Missionaries Trade Europeans Explorers Africa

The opening up of Tanganyika's hinterland by Europeans was spurred on by an unusual trinity of religion, exploration and trade. Reports of the great natural wealth to be found inside Africa's coastal areas soon saw existing trade routes being enlarged and pushed forward in attempts to better exploit these human and natural resources.

Exploration - The first European sighting of Kilimanjaro. The first Europeans to record their journeys into Tanganyika were two German missionaries, Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann who began exploring the Pangani Valley in 1846 and who were the first Europeans to report sighting Kilimanjaro - and, though no-one believed them, its snow-topped summit - as early as 1848.

By the mid 1800's missionaries and explorers arrived on Tanganyika's shores in droves, keen to conquer Africa's spiritual and geographical 'Heart of Darkness.' These men, usually eccentric and pretty hard-hearted individuals would join the trading parties as far as was navigable by boat or on foot, then would push on, further inland into unchartered territory. Some, like David Livingstone, the famous Scottish missionary, combined conversion with exploration and others, exploration with trade.

Stopping slavery - The moral imperative of abolishing slavery was a hot topic in early 19th Century Europe and it was these debates that drove and funded the considerable expense of the advent of Christianity in Africa. Missionaries hoped to halt slave trading, convert native Africans to Christianity, teach them to read God's word and to stop some of the tribal practices considered barbaric such as near nakedness and the lack of burials for the dead.

Setting up trade routes - East Africa's explorers on the other hand were much less interested in tribal welfare and much more driven by hard commerce and by the establishment of new trade routes from the coast. Though native traders and whole tribes fleeing famine, drought or war had been criss-crossing the continent for thousands of years, no one ever really thought to ask them. The race to find the elusive source of the Nile and to establish (and dominate) what would be an important trading artery and easy route into the heart of the continent, sent dozens of hopeful Europeans zig-zagging across Tanzania's interior.

Many of these explorers used their knowledge of the land and relationships with local tribes to foster trade for King and Country…..or in some cases, to simply line their own pockets. Alternatively, with the European imagination so transported by the discovery of Africa, like Henry Stanley, you could always earn a bob or two speaking at public engagements and selling the account of your travels on your return home.

the perils of being a missionary... If of course you ever made it back. Hundreds of hopeful explorers and missionaries across Africa (not to mention their African porters and guides) died of fever, exhaustion or were killed by hostile tribal leaders encountered en route. The missionaries in particular faced mixed receptions (and the occasional mixed grill) from indigenous Africans. On one hand, apart from the promise of eternal salvation, contact with Europeans also provided useful trading opportunities and some powerful patronage (as well as the beginnings of a still arms trade that thrives today) for use in their own intertribal power struggles.

Literacy was also a valuable skill but was often later opposed, as leaders realised how it empowered their people and threatened existing social orders. When this or the strong political motivations behind some missionaries and explorer's work were realised, many were expelled or simply killed for their troubles. The journalist and adventurer Henry Stanley for example has been heavily criticised for persuading Congolese local chiefs to unwittingly hand over sovereignty to the Belgian crown in the late 1800's.

The arrival of explorers and missionaries and the advent of Christianity had fundamentally changed the status quo in Africa, bringing new opportunities to some but undermining the power of many more. Not only had contact with Europeans paved the way for widespread commercial speculation, but it had also laid the seeds for vicious tribal disputes.

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