. He was courageous, but lacked local experience. He clashed with the young Baganda king Mwanga and was killed after only one year, together with dozens of other Christians.
I offer a few critical remarks. The book would have been stronger if the authors had shown that British rule was already advancing before 1895, when Frere Town’s political and religious context remained Swahili-Arab and Muslim. Nonetheless, for the ex-slaves and their missionary protectors Frere Town may have been ‘a colony of heaven’.
Secondly, Krapf and Rebmann are more than background figures in the tale of Christian mission in East Africa. The authors’ comparison of the two Germans follows the traditional view that Krapf was the more important missionary and linguist. Rebmann is one-sidedly described as blind and helpless, and a sour critic of freed African slaves. Recent research has treated Krapf less favourably while Rebmann’s significance has been acknowledged.
Thirdly, organising the text more logically could have prevented some overlaps, and a register of names would have improved accessibility.
Fourthly, more careful proofreading could have weeded out typographical and formatting errors which let the book down.
These comments in no way detract from the fact that this is an interesting and important book on 19th century Christianity in East Africa.