449

The institutions established by Western colonizers such as the missionary
societies are still influencing Africa's socio-political, economic, and religious
developments. In the British colony of the Gold Coast (Morden Ghana), the
relationship between British missionary enterprise and British imperialism during the
second half of the 19th century was multifaceted. This thesis focuses on two broad
areas: Firstly, the complexity of interaction between British imperialism and
missionary societies on the Gold Coast and the resulting impact on contemporary
Ghanaian society.
Secondly, The Ghanaian experience of religious change through Western Christianity
that is acquired in the wider context of nationalism, secularisation, nation-building and
formal education in one way or the other also helped to facilitate the British missionary
impact and influence in contemporary Ghanaian society. Therefore, the religious
Change facilitated by the British missionary enterprise and how it influenced
Colonialism, Nation-building, Secularisation and Education in the Gold Coast (Ghana)
generated the interest in this research.
Key Words: British Missionary Enterprise, Colonialism, Gold Coast (Ghana),
Religious Change.
iv

Misyoner topluluklar da olduğu gibi, Batılı sömürgeciler tarafından kurulan
kurumlar Afrikanın sosyo-politik, ekonomik ve dini gelişmelerini etkilemeye
devam etmektedir.19.Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren İngiliz Gold Coast
kolonisinde (Modern Ghana), İngiliz misyoner topluluğunun teşebbüsüyle, İngiliz
emperyalizmi arasında çok yönlü bir ilişki kurulmuştur. Bu açıdan tezimiz, iki
husus üzerine odaklanmaktadır: Birincisi, İngiliz emperyalizmi ile Gold Coasttaki
misyoner toplumlar arasındaki etkileşimin karmaşıklığı ve bunun sonucunda
çağdaş Gana toplumu üzerindeki etkisi; ikincisi ise milliyetçilik, sekülerleşme,
ulus inşası ve örgün eğitim gibi Batı Hristiyanlığı yoluyla daha geniş bağlamda
modern Gana’da tecrübe edilen ve bi açıdan kolaylaştırılmaya çalışılan dini
değişimin etkisi.
Çalışmamızın içerisinde, İngiliz misyonerliğinin sömürgecilik faaliyetleri
üzerinden ulu inşası, sekülerleşme ve eğitim gibi yollarla Gold Costtta (Ghana)
nasıl bir etkiye sahip olduğu araştırılmaya çalışılmıştır.
Anahtar Sözcükler: İngiliz Misyonerlik Girişimi, Sömürgecilik, Gold
Coast(Modern Ghana), Din Değişim.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My deep gratitude, appreciation, and thanks go to Almighty Allah. My endless
thanks and appreciation goes to my Father Alhaji Ibrahim Abdul Nasir and Mother
Afisatu Alhaji Shuaib for their everlasting support. I also deeply acknowledge the
immense contribution of my supervisor Prof.Dr Mahmut AYDIN, whose support and
guidance enabled me to finish this thesis. My gratitude also goes to the head of the
Department of History of World Religions.Prof.Dr. Cengiz BATUK. Thank you all
for your timely intervention. To my friends Mr Kenan (Turkey)and Sergeant Seiti
Yerima (U.S.A), I thank you all for your support when the journey seems impossible.
Thank you.
Swabir İBRAHİM
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THESIS APPROVAL ..................................................................................................... I
DECLARATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH SCIENTIFIC ETHICS………...…...ii
DECLARATION OF THE THESIS STUDY ORIGINAL REPORT ........................ ii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... iii
ÖZET .. ............................................................................................................................ iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. v
CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... vi
ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... viii
1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………………....…..1
1.1. Overview of the Problem ................................................................................... 1
1.2. Purpose of the Research ..................................................................................... 4
1.3. The research questions ........................................................................................ 5
1.3. Limitations .......................................................................................................... 5
1.5. Literature Review ................................................................................................ 8
2. CHAPTER TWO: THE SOCIO-POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL
SITUATION OF VOLTA BASIN AND THE EARLY EUROPEAN CONTACT
2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 17
2.2. The Volta Basin (Gold Coast) ........................................................................... 20
2.3. Traditional African Religion in the Lower part of the Volta Basin ................ 29
2.4. Islam in the Lower part of the Volta Basin ....................................................... 35
2.5. Co-existence between Islam and Traditional African Religion in the Lower
part of the Volta Basin .............................................................................................. 40
2.6. The Portuguese Adventurers (1471-1642) ....................................................... 40
2.7. The Dutch Conquerors (1593 – 1642) .............................................................. 42
2.8. Danish Traders (1700-1850) ............................................................................. 44
2.9. The British Colonialists and Missionaries (1553- 1957) ................................. 45
2.10. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 49
3. CHAPTER THREE: BRITISH MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN GOLD
COAST
3.1.Introduction ........................................................................................................ 52
3.2.Critical Studies of British Anglican Missionary Societies in Gold Coast ....... 56
3.2.1. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Foreign Parts (SPG) ............ 56
3.2.2. The Christian Missionary Society (CMS) ..................................................... 61
3.3. Critical Studies British- Basel Mission (Presbyterian Church) in Gold Coast 64
3.4. Critical Studies of the British -Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan Methodist
Missionary Society in Gold Coast) ......................................................................... 66
3.5. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Black Methodist church From
the United States) in Gold Coast. ............................................................................ 69
3.6. Critical Study of British-Catholics Missionary in Gold Coast ........................ 71
3.7. The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation Army Church) ................................. 72
vii
3.8. The Apostolic Church from England and the Christ Apostolic Church of Gold
coast .......................................................................................................................... 74
3.9. Worldwide evangelization crusade (Evangelical Church of Ghana) .............. 75
3.10. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 76
4. CHAPTER FOUR: THE IMPACT OF BRITISH MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES
IN GHANA
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 81
4.2. Religious impacts ........................................................................................................ 81
4.2.1. Pre-Colonial Religious Situation....................................................................... 82
4.2.2. Colonial Religious Situation ............................................................................. 82
4.2.3. Post-colonial religious impacts ......................................................................... 84
4.3. Educational impact ...................................................................................................... 89
4.3.1. The Traditional Education system in Gold Coast (Ghana) ........................... 89
4.3.2. The Islamic Education system in Gold Coast (Ghana) ...................................... 90
4.3.3. Colonial missionary Education in Gold coast (Ghana) ................................. 92
4.3.4. Post-colonial Education in Gold coast (Ghana) ............................................. 94
4.4. Impact on health care ................................................................................................ 100
4.4.1. Pre-colonial Health Care in Gold Coast ........................................................... 101
4.4.2. Colonial and Missionary Health Care in Gold Coast .................................. 102
4.4.3. Post-independence health care in Ghana ...................................................... 104
4.4.4. Christian Health Association of Ghana ........................................................ 105
4.5. Socio-Economic impact ........................................................................................... 109
4.5.1. Pre-colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana) ................. 109
4.5.2. Colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana) ............................ 111
4.5.3. Post -Colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana) ................... 113
4.6.Political Impact .......................................................................................................... 115
4.6.1. Pre-colonial political situation ..................................................................... 115
4.6.2. Colonial political situation............................................................................ 117
4.6.3. Post-colonial politics ..................................................................................... 121
5. CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION…………………………………………..124
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 138
viii
ABBREVIATIONS
R AC: The Royal African Company
SPG: Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign part
C.M.S: The Church Mission Society
WMMS: Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society,
CBC: Catholic Bishops Conference
SMA: Society of African Mission
TSA: The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation Army Church) and
WEC: The Worldwide evangelization crusade
AMEZ: African Methodist Episcopal Zion mission,
C.M.E: The Christian Methodist Episcopal mission
COP: Church of Pentecost
PCG: Presbyterian Church of Ghana
HAM: Heart of Africa Mission
CCG: Christian Council of Ghana
AME: African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
CHAG: Christian Health Association of Ghana
GES: Ghana Education Service
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1. Map of the Volta Basin showing Ethnic Groups (Ankomah, Yaw, Dembélé
Youssouf, Ampomah, Leopold, (2022). ................................................................................ 20
Figure 3.1. Christiansburg Castle, Gold Coast (Ghana) (Ammitzbøll 2018) ......................... 45
Figure 3.2. Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral Accra .jpg Created: 26 August 2006 .............. 59
Figure 3.3. The Anglican Church in Ghana (Jenkins,1974:.27) ............................................ 61
Figure 3.4. Christian mission stations, Ghana 1752–1932( Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi,
2018) ...................................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 3.5. Illustration of three missionary society stations between 1932 to 2000( Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018)................................................................................................. 78
Figure 3.6. Annual evolution of the three main missionary societies in Ghana from 1847 to
1932.( Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018) ....................................................................... 79
Figure 4.1. Christmas celebration in Takoradi, Ghana .......................................................... 85
Figure 4.2. an overview of total facilities of the Christian Health Association of Ghana
CHAG,2010 ......................................................................................................................... 106
Figure 4.3. Facility ownership by denominations in Percentage CHAG,2010 .................... 107
Figure 4.4. Percentage Distribution of Staff on Government Payroll .................................. 107
Figure 4.5. Goods purchased by the RAC on the Gold Coast in the years 1725–1745.
(Rönnbäck,2020:7) ............................................................................................................... 111
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Overview of the Problem
Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s empirical investigation on the colonial
origins of comparative development( Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson,2001) has
been extensively applied in various academic papers. Generally, their findings helped
many researchers quantify the extent to which colonization and the institutions
established by colonizers such as the missionary, slave trade, and forced labour in one
way or other affected the development of African countries. The colonial missionaries
are distinctive features in the colonial landscape of Africa. Therefore, their history,
initiatives, and impacts merit study. There is no iota of doubt the activities and
investments of these western Christian Missionary Societies which were part of the
European colonial settlement that expanded throughout African countries mostly in
the middle of the 19th century have also massively contributed towards the colonial
expansion as well as the religious change in Africa. Even though “at the height of the
imperial age church people liked to argue that religion and the British empire were
inseparable – that the visible, commercial and political empire was woven into the
fabric of another, invisible, country – a spiritual empire. But, then as now, historians
and Politicians have not been convinced that the empire had significant religious roots”
(Carey,2008:1). In recent years, the interpretation of the relationship between colonial
imperialism and the missionary enterprise throughout the world has gone through
different debates due to the modern wave of post-colonial and ethnographic studies.
The first of these debates dealt with the relationship between Christian missionaries
and Colonialism. The second debate discusses the nature of the relationship between
British religion and British national identity and the inquiry into the growing
appreciation that the British Empire was a cultural, economic, religious, and political
construction. But despite the emergence of rich, contested historiography, there is still
not much common ground between traditional and post-colonial approaches to
imperial religious history. (Elbourne,2008; Carey ,2008:4). “Perhaps, one of the
popular “strands of inquiry into the British Empire and the missionaries flows from the
growing appreciation that the British Empire was as much a cultural as an economic
and political construction” (Carey,2008) due to the long-run effects of the missionary
2
enterprise during the colonial period and in particular its persistent impact on
contemporary societies. Our contributions to the debate focus on the perspective of
British missionary enterprise in the British Gold Coast (Ghana) contexts. The vitality
of British missionary history in Ghana is due to its linkages with major themes such as
political, economic, social, religious history and development of the country. The
British missionary enterprise, in particular, has contributed tremendously in
determining the social, political, economic, and religious developments in Ghana. In
other words, British Missionary societies have been part of Ghana’s history since their
inception and evangelization on the Gold Coast.
Christianity came to the Gold Coast’s coastlines through the forts established by
the Europeans. “The first Europeans arrived at the Gold Coast at the end of the fifteenth
century when all Europe was under the Catholic Church. Pope Gregory IX through his
famous Corpus Iuris Canonici (Slavery incorporated into canon law) divided the world
between the Spaniards and the Portuguese and said nobody else should try to take any
of the trade”. (Ward,1943:55) This enabled the Portuguese to arrive at the Gold Coast
under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1471. The West African
coastal region was already known to the Europeans as the main source of gold in the
Muslim world via the Trans-Sahara trade. Moreover, from 1500 to 1600, several
European countries, including England, Germany, France, and the Netherlands,
abandoned Catholic Christian tradition and became protestants. As a result, they
disobeyed the catholic Pope's instruction and began to travel to the Portuguese trading
posts such as Elmina on the Gold Coast which has been occupied by the Portuguese
for a long period. Therefore in the late 17th century into the early 18th century, many
other European adventures were made on the Gold coast(Ghana). Firstly by Dutch,
then the English, the Danish, and then other Europeans arrived in the coastal region
of the Gold Coast. In 1553 the English embarked on their first voyage to West Africa
and landed precisely on the Gold Coast through the guidance of a Portuguese captain
Pintado, who knew the West African coastal region very well. “They visited the Gold
Coast but avoided Elmina because they feared the Portuguese there. Next year, another
English voyage led by captain John Lok visited the coast with three ships and traded
at Shaina, cape coast, and eastward as far as Beraku”. (Ward,1943:55)
Moreover, From the second half of the eighteenth century, there was a strong
wave of evangelical spirit that emerged in Britain and other parts of Europe. This led
3
to the formation of religious or missionary societies whose members would go out to
Africa and other lands to spread Christianity after centuries of exploration of African
societies through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, by the turn of the
Nineteenth Century, there was a systematic effort by the British missionaries, namely:
Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts( SPG Anglican mission) and
The Church Mission Society (C.M.S Anglican Mission), Basel Mission (Presbyterian
mission), The English Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society),
Catholic Mission,( From Britain), The Apostolic Church from England, The Salvation
Army Mission (Salvation Army Church) and The Worldwide evangelization crusade,
etc. in Gold Coast. Also, “John Darwin’s concept of the imperial ‘bridgehead’
underlines the important role of sub-imperial agents in the expansion of the British
Empire. These agents could be colonial officials, settlers, the military, traders and,
crucially, missionaries, who were often at the frontiers of British influence abroad. But
after the early establishment of missionary organizations in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century, missionary work in the empire was largely carried out by socalled
‘native missionaries’, or what Peggy Brock terms ‘new Christian
evangelists”.(Everill,2012:789-790) These native African missionaries or new
Christian evangelists mostly from British colonies in America also contributed to the
expansion and influence of the British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast and the
contemporary Ghanaian society. Some of these converted African missionaries were
sent back to West Africa as missionaries to aid the spread and influence of Christianity
on the Gold Coast. Some native African missionary societies or new Christian
evangelical societies in Gold Coast (Ghana) are the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
mission, the General missionary convention (Triennial Convention), The Christian
Methodist Episcopal mission, etc. all from the United States of America. The activities
and initiatives of both British missionary societies and that of the native African
missionaries or new Christian evangelists in Gold Coast led to the tremendous
conversions of the indigenous Ghanaians mainly from the African traditional religion
to the different versions of western Christianity. As a result, these western Christian
religious beliefs, practices, teachings, social services, etc. impacted the religious,
cultural, political, economic, moral, and social lives in the traditional Ghanaian
societies. These impacts of British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast have
persisted and continuously influence contemporary Ghanaian society. While it has
brought some benefits, it has also in no doubt contributed to the many challenges
4
facing contemporary Ghanaian society. This thesis will not only provide historical indepth
but also, it will illustrate the enduring nature of British missionary impact in
Ghana. Moreover, the Ghanaian experience of Christianity has been acquired in
the wider context of colonialism, nation-building, and underdevelopment.
Therefore, the missiological roots of the concept of political religion in the context
of British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast (Ghana) and how the British
missionary impacted the Ghanaian society through colonialism, education,
secularization, development and nation-building will also be examined in this
research.
There is no doubt the Ghanaian Cultural contacts with the West were led by
the missionary societies mostly from Britain. This cultural contact via the British
missionary institutions transformed the Ghanaian societies. The consequences of
British missionary activities were manifold. Even though Missionary education in
Africa has generated a great deal of debate, there is no doubt on the Gold Coast;
mission schools grew out of the desire to spread Christianity. Conversion and
education or training went hand in hand at the same period. The primary goal of
all British mission societies in the Gold Coast and other parts of Africa was the
winning of converts and therefore the religious emphasis was common to all
mission schools in the Gold Coast. It is, therefore, a historical fact that Ghana was
evangelized through colonial machinery. But this research is not specifically on
the missionaries as the imperialist co-conspirators or heroic antiracists in Ghana’s
history but focuses specifically on the general impact of the British missionary
enterprise on the Gold Coast and contemporary Ghana. With a critical study of the
history of a British missionary enterprise and their initiatives in the Gold Coast
during the colonial and post-colonial periods, we will, therefore, be able to
investigate, analyze and characterize the general impact of the British missionary
enterprise in Ghana.
1.2. Purpose of the Research
The Objectives for undertaking this research are to (1) Identify the relationship
between British missionary societies and the British imperial influence in the Gold
Coast (Ghana.) (2) Evaluate the British missionary enterprise and the concept of
religious, educational, political,health-care impacts on the Gold Coast (Ghana.) (3)
Evaluate the British Missionary enterprise and the concepts of nation-building,
5
Secularization, and development in Ghana. (4) Evaluate the British missionary
societies’ Relations with Islam and Traditional African Religions on the Gold Coast.
(Ghana)
1.3. The research questions
Historians mostly debate on the relation between missionaries and the colonial
occupation in Africa and Ghana is not an exception. To examine the complexity
and multifaceted interaction between British imperialism and missionary societies
and its resulting impacts on contemporary Ghanaian society, this study addresses
the following questions.
My main research question is to explore the history, development, and impact
of the British Missionary enterprise in Ghana. To clarify my research further, I
have tried to find answers to the following questions: (1) What was the relationship
between British imperialism, and the British missionary enterprise on the Gold
Coast? (2) What is the relationship between the British Missionary enterprise and
the concepts of nation-building, Secularization, and development in Ghana? (3)
What is the British political-religious attitude towards Muslims and the indigenous
African religions within the context of British missionary activity and church
policy? (4) What are the British missionary responses toward the new religious
paradigm in Ghana?
1.4. Limitations
Gareth Austin’s work entitled The ‘reversal of fortune ‘thesis and the
compression of history: Perspectives from African and comparative economic
history indicated that; “Compressing different historical periods and countries
into one regression framework may complicate our understanding of particular
contexts and over-simplifies the various causal mechanisms of missionary
influence on African long-term development’’.(Austin,2008, p.996-1027) From
Gareth Austin’s theory on historical time and space, compressing the 19thcentury
missionary activities in entire sub-Saharan Africa may complicate and
oversimplify our understanding of particular contexts. Therefore, this research is
to study the various mechanisms and long-term developmental impact of
specifically the 19th-century British missionary enterprise on only Ghana through
their numerous investments and activities, amongst which were education, health
6
care, printing, etc. From the aforementioned, geographically this study will focus
on the part of the region that used to be known as the Bilad Sudan by the Arab
traders before Europeans emerged in the region. The early Europeans also
referred to the region as the part of the lower Volta Basin during the pre-colonial
period before they named the region the Gold Coast during the colonial period
and Ghana after independence. Chronologically, though the study focuses mostly
on the nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, 15th century to contemporary
Ghana is chosen as the focus of this study for the following reasons:
On January 19th1482, a large Portuguese fleet led by Captain Don Diego d
Azambuja, which had everything necessary for building a fort: stones already cut
and shaped only to be fitted together, timber, guns, and provisions on board
anchored off Elmina, Gold Coast (Ward,1935:53). This marked the first contact the
Ghanaian society had with the Europeans. Furthermore, W.E. Ward’s work entitled;
A Short History of the Gold Coast published in 1943 indicated that in 1553 the first
English voyage to West Africa and precisely Gold Coast was made by captain
Windham through the guidance of a Portuguese captain named Pinteado.“This
English voyage visited the Gold Coast but avoided Elmina which was occupied by
the Portuguese. In the following year, another English voyage led by Captain John
Lok visited the Gold Coast with three ships and traded at Shaina, cape coast, and
eastward as far as Beraku”(Ward,1935:53). Therefore, the English voyages in 1553
and 1554 to Gold Coast marked the first contact between the people of the Gold
Coast and the British. From 1780 to 1914 is also well documented as the era of
British colonial expansion in Africa and other territories in the world. “In the era,
Britain’s varied protestant communities led the way throughout in the global
expansion of Christian missionary enterprise and church extension, intended not
only to salvage expatriate souls and to convert or evangelize the heathen but to
check the spreading corruptions of Roman Catholicism and Islam International
conflict, major social and political transformations, the creation of empires on an
immense scale, were threaded through with religious strife, upheld by religious
institutions, stimulated and embittered by the widespread and explicit intention
to inculcate in different peoples many dominant British beliefs”. (Porter,1992).
In the context of the Gold Coast, the root of British missionary enterprise can be traced
back as early as 1553, when the king of England, Charles II gave the right of trading
7
from Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope to a company called The Company of
Royal Adventurers of England Trading to Africa. “He forbade anyone from trading
on the West African coast except this company. The company promised to send
3,000 slaves annually to America and also to keep forts or Lodges at Cape Coast,
Kommemd, Anashan, Egya, Kormantine, Winneba, and Accra.” (Ward,1780:64)
When the British took over the forts and castles around African coasts in 1720, the
Royal African Company (RAC) requested the Society for the propagation of the
Gospel (SPG), Church of England (Anglican) missionary society to send
missionaries to their trading stations of which Cape Coast was the center between
1752 and 1824. In 1751, Thomas Thompson who was appointed as a missionary to
serve the Negroes in Africa finally ends as a missionary in Gold Coast (now Ghana)
in the year 1752. Also, on the 1st of January 1835 during the era of Charles McCarthy
as the British governor in Gold Coast, The English Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan
Methodist missionary society) sent Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to Gold coast. Other
missionaries such were Rev. & Mrs George Wrigley and Rev. & Mrs Peter Harrop
was also sent to Gold Coast after Rhodes Dunwell. Moreover, Catholics Missionary
in Gold coast was also revived by Sir James Marshall, a British Anglican clergyman
who converted to Roman Catholicism and became Chief Justice of the British Gold
Coast colony, James Marshall wrote several letters to Britain to solicit support for a
Catholic missionary in the region he describes as providing a safe environment and
were administered by a government favourable to missionaries of all denominations.
The Apostolic Church Bradford Missionary (Apostolic, Christ Apostolic, and
Pentecostal Churches in Ghana) In 1911, William Oliver Hutchinson founded the
Apostolic Faith Church denomination, in Bournemouth, England. The Salvation
Army Mission (Salvation Army Church) The Salvation Army was founded in
London's East End in 1865 by one-time Methodist Reform Church minister William
Booth and his wife Catherine Booth as the London Christian Mission. The Salvation
Army was also officially introduced into the Gold Coast on 23rd August 1922 by
King Hudson known natively as Amoako Atta.
Moreover, From the United State of America, the act of discrimination in the
Methodist Church of New York United States also led to the formation of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches. These African Methodist Episcopal Missions
also helps aid the spread of Christianity in Ghana. The previous discussions have
8
shown that with a critical study of the history and initiatives of both the missionary
societies from Britain and that of the native African missionaries (new Christian
evangelists) from other British colonies, the findings of this research can be used to
characterize the general impact of the British missionary enterprise on Gold Coast
(Ghana).
1.5. Literature Review
The traditionally understood dichotomy of missionaries in Africa and other
parts of the world is either as imperialist conspirators by secular-minded historians
or heroic antiracists by the church historians and biographers. As result, several
kinds of literature that explores the long-term effects of historical missionary
presence in Africa and other parts of the world have emerged in recent years. One
thing agreed upon by these pieces of literature is that the missionary activities in
colonial Africa were very substantial and continues to affect Africa’s education,
politics, economics and social developments. In this research we literary studied,
assessed and analysed the available literature concerning the history and initiatives
of British missionaries and how they impacted the Gold Coast region which is later
to be called Ghana. This research probes broader literature in the field of British
missionary enterprise and British imperial or colonial history. Two categories of
literature were reviewed. The first category is the scholarly works that focus on
the history and theories of the entire British missionary enterprise. The second
category of literature looks at the historical background and impact of the British
Missionary societies only in the Gold Coast (Ghana)
Scholarly works reviewed under the history of British missionary enterprise
include Brian Stanley‘s book Christian Missions and the Enlightenment
(Stanley,2014). This book explores the detailed historical background and the
influence of the European Enlightenment on the beliefs and practices of the
Protestant missionaries who went to Africa and other parts of the world. The book
examines topics such as the modern missionary movements, the relationship
between civilization and conversion, enlightenment, and education in British
colonies. The book will help us to clarify the background of the British missionary
enterprise in the mid-eighteenth century.
Another important piece of literature is The Bible and the Flag: Protestant
Missions and British Imperialism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
9
(Stanley,1990) by Brian Stanley. In this book, the British historian examined the
relationship between British missionary enterprise and British imperialism.
Stanley contented that; the missionaries were the agents of European imperialism.
He analyses and describes the recent scholarships on imperialism as well as the
terminologies associated with the concept of imperialism such as dependency,
neo-colonialism, liberation, third World theologies, and missionary moratorium as
vague and imprecise. This book describes Christian missions as an important force
of cultural transformation in the modern world as a reality that no one will deny.
This same debate is also taken up by Andrew Porter’s‘Cultural imperialism’
and protestant missionary enterprise, 1780–1914. (Porter,1997) In this book,
Andrew Porter considered the problems of defining imperialism and the various
approaches used in analysing the concept of imperialism. Andrew Porter criticizes
some particular explanations of European imperialism and introduces some of the
new directions in research and inquiry currently being explored by researchers in
the field of Christian mission history and thought under the complex
historiographical literature surrounding the subject of European imperialism. He
surveyed the growth of European imperialism between 1860 and 1914.
Moreover, another literature by Andrew Porter which Porter Studies the
History of Christian Missions entitled, the imperial horizons of British Protestant
missions, 1880–1914 (Porter,2003). This is also significant to this research. Written
by acknowledged experts, Andrew Porter paid attention to the intricate and
complex relationship between the Christian missionary activities and the rapid
political and social changes of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The
book examined the role of the British Empire as an arena for Christian expansion,
the international politics of the missionary societies or movements, missionary
strategies, and the transfer of Western education. From the aforementioned works
of Professor Andrew Porter, we can conclude that the distinguishing feature of his
contribution on the complex subject of British missionary enterprise and the
imperial horizons of the British empire is that he examined 'imperialism', as a
process of increasing contact, influence and control, rather than as the nature and
consequences of British colonial rule.
Another piece of literature on mission and empire that fits by extension on
the work of scholars such as Brian Stanley and Andrew Porter is the Study of John
10
H. Darch on Christian History and thought entitled Missionary Imperialists?
Missionaries, Government and the Growth of the British Empire in the Tropics,
1860–1885. (Darch,2OO9). The book focuses on British missions in the mid-
Victorian period, one less studied by historians than its successor, the period of high
imperialism and the peak of missionary expansion in the late Victorian decades.
(Strong:2012). It provides us with a vital understanding of the relationship between
British missionary societies and British imperialism in the tropics. The study of John
H. Darch centred on the contests of imperial policies and the role of missionaries in
influencing these policies. Darch reflect on how the missionaries and imperialists were
largely acting for each other in British colonies. Allan Davidson in his review of
Darch‘s work discovered that John Darch has drawn particular attention to the role
played by missionary intermediaries and supporters in Britain who were informed
through their direct links with missionaries. Henry Venn, the Christian missionary
society clerical secretary, receives deserved attention. Venn was the leading British
missionary theorist of his age. Through his contacts both in England and with the
missionaries, Venn was in touch with what was happening on "the mission field" and
able to interact with politicians and business leaders in advocating for indigenous rights
and missionary interests. (Davidson,2009)
Darch examined six British missionary societies; they are the High Church
Anglican missions, the missions of the Church Missionary Society the Wesleyan
Methodist Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, and the (Presbyterian)
New Hebrides Mission. The connecting link between the six studies is found to be that
they were all missions that came under the examination of the British government
through the Colonial or the Foreign Office during this period. So, the case studies can
offer insights into the connections between missions and the expansion of British
imperial influence which is the subject of the book.” Missionary Imperialists?
Missionaries, Government and the Growth of the British Empire in the Tropics, 1860-
1885”. (Strong,2012) This book has an enormous contribution towards investigating
the complex and multi-faced relationship between British missionary societies and
imperialism in Britain and on the Gold Coast.
Rowan Strong’s Anglicanism and the British Empire1829–c.1914 (Strong,2017)
is also another important piece of literature for this research. Rowan Strong put much
emphasis on some fundamental themes in the British Empire. According to Rowan,
11
the Anglican missionary societies like the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
(SPG) provided an imperial justification for British imperialism in British colonies.
Rowan Strong examines how the British Christians’ understanding of the British
Empire shaped the identities of both English in Britain and the people living in British
colonies such as North America, Bengal, Australia, and New Zealand and Negro slaves
(Africans). Rowan’s work explores the theory of British imperialism which according
to him was integrally connected to British religion (Protestant Christianity).
Another important piece of literature by Rowan Strong is Anglicanism and the
British Empire c. 1700–1850.( Strong,2007b) Rowan Strong demonstrated in this that
British imperialism was integrally connected to British religion. Rowan Strong
examined the origin, development, elements, and impact of British public religious
discourse on British Empires between 1700 and c.1850. The 18th century British
Anglican religious understanding about the empire went on to shape later Protestant
Evangelical imperial attitudes of British missionary societies such as the Church
Missionary Society (C.M.S) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G)
in British Colonies. Rowan’s main emphasis in this book is that both the old and the
new British religious (Anglican) imperial paradigms developed a religious and
theological imperial discourse that constructed the identities of colonized peoples and
the British colonists.
In contrast, William Carey’s assertion in his book entitled An Enquiry Into the
Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens provides
as with a Christen religious argument to justify the need for British missionary
endeavours among the heathens. The author of this book has a strong relationship with
the British protestant missionary expansion in the nineteenth century. This book led
directly to the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society and was to inspire Christian
missionaries for generations to follow. Carey considered the religious State of the
different nations of the Christian World. He explained how Success was achieved
through Conversion into Christianity and the practicability of further Undertakings
among the heathens. The strength of Carey’s work is that Carey propagated the
ideology that it was God's will to use the Christians in England to the immense need
for Christianization of the heathens in the British Colonies. This text provides some
religious arguments which attempt to justify missionary work. Carey forcefully argued
based on Christian religious conviction for the need to send a missionary to evangelize
12
and civilize the people he described as heathens. This book broadens our knowledge
about the history and ideology behind British missionary enterprises in British
Colonies such as the Gold Coast. It brings out an understanding of the various motives
that inspire people to participate in the missionary enterprise abroad.
Another important piece of literature used in this paper is the British Missionary
Enterprise since” 1700 (Cox,2008). Jeffrey Cox provided some contemporary ways
of thinking and analysing the history of British missionary activities and initiatives.
The author used a series of statistical tables to demonstrate how the British have sent,
and continue to send more missionaries around the globe. The text highlights the
complications and tensions associated with attempts to convert the indigenous people
in Africa and other parts of the world into Christianity. Jeffrey Cox viewed the
missionaries as institution builders rather than imperialists or heroes of social reform.
He also examines the impact made by the British missions abroad as well as evaluating
the initiatives by African and other indigenous converted Christians in British colonies.
Moreover, Jeffrey Cox also examines the relationship between British missions and
those from other predominantly Protestant countries such as the United States.
Therefore, this book will help us to understand the crucial topic of the important
relationship between religion in Britain and the British Empire since 1700.
The second category of literature which directly or indirectly examines the
historical background and the activities of British Missionary societies in the Gold
Coast are the following:
Christian missions and colonial rule in Africa: Objectives and contemporary
Analysis by Etim E. Okon. (Okon, 2014) The paper determines the general correlation
between the nineteenth-century missionary enterprise and colonial occupation in
Africa. The author analyses the predetermined objective of colonialism with missions
activities in Africa. He explained how Christian missions in nineteenth-century Africa
acted as a positive social force with tremendous vitality for the extension of European
civilization to Africa. In this paper, the author tried to justify missionary collaboration
with the colonial powers in Africa by looking at the impossibility of missionaries
having the resources needed to carry out their work without the intervention of the
colonial powers. And this cooperation made the missionaries the main mobile of
civilization, development and progress in Africa. According to Heather Sharkey, the
real impact of the activities of the missionaries is still a topic open to debate in
13
academia today. Sharkey asserted that the missionaries played manifold roles in
colonial Africa and stimulated forms of cultural, political and religious change."
(Sharkey,2013)."Historians still debate the nature of their impact and question their
relationship to the system of European colonialism in the continent." She noted that
the missionaries did great good in Africa, providing crucial social services such as
modern education and health care that would have otherwise not been available.
Sharkey said that, in societies that were traditionally male-dominated, female
missionaries provided women in Africa with health care knowledge and basic
education (Khan,2002)
Clarke Peter West Africa, and Christianity: A Study of Religious Development
from the 8th to the 20th Century (1982). (Clarke,1982) This book is organized
chronologically, from 1445 up to the contemporary independent West African states.
Peter Clark's discussions in this book examined the history, development, and modes
of Christian missionary conversion in the entire West African sub-region. He focused
on Horton’s 'African conversion' thesis, of whether Christianity 'added anything
substantially new to indigenous African religious ideas on issues such as belief in the
Supreme, etc. ideas.
Another important piece of literature is Viera Pawlikova’s Christian missionary
enterprise in Africa, a synonym for cultural imperialism?” (Pawlikova, 2002). This
paper focused on the connection between Christian missions and cultural
imperialism in Africa. “He contended that the missionary enterprise was not just a
theological enterprise but also was extremely part of the European involvement in
Africa and also shared the General Western negative image of Africans as inherently
ignorant, savage, and inferior to Europeans. The missionary movement represented
the first and most important facet of western contact. Christianity provided access to
a civilization and culture pattern which was bound to conquer African societies by
sheer virtue of technological superiority”. (Pawlikova,2002)
Patrick Enoch Kanayo, and Nwadialor Louis: Patterns of missionary expansion
enterprise in Africa: A reflection (Kanya and Louis, 2016) also described the
missionary expansion enterprise in Africa as all the efforts made by the western
Christian Missionaries to consciously convert the African people and spread
Christian civilization. The paper examined the various platforms of the Christian
missionary expansion enterprise in Africa. The Findings of this research paper
14
showed that through the missionary support for colonialism, colonial aggression,
Christian values, and mission education, the missionaries were able to arouse the
consciousness of nationalism among Africans.
Moreover, one of the first pieces of literature on the history of Gold Coat is
authored by W. E. Ward entitled: A short history of Gold Coast. (Ward, 1935). This
book tells the story of a British territory called Gold Coast and ends with the
attainment of independence on 5th March 1957. This book seems to be an entirely
political history of all the ethnic groups, wars, treaties, and the rise and fall of the
states that came under the control of the British Gold coast in west Africa.
Another material viewed by the researcher as an important resource for this
work is a book by Richard Foli entitled Christianity in Ghana: a comparative
church growth (Foli, 2006). The book described the history, topology, membership
trends, and the growth of missionary related churches in Ghana. Some of these
missionary societies from Britain are the English Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan
Methodist missionary society, Basel Mission (Presbyterian Church) Gold Coast
1894-1904(from London), Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts
(SPG Anglican Church), Catholics (British aided Catholic) Missionary, Apostolic
Church from England and the Christ Apostolic Church in Gold coast, worldwide
evangelization crusade, etc. Also, the book examined the history of Black American
missionaries on the Gold coast.t some of these British protestant related missionaries
from the United State are the Methodist Episcopal mission and African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Mission, etc.
Meanwhile, some of the literature dealt specifically with some peculiar British
missionary Societies in Ghana. An example is “John Samuel Pobee, an Anglican
theologian from Ghana’s book an invitation to be African Anglican” (Pobee, 2000).
The author introduces the beginnings of the British missionary societies such as the
Society for the propagation of the gospel and Christian missionary society which
resulted in the Anglican Church in the Gold Coast, now Ghana. John Samuel Pobee
encouraged the Ghanaian Anglicans to indigenize the Anglican tradition so that it
will be meaningful and relevant to the Ghanaian culture because Ghanaians are
different from the English.
15
Another material by John Samuel Pobee viewed by the researcher as an
important resource for this work is the book The Anglican Story in Ghana: from
Mission Beginnings to Province of Ghana (Pobee,2006) This book is considered by
many to be the only full work on Ghanaian Anglicanism. It is a historical account
that features insights into the history, evangelization and missionary activities of the
various Anglican Churches in Ghana. He also discussed the Anglican contribution to
education in Ghana. John Samuel Pobee’s book hinted at the fact that there are other
stories about Anglicanism in Ghana yet to be told. He could not research the other
stories due to his Anglican ideological background and therefore he is leaving that to
the new emerging researchers. Is our aim that this research will go into some of these
untold Anglican stories in Ghana.
Another important work is Kwasi Aboagye-Mensah’s ''The world our parish':
Christian mission and the Wesleyan heritage in a Ghanaian context. (Mensah, 2009)
This paper is one of the previous research projects that demonstrated the history,
modes of conversion, social and religious impact of Methodism on the Gold coast.
Kwasi Aboagye-Mensah made mentioned how William de Graft played an
instrumental role in the sending of the first Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society
from London to Ghana, then called Gold Coast. The British Methodist missionary
society sent their first missionary, Joseph Dunwell to Gold Coast on January 1, 1835.
between the period 1852–1900, The Methodist missionary saw rapid expansion in
the conversion of the indigenous Ghanaians to the Wesleyan Christian tradition due
to their usage of indigenous converts and evangelists. Kwasi Aboagye-Mensah also
demonstrated how the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society has significantly impacted
Ghanaian society in the early era of their presence.“From a modest number of 31
schools in 1856, the MCG now has about 865 primary and middle schools which the
church was managing in 1960. In 2007 the MCG recorded 744 kindergartens, 1,042
primary schools, 519 junior high schools, 26 senior high schools (including 5 private
ones), 22-second cycle vocational and technical institutions, 3 teacher training
colleges, and one University College. The church also has 2 hospitals and 16 clinics.”
(Mensah,200: 60)
This research will build on some of the earlier works on British missionary
enterprise and colonial government in British Colonies. It takes a two-way approach
as it looks at the general context of British missionary enterprise as well as the impact
16
of the missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast (Ghana). This approach ensures a reevaluation
of the British missionary enterprise as well as how the missionary
enterprise impacted and transformed Ghanaian society. Therefore, the interaction
between British colonialism and missionary enterprise specifically in the British
Gold coast colony as well as its resulting impact on contemporary Ghanaian society
is surveyed in this research.
17
CHAPTER TWO
THE SOCIO-POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL
SITUATION OF VOLTA BASIN AND THE EARLY EUROPEAN
CONTACT
2.1. Introduction
Geographically, Modem Ghana was previously referred to by a progression of
colonial masters as Gold Coast. It was carved out from the region known as the Lower
Volta Basin during the pre-colonial era. The lower Volta basin ambit traditional
kingdoms of Mamprusi, Gonja, Dagbon and Wala, as well as the Ashanti empires.
These kingdoms before Christianity consciously or unconsciously identify themselves
with one religious tradition or the other. Nevertheless, the importance of religion in
these pre-colonial societies does not only lie in its demographic distribution but also
its private and public lives. Therefore, religion in the pre-colonial Ghanaian societies
is not just important because of the number of indigenous people who claim religious
adherence but also because of its intense manifestation in the daily lives of the native
people and the extent it impacts their ideas. Moreover, the ethnic, linguistic and
religious heterogeneity of Ghana is one of the most prominent features of its social
and cultural structure. It may be difficult to state in exact terms the number of
indigenous ethnic groups in Ghana before Christianity “However, recent
classifications divide the people into eight major ethnic groupings and other smaller
tribes. The eight are the Akan, the Ewe, the Ga-Adangme, the Guan, the Gurma, the
Grusi, the Mande-Busanga and the Mole-Dagbani. Each of these major groups has
several sub-groups, marked by sub-linguistic differences. While the traditional
settlements of the Akan, Ewe and Ga-Adangme groups are found mainly in the middle
and southern parts of the country, the Guans are found scattered across the country.
The Mole Dagbani, the Gurma and the Grusi and mande-Busanga groups are found
mainly in the northern parts”. (Atiemo,2010: 3) The various ethnic groups and their
sub-groups like the Akan and the Mfantse are also marked by some local variations
in terms of language, social and religious or spiritual lives; yet there is considerable
religious uniformity in the spirituality of one ethnic group and another. Therefore, we
shall refer to all these ethnic spiritualties or religious beliefs as indigenous or
Traditional religions in Ghana.
18
On the other hand, the historical study of Islam in Ghana and West Africa at
large until recent times was primarily focused on the western and central Sudan. As
often cited by J. S. Trimingham “The Guinea States in the south lie outside our sphere
since they were not in contact with the Sudan states and were uninfluenced by Islam.
"Trimingham's conclusion paralleled those of early twentieth-century French and
English scholars who dealt with the issue of Islam in West Africa (Silverman and
Owusu-Ansah,1989:325-339). Furthermore, according to Raymond A. Silverman
and David Owusu-Ansah, “two factors explain the focus of these scholars on the
western and central Sudan. First, the better known Islamic-influenced kingdoms of
Ghana (Ancient Ghana), Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu were all located in this
region. Moreover, the pre-colonial Islamic states of western Sudan, in particular,
presented the greatest problem to both the French and the British during the early
periods of the colonial era. Therefore, the focus on this area may have been motivated
by the desire of these western writers to understand the Islamic factor in the region.
Whatever the motivation of writers like Marty, Palmer, and their associates was,
Trimingham was wrong to conclude that "the Guinea States" (i.e., the peoples living
in the coastal forest belt) like Ghana were "uninfluenced by Islam” (Silverman and
Owusu-Ansah,1989: 325-339). Scholars like Ivor Wilks and John Hunwick have
written on the typographical status of Islam in Ghana. Hunwick was able to comment
extensively on studies done on the history of Islam in modern Ghana. This indicates
that Islam emerged in a very short period in the northern and interior regions before
or at the same period Christianity started to emerge in the coastal regions. Therefore,
before and after the emergence of Christianity in Ghana, the region has been a
heterogenic society with many religious beliefs and systems. Religion was an
important phenomenon in almost all the varieties of indigenous native kingdoms
which formed modern Ghana as it affects every segment of the pre-colonial native
societies. African (indigenous) traditional spiritualties and Islam made up the two
main religious traditions in the lower part of the Volta basin before Christianity. Islam
emerged in a very short period in the northern and interior regions before or at the
same period Christianity started to emerge in the coastal region of the lower Volta
basin. This chapter is an attempt to trace the religious situation in Ghana before the
emergence of Christianity. We shall also access how these religious traditions have
been coexisting and influencing the social, political and economic history of the
Ghanaian Society before Christianity.
19
Furthermore, many European nations were on the entire coast of West Africa
during the 15th-19th Centuries. These include the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, French,
British and ‘Brandenberger's’ (Prussians). Their presence eventually led to the
colonization of the various tribes occupying the entire region before the arrival of the
Europeans. These Europeans had trading settlements on the Gold coast for more than
five hundred years. In most times, almost all the powerful European nations at the time
such as the Portuguese, the British, the Dutch, the Danes France etc. were on the Gold
coast together, battling each other for trade and seeing each other as interlopers. As
stated earlier, The Gold coast geographically spans from Newtown in the west to Aflao
on the east and includes the portion of the Slave Coast on the east of the Volta River
as well as the Ashanti Empire and portions of the Southern Soudan known as the
Northern territories. The natives of the Gold Coast at this time are described by look
as follows; “Their Princes and Noblemen pounce and raise their Skins in diverse
Figures, like flowered Damask. And although they go in a Manner all naked, yet many
of them, especially their Women, are, as it were, laden with Collars, Bracelets, Hoops
and Chains, either of Gold, Copper or Ivory. Some wear one on each Arm and Leg,
where they are often so gaoled, as to become in a Manner lame; yet they will by no
means leave them off. Some wear also on their Legs, great Shackles of bright Copper;
which they think to be no less comely. They likewise make use of Collars, Bracelets,
Garlands and Girdles of certain blue Stones like Beads.' Some of their Women wear
on their bare Arms, certain Fore-sleeves, made of Plates of beaten Gold; and on their
Fingers, Rings of Gold Wire, with a Knot or Wreath, like that which Children make in
Rush Rings. Among other Things of Gold, which the English had in Exchange, were
certain Chains and Collars and Chains for Dogs. They are very wary in bargaining, and
will not lose the least Spark of Gold. They have Weights and Measures and are very
circumspect in them. Whoever would deal with them must behave civilly, for they will
not traffic if they are ill-used. (Claridge,1915:64)The Europeans’ arrival in the Coastal
region of the Lower Volta Basin had a considerable impact on the indigenous social,
religious, economic and political structures from the very beginning. The complex
relationship between European economic, religious (missionary) forces of
transformation and its impact on the social-political and religious atmosphere of the
entire West African region is clear. This chapter attempts to x-ray the aspects of the
religious situation in the history of Ghana through the Islamic and traditional religious
traditions before the emergence of British missionary societies. Therefore, the focus
20
in this chapter shall be on the following; The Lower Volta Basin (Gold coast, Ghana),
Traditional African Religion in the Lower part of the Volta Basin, Islam in the Lower
part of the Lower Volta Basin, Co-existence between Islam and Traditional African
Religion in the Lower Volta Basin, The Portuguese Adventurers, The Dutch
Conquerors, The Danish traders and The British Colonialists and Missionary societies.
2.2. The Volta Basin (Gold Coast)
“The Volta Basin is located in West Africa and covers around 400.000 km² of the
sub-humid and semi-arid savannah zone. The basin encompasses the majority of Ghana
(70% of land area) and Burkina Faso (63%) and lesser proportions of Togo, Benin, Mali
and Cote d’Ivoire, respectively. The Climate is influenced by the movement of the Inter-
Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The average rainfall lies around 1000 mm/yr with
a strong north-south gradient and regional and temporal variability”. (Wolfram and
Youkhana 2006, p.5)
Figure 2.1. Map of the Volta Basin showing Ethnic Groups (Ankomah, Yaw, Dembélé Youssouf,
Ampomah, Leopold, (2022).
21
Before we digest into the socio-political, cultural and religious contexts of the region
later to be referred to as the Gold Coast and Ghana progressively, we have to point out
that before colonial rule; there was no Country in the region called Gold Coast or Ghana.
These two names emerged during the colonial and postcolonial periods
respectively.Therefore, to fully appreciate the colonial and postcolonial socio-political,
cultural and religious terrain in the region, there is the need to study the pre-colonial
socio-political, cultural and religious situation in the region before the British and other
western Christian missionaries arrived. Therefore, when the name Ghana or Gold Coast
is mentioned, we must take note of the fact that until the white men came and began
ruling over the land of West Africa, there was not any country called Gold Coast or
republic of Ghana in the region. The region was then referred to as part of the Bilad
Sudan or the Lower Volta Basin. Therefore, if we want to study the history of the Gold
Coast or Ghana, there is the need to study the socio-political, cultural and religious
history of the various African states that lived in the land before the white men emerged.
Moreover, the archives left by the Europeans on the part of the Bilad Sudan or the
Lower Volta Basin later to be called Gold Coast began during the latter part of the
fourteenth century. The European Colonialists could not have many historical records
about the origin of indigenous people they met on the Gold Coast. The few available
historical documentation that has been handed down up to the emergence of the
Europeans in the region was exclusively from oral traditional sources. Moreover, also
archaeologists have found out that the coastal region of the Gold Coast has been
occupied even before the 6th century. whiles the interior and northern regions were also
occupied even as 400 years ago. According to some oral historical narratives, the region
was first settled around the 10th century. But later the region witnessed a lot of
migrations from the northern and eastern parts of the region.“Foremost among these
tribes were the Ashantis and the Fantis.At this period, branches of the same family who
are reported to have settled in the countries around the Kong Mountains, a district then
known to the Arab traders as Wangara’’.( George,1898:3)Before the European
emerged and began ruling over the West African sub-region, there was no country
called Gold Coast (modern Ghana). The region later to be called Gold Coast was then
made up of different separate indigenous states. Therefore, to understand the history
of the Gold Coast and modern Ghana, there is the need to study and understand the
22
history and structure of these indigenous Kingdoms in the region before the coming
of the Europeans.According to Bourret, “the population of West Africa, then, can be
divided roughly into two great groups-the pure Negro of the forest area and the
Negroid type of Sudan. In the Gold Coast, we find this same division the Akan, Ewe,
and Ga speaking peoples of the south are Negroes, whereas the Moshi-Dagombaspeaking
groups in the Northern Territories are Negroid. There are, of course, areas
where the two types have intermingled and characteristics are less clear-cut”.
(Bourret,1949: 11) Historians agreed on the fact that most of the ethnic groups in the
region later to constitute the population of Gold Coast and even modern Ghana had
already settled in their present locations before the arrival of the European. Even
though some Oral history and other sources suggest that the ancestors of these ancient
residents in the Lower part of the Volta Basin (Gold coast, Ghana) entered and settled
in the region as early as the 10th century but the fact is that, the exact time of arrival
of most of the ethnic groups is still debatable. Some of these early ethnic groups in
the region include the Asantes, Fantes, Gas, Guans, Kyerepons etc. Traditions on the
early history of the region hold that the Akans were the first group to migrate into the
region later to be called Gold Coast. “The Akans can be categorised into two different
categories, the Twi-Fanti group found on the coast as well as in the forest area, and
the Twi-Guang groups who settled on the plains of the Volta later in the twentieth
century, the Fanti Akan tribes along the coast became the middlemen in between the
European merchants and the Twi Guang tribes of hinterland also becoming largely
influential in the development of the cocoa industry in the region. This was also
followed by migration to the northern and eastern parts of the Gold coast. The second
group to descend upon the Gold Coast were probably members of the Moshi (Mossi
and even Mole) kingdom to the direct north “(Bourret,1949: 12). Most of the
prominent among these Sudanic Muslim migrants were the Soninke and Mande tribes
from the Ancient Ghana empire (300 until 1100). Ancient Ghana (Wagadou) was one
of the greatest African empires. It was located in the area of modern-day south-eastern
Mauritania and western Mali. These Muslim tribes established themselves in the
region and later became rulers of the Northern Territories and parts of the Volta
Togoland in the Gold Coast. They established several kingdoms, principally among
them is the Mamprussi with its capital at Gambaga and the Dagomba with its capital
at Yendi. These Kingdoms were ruled by great men believed to have migrated from
Western Sudan. These migrations resulted in the formation and disintegration of
23
different large Kingdoms in the northern part of the Gold coast as far back as the
fifteenth century.
Moreover, the early Islamic reformation movement in West Africa led by
Sheikh Usman dan Fodio in 1804 also had a significant influence on the entire West
Africa sub-region and Gold Coast was not an exception. The reform of Sheikh Usman
dan Fodio facilitated the spread of both Hausa and Fulani tribes in the Gold Coast for
trade and the teaching of the Sunni version of Islam characterised by quite strict
adherence to the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Mohammed (S, A, W). Bourret,
Florence Mabel referred to these people as the “Negroes of Hausa and Fulani stock,
usually, Mohammedan (Muslims) in name at least, are found scattered throughout the
towns and along the trade routes of the Dependency and are almost invariably engaged
in commercial undertakings” (Bourret,1949:31) in the region. The trans-Saharan trade
also greatly contributed to the expansion of contacts between the tribes of Western
Sudan and the Lower part of the Volta Basin. The trade between the northern and
southern kingdoms stimulated the development and strength of the Akan-speaking
tribes located on the trade route from the north to the forest zone in the south. Muslims
also played a significant role in the trade route that linked southern with northern parts
of the region. These Muslims possess skills such as writing (in Arabic) as well as
medicine. Therefore, the Kings of various kingdoms in the region usually used the
Muslims as scribes and medicine men. As a result of these interactions, certain beliefs
and practices of the Muslims became part of the culture of the peoples among whom
they settled.
Before the mid-seventeenth century, the Asante had begun to expand their
territories under different Asante leaders. “This led to the Asante’s domination of the
surrounding tribes and also the formation of the most powerful of the states in the
centre of the forest zone. Under Chief Oti Akenten (r. ca. 1630-60), a series of
successful military operations against neighbouring Akan states brought a larger
surrounding territory into an alliance with Asante. At the end of the seventeenth
century, Osei Tutu (d. 1712 or 1717) became Asante Hene (king of Asante). Under
Osei Tutu's rule, the confederacy of Asante states was transformed into an empire
with its capital at Kumasi. Political and military consolidation ensued, resulting in
firmly established centralized authority” (Berry,1994) Asante became a very
organized and powerful state as compared to other tribes. During the reign of Opoku
24
Ware I (d. 1750), Asante won many wars against other tribes to expand their
territories. These wars brought the northern states such as Mamprusi, Dagomba, and
Gonja under the influence of the Asante kingdom. By the 1820s, the Asante have also
extended their boundaries towards the southern part of the region. Expansion towards
the south brought the Asante into contact with the coastal tribes like the Fante, Ga-
Adangbe, Ewe as well as with the various European merchants in fortresses along the
Coast.
Furthermore, it is important to note that, all the indigenous kingdoms in the
lower part of the Volta Basin were consciously or unconsciously identifying
themselves with one religious tradition or the other. Religion was an important aspect
of the social, economic and political structure of the region. Islamic and traditional
African religious beliefs manifested themselves in the private and public life of the
people before Christianity started to gain ground in the region through missionary and
colonial initiatives. Even though the emergence of Christian missionaries in the Gold
coast has been dated to the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century,
Christianity unlike Islam was only confined in the European Forts and few coastal
regions until the emergence of missionary societies departing from Britain such as the
Basel (Presbyterian) Wesleyan (Methodist), The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation
Army Church), The Apostolic Church from England missionaries in the nineteenth
century. These missionary societies from Britain laid the foundation for the Christian
church in Gold Coast and modern Ghana. Traditional or indigenous Spirituality was
indeed prevalent among all the indigenous people, especially among the Northern and
interior tribes. Among most of the tribes in the interior and coastal region of the Lower
Volta Basin, the roots of the white men and the black men are widely recognized as
the source of their religious ideas but this varies significantly from one tradition to
another except for the Muslims whose beliefs on the origin is similar to other Muslim
societies in the world. According to some indigenous traditions, God created three
white men and three black men, with three white women and black women. Other
indigenous peoples also hold the belief that in the beginning, God created two types
of men: Black and white and offered them gold and knowledge respectively. Almost
all the indigenous tribes in the region later to be called by the Europeans as the Gold
Coast has its deities recognized as the "fetish".These Fetish are mostly believed to be
inhabited by some specific creatures such as the trees, hills, mountains, rivers and
25
streams. The Asante people referred to their fetish as "Bossum’’. The Bossum were
as well as other tribes Fetishes was deeply feared by the indigenous people most
especially those dwelling in the interior(Asante territories) and along the coastal
region(the colony). Almost every household have its domestic fetishes. The fetish is
usually provided by the Chief priests. The Fetish consists of rude wooden or clay
figures of people and animals in their extraordinary shapes and forms. They are mostly
kept in a house and presented with offerings and drinks during customary rites and
festivals. Sometimes a string across a road, a branch lay in the path, a bottle hung
outside his hut, is sufficient to deter the indigenous people. They usually visit the
fetish during wars, before a journey, during good and evil, and the verdicts of the
fetish are never doubted. Macdonald reported that the Krobo Mountain in the eastern
part of the colony, near the river Volta, was once a stronghold of fetishes, and held
the whole of the surrounding country in its power until destroyed by the late Sir W.
Brandford Griffith early in 1893. There was a strong communion between the living
and the spiritual world (ancestors and deities). Hence food and drink were offered
ritually to the dead and the fetish (deities).In a nutshell, it’s worth noting that all the
indigenous kingdoms in the lower part of the Volta Basin consciously or
unconsciously identify themselves with one traditional religious tradition or another.
Religion was an important aspect of the social, economic and political structure in the
region. Islamic and traditional African religious traditions manifested themselves in
the private and public life of the people in the Lower part of the Volta Basin before
Christianity.
Islam from Arabia through North Africa is known to have made its first contact
with West Africa as early as in the late 7th century, through the conquest of Uqba b.
Nafi. however, some scholars are of the view that West Africa made its first contact
with Islam in the 8th century through the trans-Saharan trade routes from North Africa.
The main attraction of West Africa to the North Africans was the slave trade and
commerce, and not missionary zeal.”(Dumbe,2013:24) Research on Conversion to
Islam stresses the assimilation of Islam by non-Arab cultures, rather than the
expansion of Islam by the Arabs. These researches show that the assimilation of Islam
among non-Arab tribes had been very gradual and also emphasised the conversion of
communities rather than individuals. The case is not different in the Volta Basin (Gold
coast). The contacts between Islamized North African Berbers and the indigenous
26
West Africans made possible the conversion of the Sanhaja Berber tribe and later the
Mande tribe of the Mali Empire in Western Sudan. Through trade in gold and kola
nuts, the Mande Muslims eventually settled in the Akan Forest of Begho, near
Wenchi, in the early 15th century. Thus, The Volta Basin attracted the interest of
itinerant Mande Muslims due to the rich abundance of resources such as Kola nuts,
gold in the region. Moreover, the penetration of Islam in the Lower Volta Basin during
the pre-colonial and colonial periods depends on the process of Islamisation and
Islamic revivalism in the entire West African sub-region. Islamisation represents the
mode of expansion and conversion whereas the revival represents the strengthening
of the spiritual dimensions of Islamic faith and practice among the West African
Muslims. The Islamisation of the people of the Gold Coast was a product of trading
activities and conquest expeditions of Mande-speaking Muslims, who were known in
West Africa as the Wangara. (Dumbe,2013:23) “The presence and trading activities of
the Mande (Wangara) people announced the Islamisation process among the
indigenous people in the Nothern territories of the Gold Coast and later determine the
cultural worldview of the people but Subsequently, the Islam of the Yarna ( Mande
scholars in Dagbon) was challenged by the Hausa imams, whose trading activities
were already rooted in the 16th century but experienced significant expansion after the
triumph of Dan Fodio’s Jihads in the Hausaland in 1804”.(Dumbe,2013: 25) The
Hausa Imams and traders promoted a stricter interpretation of Islam through the
dispersing of Hausa Muslims from the Northern part of Nigeria to the Gold Coast.
Intermarriage between traders and native tribes facilitated integration and developed
a hybrid Islamic culture incorporating elements of the customs of Mande and Hausa.
Furthermore, the commercial activities of the Hausa traders also led to the creation of
several new trade centres in the region. Notable among them was the Salaga market
found in the Gonjaland, which emerged in 1775. The Hausa occupation of Salaga
made it an important centre for trade and also led to later penetration of Islam into the
forest region under the control of the Ashanti Empire.“The 1892 Sack of Salaga civil
war also led to the decline of Salaga as the major trading centre in the region and
resulted in the movement of some Muslim traders to other newly emerging trading
centres such as Atebubu, Kete Karachi, Kintampo, Techiman and Yeji. Nehemiah
(1968) also reported that the early Muslims who settled in Kumasi were trade
representatives and commercial agents guarding the interests of the northern kola nut
27
traders. This was also the case regarding the first penetration of Islam in Accra,
especially from 1835–1865”. (Dumbe,2013:26)
Another important factor that strengthens the Islamization process on the Gold
coast was the British armed force recruitment policy on the Gold coast. The British
recruited Muslims from neighbouring British territories such as Northern Nigeria to
fight for the British in the Gold coast colony. During the British–Ashanti wars in 1873,
a batch of 150 Hausa Constabulary was transferred from Lagos to the Gold Coast to
strengthen the British front in Kumasi. By the close of 1900, the number of Hausa
police (who were invariably Muslims) in the British army was almost up to a thousand
(Dumbe,2013:26)Furthermore, the Islamization process in the Gold coast was further
strengthened by the scholarly works of literate Muslim scholars in the palaces of the
chiefs in the region. The courts and palaces of the chiefs most especially in the
Northern and the Ashanti kingdoms attracted the scholarly ability of the literate
Muslim traders in the Gold coast which eventually strengthen Islamic influence in the
region. In kingdoms like the Ashanti, Dagbon and Gonja, the Muslim scholars also
played a special role by rendering spiritual and administrative services in the
kingdoms. This granted the Islamic scholars a sense of legitimacy and recognition
inside the palaces and among the Muslims in the region. Alhassan Jarah of Salaga and
Umar Kreke of Kete Krachi who were both educated in Northern Nigeria and settled
in the Gold Coast in 1870 were noticeable examples.
An equally important part of this Islamisation process was the migration of
Muslims from the surrounding West African territories into the Gold Coast during the
colonial period. These settlements expanded rapidly during the colonial period. “The
vibrant colonial economy of southern Ghana (Gold Coast) centred on labour-intensive
mining and cocoa farming, which attracted new migrants from the north (Northern
Territories); from other British colonies, especially Nigeria; and from the
neighbouring French colonies of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Niger, Togo,
Dahomey (now Benin), and French Sudan (now Mali).’’(Kobo,2010:71). Some
writers argued that the opportunities offered by the colonialist through hiring Muslims
from surrounding West African territories for their security interests also led to the
expanded voluntary migration from other territories into the Gold coast.
Finally, through the scholarly works, Islamic propagation, education and the
pilgrimage to Hajj (Makkah), the Islamisation process was further strengthened in the
28
Gold Coast. The majority of these West African migrants into the Gold Coast were
Muslims with common culture peculiar to the West African savannah region. “The
distinct feature of these Muslim migrants in terms of their religion, physical
appearance and traditions distinguished them from the other indigenous population in
the Gold Coast. Their distinct identity was reinforced by their concentration in
residential areas which were carved out for them by colonial authorities and
indigenous rulers who recognised the migrants’ need for separate living space, where
they could practice their religion away from indigenous religious practices and
customs.” (Kobo,2010:71) “These residential areas which were carved out for
Muslims by the indigenous rulers and colonial authorities during the pre-colonial and
colonial periods respectively became known as Zongo. The word Zongo originated
from the Hausa language, which is now the lingua franca of the Zongo communities
in modern Ghana mainly as a result of the influences of Hausa clerics in the Quranic
schools and the entire Islamic educational system in the region. Furthermore, The
British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act of 1914 had divided residents of the
colony and the Northern Protectorate between ‘natives’, ‘subjects’ and ‘migrants.
‘Natives’ referred to the indigenous population, while ‘subjects’ designated
immigrants from other English colonies. Both subjects and natives enjoyed the same
privileges and responsibilities, including British citizenship. For instance, as British
subjects, Nigerians in the Gold Coast enjoyed the same rights and privileges as
indigenes. On the other hand, the law designated migrants from the neighbouring
French colonies as immigrants or ‘aliens’ who were subject to expulsion from the
colony if they were considered a threat to public order.” (Kobo,2010:71)“The focal
point of the pre-colonial history of Islam on the Gold coast is that. Islam was generally
introduced into the region by Wangara- Malinke scholars’ traders and warriors, from
the north-west by Hausa traders from the north-east. Although most of what today is
called Ghana had been engaged in commercial activities with Muslim merchants since
the fifteenth century, only the north could be considered Islamised at the time of the
colonial conquest” Kobo,2010:71) Trade, migration and the British policy of army
forces recruitment facilitated Islamisation in the Gold Coast. Intermarriage between
Muslim traders and native tribes as well as the spiritual and administrative services of
Muslim scholars (Mallams) also facilitated the integration process. While the
propagation and educational initiatives of the Muslim scholars, as well as pilgrimage
to Hajj ( Makkah), further strengthened the Islamic religious beliefs, teachings and
29
practices among the various Muslims in the Gold Coast, both the chiefs and the
colonialists during the pre-colonial and colonial era respectively designated separate
residential areas for Muslims in the southern part of the Gold coast. In the British
colonial era, they passed the “British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act in 1914”
which further divided residents in both the Colony and the Northern Protectorate into
natives, subjects and migrants. Muslim dominated migrants from neighbouring
French colonies such as Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso were categorised as migrants.
these migrants were not entitled to Gold Coast citizenship. they were also being
offered lesser opportunities as compared to the natives and subjects (British subjects)
in the region. By 1914, this act was substituted by the British Nationality Act in 1948.
However by 1957, when Ghana attained independence the citizenship of the Muslim
migrants (mostly from nearby French colonies) and the Subject (British subjects )
became questionable which led to the introduction of the first post-independent bill to
be deliberated by the first independent parliament of Ghana. This bill was called the
Ghana Nationality Bill or the Ghana Nationality Act in May 1957. The law states that
anyone whose parents or grandparents were born in Ghana is considered a citizen of
Ghana.
2.3. Traditional African Religion in the Lower part of the Volta Basin
The indigenous African spiritual systems, usually called African traditional
religions, are many. Every ethnic group in the Volta Basin had developed a complex
and distinctive set of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. Regardless of their
seemingly unrelated aspects, there are some common features to these belief systems.
This shows that the African traditional belief systems in the Volta Basin and Africa,
in general, can be referred to as a form of cohesive religious tradition. According to
Jacob K. Olupona “African indigenous religions are timeless, beginning with the
origin of human civilization on the continent, perhaps as early as 200,000 B.C.E.,
when the species Homo sapiens is believed to have emerged. Because they date back
to prehistoric times, little has been written about their history.” (Olupona,2006)
In analyzing the characteristics of traditional African religion in the Volta Basin (Gold
coast, Ghana), there is a need to first digest the terms indigenous and religion. Most
of the terminologies used to describe the traditional African religions in the
contemporary world are nothing but a product of colonial and imperial disregard
towards African religious and cultural perspectives. Some of these descriptions
30
include the traditional, pre-modern, pre-literacy, primitive, etc. To some other group
researchers, such terminologies are nothing but the reflection of the African religious
identity. But in reality, the indigenous or traditional African religion has no meaning
except colonial impositions on African traditional religious systems and cultures.
Therefore, traditional African Religion in our context will be used to describe the
beliefs and practices of historic native Ghanaian communities concerning the
supernatural and the meaning and purpose of life. Because of the pluralism of religion,
religion tends to be ethnocentric. Consequently, it is more accurate to speak of
traditional religions in the Volta Basin, even if some of the ideas in one ethnic group
will be quite different from the other.
In this research, we shall use the terms Indigenous African Religion and African
Traditional Religion synonymously to refer to the religion of the people of the Lower
Volta Basin (Gold coast, Ghana) before the coming of Christianity. Even though
Africans in general and specifically Ghanaians are extremely religious people, the
least understood side in the life of the people of the Volta Basin (Ghanaians) is their
traditional religious systems and beliefs. According to Jacob K. Olupona in the
Encyclopedia of Religious Practices; “African cosmogony posits the existence of a
Supreme Being who created the universe and everything in it. African myths
frequently describe numerous lesser deities who assist the Supreme Being while
performing diverse functions in the created world. Spirits may be divided into human
spirits and nature spirits. Each has a life force devoid of physical form. Individuals,
who have died mostly the ancestors in particular lineages are the human spirits. These
spirits play a role in community affairs and ensure a link between each clan and the
spirit world. Natural objects, such as rivers, mountains, trees, and the Sun (as well as
forces such as wind ana represent nature spirits. Africans integrate this religious
worldview into every aspect of life.” (Olupona,2006)
In the Northern territories of the lower Volta basin, the traditional religious
situation was generally characterized by “the tèμ which means ‘earth’ or ‘soil’. When
used in connection with specific names, such as Dagara tèμ land, it means (Dagara
land. Tèμ can also refer to a settlement or even an entire region. However, tèμ also
has a metaphysical meaning: the ancestors are believed to live in kpímπ tèμ,( the
ancestors' land), and the bàgr myth contrasts tèμ in the feminine, conception principle
to the masculine, fertilizing rain. Moreover, there is also the Tèμgán which means the
31
skin of the earth ‘or the earth shrine. It also represents the integrative strength and
flexibility of a society. the tèμgán (plural tèμgáme; literally ‘skin of the earth’) which
refers to the earth deity and the shrine at which sacrifices are performed, as well as to
the territory controlled by this shrine and the earth deity. No sharp distinction is made
between the earth as a material good and the earth as a spiritual being”.
(Lentz,2006:18) Apart from the presence of the ‘house’ and the ‘earth shrine’, the
indigenous people recognized two main concepts of belonging; local people and
outsiders. they developed good alliances with their natives and rivalry with other
independent villages. At the same time, earth shrines serve as territorial institutions
and transportable medicines shrines. People travelled from different places across the
region to sacrifice at particularly powerful earth shrines in the hopes of receiving
protection, healing, and fertility.
According to Macdonald Georg, Superstition was riffing among the native
people, particularly among those of the interior. In Ashanti, the tradition of the origin
of the white and the black man is known to everyone, though it differs somewhat from
the tradition current on the coast. Their religious ideas are as follows, At the beginning
of the universe, three white men and three black men were created by God. He grated
them with the same number of women so that they will non among them will have the
right to complain. God also gave them give the choices of good and evil. “A large box
or calabash was set on the ground, with a piece of paper, sealed up, on one side of it.
God gave the black men the first choice, who took the box, expecting it contained
everything, but on opening it, there appeared only a piece of gold, a piece of iron and
several other metals of which they did not know the use. The white men opened the
paper, it told them everything. God left the blacks in the bush but conducted the whites
to the water-side (for this happened in Africa), communicated with them every night,
and taught them to build a small ship, which carried them to another country. They
returned after a long period, with various merchandise, to barter with the blacks, who
might have been the superior people.” (George,1890:46)
Moreover, in some parts of the colony, “the people also believe that man was
created by a great spider called Amanfie, whilst among others, the opinion is generally
shared that God created two kinds of men, black and white, and offered them two
sorts of gifts, viz gold and knowledge. The blacks had the first choice, and being
covetous chose the gold, leaving knowledge to the white man. God gave them their
32
gift, but as a punishment, he decreed that the whites should be forever their masters,
and they (the blacks) should be obliged to wait on them as their slaves.”
(George,1890:46) In the interior forest region, river Tando was a favourite fetish of
the Ashantis, and also the Prah Whilst at Accra the bush-cat was revered, and at
Dixcove and other places along the coast the alligator. This last is still worshipped in
the present century, and the natives say there is an alligator about twelve feet long in
a fresh-water stream near Dixcove, which appears at the call of the fetish man, and
receives in payment a white fowl.
Moreover, in some parts of the colony, the people believe that man was created
by a great spider called Amanfie, whilst among others, the opinion is generally shared
that God created two kinds of men, black and white, and offered them two sorts of
gifts, viz gold and knowledge. The blacks had the first choice, and being covetous
chose the gold, leaving knowledge to the white man. God gave them their gift, but as
a punishment, he decreed that the whites should be forever their masters, and they (the
blacks) should be obliged to wait on them as their slaves. (George,1890, p.46) In the
interior forest region, “river Tando was a favourite fetish of the Ashantis, and also the
Prah Whilst at Accra the bush-cat was revered, and at Dixcove and other places along
the coast the alligator. This last is still worshipped in the present century, and the
natives say there is an alligator about twelve feet long in a fresh-water stream near
Dixcove, which appears at the call of the fetish man, and receives in payment a white
fowl.” (George,1890:46)Therefore, in studying indigenous or African traditional
religion in the Volta basin, it was discovered that all the ethnic groups located in the
Volta Basin have a belief system that constitutes a total of the people’s experience,
which they are expected to observe to preserve their respective communities. In
general, The Ghanaian indigenous religious beliefs, as will be traced in the following
pages, exhibit the following religious beliefs and systems:
Belief in Spirits: The people of the Volta Basin are observed to live in a world
filled with Spirits. The spirits they recognized include the following:
The Supreme Spirits. Many European writers, who made a general survey on
African tribal beliefs in the past, have maintained that God has no place in African
traditional Religions. In contrast, the supreme God (The Great Spirit) is known and
worshipped all over the Volta Basin in Africa. Most People in the region acknowledge
Him as Father, Creator, Eternal, completely Beneficent, creatively Omnipotent and
33
ethically Holy. John S. Mbiti, attest to the fact that ″All over Africa people have a
notion of God as the Supreme Being, the origin and sustenance of all things. ″ Truly,
African peoples strongly believe in the supreme Being (God).(Mbiti,1969:29) Mostly,
their knowledge of God is expressed in proverbs, short statements, names, songs,
prayers, myths, stories and religious ceremonies. This is summarized in an Ashanti
proverb, ″No one shows a child the Supreme Being. This means that everybody knows
God′s existence almost by instinct and even children know Him.”(Tovagonze,1992).
The supreme God was never represented in any form for worship in any tribe.
Worship was done through the lesser gods. For instance, in many tribal religious belief
systems, there is a tree in their homes, which is about six feet high in a corner mostly
called Nyame Dua (God’s Tree). The top was usually a tripod and held a brass basin
in which eggs were periodically placed, as a sacrifice to the Supreme Being. It is
commonly believed that God is spirit, even if in thinking or talking about Him African
peoples may often use anthropomorphic images. As far as it is known, there are no
images or physical representations of God by African peoples: this being one clear
indication that they consider Him to be a Spiritual Being. The fact that He is invisible
also leads many to visualize Him as spiritual rather than physical”. (Tovagonze,1992).
Belief in Lesser god: Religious beliefs in the region which formed modern
Ghana also believed in the lesser spirits or smaller gods. They consider the lesser gods
to be animate natural objects such as roads, trees and rivers. Through these lesser gods,
they convey their compliments to the supreme God or spirit. The spirit also in return
is supposed to return messages from the supreme God through their agents called
priests or priestesses when they become possessed.
Belief in life after Death: Most societies in the Volta basin believed in life after
death. For example, The Akan’s traditional belief is that life continues in the next
world called Asamando. They mostly express these beliefs in sayings like Woye papa
a eda wa nim,boni nso da wanim and Onipa wo baabi ko). These beliefs explain the
provisions these tribes make for the dead. Moreover, the dead are also entitled to carry
whatever he or she enjoys in this life into the next world. Human sacrifices during the
funeral celebrations of prominent people like chiefs and queen mothers are all based
on the belief that the dead will need the services of these people as a servant in the
next life. Also, the belief in the reincarnation of people who for one reason or the other
34
had their life curtailed or shortened is all based on their religious belief in life after
death.
Belief in Ghosts: In the pre-colonial Volta Basin, there was a separation
between physical and spiritual existence. The people believe that everyone transitions
from physical to spiritual existence. They believe that every man passes from a
physical to spiritual life.“In the spiritual life, man manifests itself in spirit or ghost,
not visible to the ordinary human eye. Along the Akans, this spirit is supposed to be
hovering around certain spots, especially where the individuals, while in physical life,
are domiciled or frequented. Such spots are claimed to be haunted and around the
sensitive people are susceptible to developing goose skin”. ( Kyeremateng,2004).
Belief in Ancestors: In the traditional belief system among the tribes of the
Volta Basin, Mostly the living tends to have a sense of dependence on their Ancestors.
In other words, the ancestors mattered in tribal and national affairs while they lived.
They see the ancestors be constantly watching over the living relations and therefore
ready to punish those who break customs or to protect and help those who observe
them. Libations are incomplete if it doesn’t invite them to receive a drink. Belief in
ancestors. In the traditional belief system among the tribes of the Volta Basin, Mostly
the living tends to have a sense of dependence on their Ancestors. In other words, the
ancestors mattered in tribal and national affairs while they lived. They see the
ancestors be constantly watching over the living relations and therefore ready to
punish those who break customs or to protect and help those who observe them.
Libations are incomplete if it doesn’t invite them to receive a drink.
Belief in Magic: Magic is mostly considered to happen in a manner contrary to
the regular process of Nature. Mostly magic is performed through the repetition of
certain words, or through the performance of certain rituals all aimed at controlling
natural or supernatural forces to do the performers bidding.
Belief in Witchcraft: It is a popular belief among the people in the region under
consideration that, hatred, anger, envy, jealousy and other feelings can cause harm to
people. All these are the root of witchcraft. When the people are afflicted with
difficulties like meeting an accident, his child dies, his crops fail are all associated
with witchcraft
35
Libation: Most tribes in the region under consideration also observed a religious
rite called libation. a libation is an act of communicating with the ancestral spirits.it
demands the pouring of alcoholic liquid substances such as palm wine, akpateshie,
schnapps, whisky and gin. The pattern of pouring libation involves calling on the
almighty God, the earth goddess, ancestral spirits and lesser deities. (Rivers, trees, and
rocks) The significance of libation is to invoke and feed the spirits so that they would
in turn bless and grant them their requests. Mostly during libation petitions revolved
around subjects such as life and good health, Grace, Peace, Fertility of sex
(productivity), good eyesight, good hearing and prosperity. (Kyeremateng, 2004:96)
Before the emergence of Christianity in the region under consideration, there
was no part of the Gold Coast without its particular deity, these deities are believed to
inhabit special forests, animals, mountains, trees and rivers. Superstition was very
common among the indigenous people, particularly among those of the interior such
as the Akan. The people of the Volta Basin except for the Muslims lived in a world
believed to be full of Spirits such as Supreme Being, lesser gods, ancestors, Witchcraft
etc. The indigenous African spiritual systems, usually called African traditional
religions, are many. Every ethnic group in the lower Volta Basin had in one way the
other developed a complex and distinctive set of religious or spiritual beliefs and
practices. Regardless of their seemingly unrelated aspects, there are some common
features to these belief systems. This shows that the African traditional belief systems
in the lower Volta Basin which (Gold coast) can be referred to as a form of cohesive
interrelated religious tradition.
2.4. Islam in the Lower part of the Volta Basin
Islam, according to Muslims, is the first religion of all human persons
irrespective of race. But established historical thought, however, sees Islam as a world
religion that originated from Mecca when Muhammad received his first divine
revelation in the year 610 C.ET.The first contact of Islam with the indigenous natives
of West Africa was in the 7th-century C.E through the efforts of Uqbq Bun Nafi who
firstly brought Islam from Arabia into North Africa. Therefore, the indigenous West
Africans came into contact with Islam through the trans-Sahara trade. This resulted in
the gradual assimilation of West Africans to the North African Islamic civilization
which will reflect itself in the future as an indigenous West African Islamic cultural
identity. It is also on record that, the history of Islam in the Volta Basin (Gold coast,
36
Ghana) has undergone two types of Islamic orientation through their encounters with
the early Muslim settlers. As a result, they absorbed different Islamic influences and
traditions from these groups of early Muslim settlers in their respective societies.
Firstly, the Mande Muslim traders, who were originally associated with the Mali
Empire and popularly known in West Africa as the Wangara, were the first Muslims
to have facilitated relations with Muslims in the Volta Basin. This they did in the early
part of the I5th century by settling in the Akan Forest of Begho, near Wenchi in the
present Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. ( Hiskett, 1984) The main driving force behind
the Mande traders ‘adventure in the forest belt of the Volta Basin and, for that matter
in the Gold Coast, was the availability of gold and kola nuts. The enterprising nature
of the Mande traders has been variously referred to as ‘Commercial Diasporas’ in
Western Sudan because they travelled far and wide during their trading engagements.
They mostly transported their merchandise back to Jenne and Timbuktu for onward
transportation to North Africa. This encounter of the peoples of the Volta Basin with
the Mande (Wangara) traders resulted in some of the people of the Gold Coast
embracing Islam.
Sufism which derives its origin from Tassawuf in Arabic denotes Islamic
mysticism, which involves meditations and esoteric beliefs was an integral part of the
religious worldview of these early transmitters of Islam in the Volta Basin and the
Gold Coast. ‘The doctrinal background of these early Mande traders suggests that
they were Ibaddiya but later embraced the teachings and practices of the Maliki
School, following the Al-Moravid conquests. Consequently, the Maliki School
became the dominant School in Western Sudan, and, more particularly the Gold
Coast”.( Hiskett, 1984) From above we can say, the movement of Mande traders from
one place to another made them very influential in the spread of Islam mostly in the
Northern part of the Volta Basin and the Gold Coast.”It is said that as a result of their
trading activities, the Mande scholarly community in Timbuktu arrived at Dagbon
around 1700 C.E. These Mande scholars were known in Dagbon as Yarnas, which
was the Mande word for religious leaders”. (Hiskett, 1984)
Secondly, some people of the Gold Coast mostly in the south were also drawn
to Islam due to the Fulani Jihads in the Hausa land in 1804, with the resultant
expansion of the Hausa trade in West Africa. The success of this Jihad resulted in the
spread of Islam to other parts of West Africa, including the Gold Coast. “Their impact
37
was greatly felt, not as warriors but as traders in the northern part of the Gold Coast
especially Dagbon, as well as in other parts of the Gold coast. Again, the major motive
which attracted the Hausa-Fulani from Northern Nigeria to the Volta Basin and the
Gold Coast was trade rather than any missionary zeal.”( Levtzion,1968). This,
therefore, point to the fact that these early traders did not intend to convert the people
of The Volta Basin (Gold Coast) to Islam. Therefore, any such conversion that they
might have been initiated was incidental and not deliberate. As result, while some
rulers (the custodians of the traditional religion) simply tolerated Muslims, others
were even sympathetic to Islam religion. In the East of the Black Volta River, the
chiefs used Muslims as advisers and Muslims, therefore, became an integral part of
the political and social system in the region.
From the above, it is clear the first phase of interaction between a regional form
of Islam and the people of the Volta Basin took place during their encounter with the
Wangara or Mande traders whose socio-cultural background was a latent form of
Islam. The second phase was their encounter with the Hausa-Fulani who had a less
compromising and stricter attitude towards Islamic teachings. The significance of this
period of religious interaction between the people of the Volta Basin and the Wangara,
the Hausa-Fulani created a linkage and connection with the regional Islam, which was
West African. The prevailing socio-cultural conditions in the place of origin of these
early scholars affected the Volta Basin Muslim’s perspective of Islam in the precolonial
and colonial periods. It is worth noting that, one remarkable effect of the
Hausa’s trading engagement in the area of the Volta Basin is that it has facilitated the
emergence of certain learning and trading centres in the region. This further enhanced
the interaction between people of the Volta Basin and the Muslim communities in
West Africa. ‘’The most notable centre was the Salaga Market in the Gonjaland
which emerged in 1775 as a Hausa-speaking town.”(Hiskett, 1984)The influence of
the Hausa and Mande Muslims traders in the northern part of the Volta Basin was
heavenly felt in the South which eventually led to the possible boom in the Ashanti
market through the movement of the traders from the north to the south. Significantly,
every caravan used to have a Mallam (a Hausa word for a religious leader), whose
role among the group was to officiate on matters of Islamic rituals. In addition to
leading the caravan in prayer, he kept the records and had the prerogative of choosing
a suitable or prosperous day for the trip. It is argued that it was through these Mallams
38
that Islam made a significant impact on the trade routes. This is because; some of the
traders would withdraw from the caravan and settle with the chiefs if their services
were needed. Such a Mallam was given a wife, probably the daughter of the chief. In
this way, a small Muslim community would start growing.
Furthermore, when the Mallam settled in a particular community he became the
host of foreign traders and visitors and, in that capacity; he was referred to as Maigida,
or House Master, Host or Landlord, playing the role of mediator between the caravan
and the community. ( Levtzion,1968) Many people in the Gold Coast were introduced
to Islam through the activities of these settled Mallams, who encouraged their
colleagues to settle in the same spot and intermarry with the local people. The
activities of early Muslim caravan leaders, whether Madugu or Maigida, was to
become a mark of identity of certain families in the southern Zongo communities in
Ghana. Most families preferred to attach such names to their families’ identities such
as Madugu, and Maigida, reminiscent of the role played by their grandparents for
Islam during their commercial expeditions. This tendency shows the extent of the
impact of Hausa culture on the Muslim territories in the Volta basin and, of course,
the Gold Coast and in contemporary Ghana. Muslims in the Lower Volta Basin and
the Gold Coast have undergone various types of Islamic doctrinal orientation and have
also received a variety of ideas about Islam through different periods. The earlier
Islamic orientation of the Muslims in the Gold Coast was the Qadriyya, which was
overshadowed by the Tijaniyya. But during the colonial period, the Tijaniyya became
the dominant doctrine in the Gold Coast. The first observation in respect to the early
Muslim mystical (Tasawuf) orientation in the Volta Basin is that they belonged to the
Sufi Qadriyya order Founded by Abdul Qadir Jaylani movement in the 6 AH/12lh CE
century in Baghdad. Moreover, the origin of the Qadriyya movement in the Volta
Basin is traced to the Wangara traders who through their trading activities spread the
Qadriyya doctrine in the region. Some reports also suggest that early traces of
Qadriyya teaching could be found in Mamprusi as well as the Ashanti in 1221-2
A.H./1807 C.E. Much is not known about the specific personalities who spread this
mystical order. However, Qadriyya might have also been facilitated by some of the
traders and early Ulama from northern Nigeria and Jegu (Benin).
Moreover, According to Peter Clark, The historical background of the Islamic
doctrinal orientation of Muslims in western Sudan indicates that Ibadiyya and
39
Sufriyya were the earliest doctrinal groups in the region. (Clarke, 1982:13). Clarke
quoted Al-Zuhri, an Arabic scholar who reported that the Berber traders who
facilitated the Islamisation of West Africans through their trading expedition held
Islamic doctrinal beliefs similar to those of the lbadites and the Sulrites, all of which
were branches of Kharijites. (Clarke, 1982:14). Also, Al-Moravid’s movement which
tried to rectify the doctrinal perception of unorthodox Muslims in ancient Ghana
facilitated the orientation of the Muslims in western Sudan towards the Maliki school
of thought. This was because of the doctrinal background of the leader and the founder
of the Al-Moravid movement, Abdullah b. Yasin was doctrinally a Maliki. Thus,
Abdullah b. Yasin also enforced the Maliki doctrine among his students who
eventually became the later Ulama in western Sudan. (Clarke, 1982:14) .The Sanhaja
Berbers, when they were thoroughly Islamised, took up the role of propagating Islam
in Western Sudan and thus facilitated the spread of the Maliki Madhhab, or School.
(Dumbe,2009:74)
Another important personality who influenced the orientation of West African
Muslims in general and specifically the Islamic religious doctrinal situation in the
Volta Basin was the North African scholar Al-Maghili who was an advisor to
Muhammad Rumfa of Kano. It is believed that he was a Maliki, as well as a Qadriyya
in mystical orientation. His writings became the standard point of reference to Uthman
Dan b. Fodio. Uthman Dan b. Fodio’s doctrine influenced the entire region of northern
Nigeria. The conquest of Sheikh Uthman Dan b. Fodio did not only affected Northern
Nigerian Islamic doctrines but also affected the religious orientation of the people of
the Volta Basin due to the Hausa traders’ settlement in the region. In an area like the
Dagbon, Gonja and the Ashanti Kingdoms, all located in the Volta Basin, the early
scholars and traders who settled there in the pre-colonial and colonial periods were
Maliki in Islamic doctrinal orientation. Students in the region tend to link the type of
academic qualifications that they received to the Maliki School of Islamic law.
Meaning, they identified the type of academic qualification they acquired with their
teacher’s orientation. The teacher in turn identified the teacher who taught him and so
on back to Imam Malik b. Anas, the founder of the Maliki School of law. majority of
Muslims in Ghana and West Africa at large, still resort to Maliki literature to orient
their students on Islam, including the Tijaniyya and the Ahlus- Sunnah Wal-Jama’a
(Wahhabiyya) doctrines.
40
2.5. Co-existence between Islam and Traditional African Religion in the
Lower part of the Volta Basin
Islam and Traditional African Religion in Volta Basin (Gold Coast) are mostly
characterized by thousand years of cohabitation, adaptation and intermixture between
the two religions. But in many areas, indigenous religions have little by little
substituted themselves for Islam, without any clashes or ruptures between the two
religions. On the contrary, With the emergence of the Hausa traders in the region,
there seems to be a shift by some significant number of Muslims in the region to
consciously turn not to the Arabian or West African model of living Islam as reported
by Some western scholars but to the Islamic tradition as they imagine it to have been
instituted by the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) in Medina. It is worth mentioning that it
was not only the superiority of the religious message of the Quran that finally tipped
the balance in favour of Islam but also the purely sociological, political and economic
factors that played a significant role in the region. Therefore, with the emergence of
Islam in the region, some tribes or ethnic groups uprooted their traditional socioreligious
universe and replaced it with a partly or all-embracing, secure and reassuring
Islamic framework. Solidarity within the Muslim communities replaced the village
and tribal solidarities. And new prescriptions and prohibitions also replace the old
ones initiated by the indigenous religions. The only real exception is the centralization
of the worship of God (Tawheed), especially in the ritual prayers. But for a long
period, the centralization of the worship of God does not exclude other ritual practices
and worship in these Muslim communities in the region. This is because; West
African Islam has never expressly forbidden these intermediates associated with God.
Moreover, The central place of the sacred Quranic text in Islam and the impossibility
for most Africans of gaining direct access to it, since they do not know Arabic, lead
to a situation where the more or less qualified custodians of the Scriptures (Hafiz)
have themselves become the new intermediaries, sought out and feared. They,
therefore, replaced the healers, the fetishists and the other members of the traditional
religion. Thus, the enculturation form of the Islamic religious message preceded the
actual Islamisation of the Muslims in the region.
2.6. The Portuguese Adventurers (1471-1642)
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to make their way to the Lower Volta
Basin, steadily making their way south down the West African coast in pursuit of a
41
short sea route to China and the Far East's famous riches. Other motivations include
the desire to surround the Arabs and the Muslim world, identify the source of gold that
comes through the Sahara to commercial cities on the Mediterranean and the Middle
East, and the desire to ally with the Christian state of Ethiopia. “For some time prior to
1444-5, the Portuguese prince known to history as Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
had been systematically planning his country’s exploration of the West African coast.
One of his main objectives was the acquisition of sufficient knowledge to enable
Portuguese ships to sail along the West African coast, around the Cape of Good Hope,
and up along the east coast of Africa to the Christian state of Ethiopia. This will enable
the Portuguese to avoid having to cross the Muslim states of the Middle East and North
Africa in pursuit of their trading interests.” (Clarke,1986:7) “For the history of West
Africa in general, and for that of the Gold Coast in particular, however, the desire for
Guinea gold, and the discovery of the metal at Mina by Joao de Santerem and Pero de
Escobar in 1471, was an event of a great historical moment.”(Daaku,
1964:18). Although the relative importance of each of the reasons is debatable, the
Portuguese discovery of active trade in gold at Elmina proved to be the most vital
reason they came into contact with the people of Gold Coast (Morden Ghana).In other
to create a royal Portuguese monopoly and counter foreign incursions on the Gold
Coast, Don Joo II (John II, 1481 - 1495) decided to build a permanent base on the Gold
Coast. This will help them combat foreign encroachment on the royal Portuguese
monopoly of Gold Coast. Therefore, Construction on fort São Jorge da Mina, near the
indigenous village of Elmina (Edena) began in January 1482. The Fortress built at
Elmina eventually started to dominate the coastal trade in the region, and later, images
of the castle were also featured regularly on maps of the coastal region due to the
central role it played in trade on the Gold Coast. Elmina Castle was not just the only
farthest Portuguese settlement at the time, but it also became the first real European
edifice in the tropics. Perhaps to give a legal stamp to the Crown’s monopoly, the Lord
of Guinea was added to the Portuguese royal titles, and Mina was raised to city
status”.(Daaku, 1964:18). Soon after the Portuguese had formed their settlement at
Elmina, the King sent to Pope Sextus IV and obtained a confirmation of the Bulls that
had been granted to Prince Henry. This Pope added an injunction strictly forbidding
any Christian nation to disturb the Portuguese in the possession of the territory that he
had bestowed upon them, and even decreed that if they should discover any fresh
countries within the limits he had assigned to the Portuguese, these too should belong
42
to them. At this time the Pope's right to dispose of kingdoms was universally
acknowledged, and his mandates were considered binding upon all European
nations.(Claridge,1915:54).But later, other European nations began to challenge
Portugal's claim on the Gold coast. The first of these European powers to emerge was
France. But France confined its activities at the upper Guinea which forced the
Portuguese into patrolling at the Gold Coast to protect Mina and also check intrusion
from France and other European powers. The French did not show much interest in
the Gold coast because they seem to be satisfied with the trading at Upper Guinea. As
a result, the French operations on the Gold Coast ultimately died out. After 1540,
several European nations challenged the Portuguese on the Gold Coast. France was
eventually replaced by unorganized early English merchants and finally the effectively
organized Dutch. But the Dutch posed the most imminent threat to the Portuguese at
the Gold coast resulting in Portuguese expulsion from their last permanent castle at
Axim in 1642.
2.7. The Dutch Conquerors (1593 – 1642)
The Dutch were comparatively late in their attempts to trade on the Gold Coast
as compared to either the French or the English. But they were, however, better
organized and prepared for the trade than any of their predecessors; The Portuguese
were finally removed from the Gold Coast in 1642 as a result of the Dutch’s persistence
on the Gold Coast. Dutch connection with the Guinea Coast goes back to the last
decades of the sixteenth century. “One Benard Erecksz is reputed to have been the
person who popularised Guinea (West African) trade in Holland. While a prisoner on
the Portuguese island of Sao Thome, he learnt of the lucrative trade in gold and ivory
which the Portuguese had obtained from the Gold coast. When he returned, home in
1693, he did not only pass on the news to his countrymen but fitted out expeditions to
Guinea. ”.(Daaku, 1964:23) The Dutch government provide incentives to the Dutch
merchants trading in the Gold coast by exempting ships that took part in the trade from
certain duties. This was to encourage the Dutch to trade on the Gold Coast. However,
as Dutch interest in the trade increased, so did the risks encountered by the Portuguese
at the Gold coast. The Twelve Years' Truce between Portugal-Spain and the Dutch
Republic (1609 to 1621) disrupted the Dutch’s trade on the Gold Coast because it
helped the Portuguese to have sufficient resources to protect their trade monopoly at
the Gold coast against the Dutch. The Dutch traders then petitioned the States-General
43
of the Dutch Republic to build a fort on the coast. As result, the Dutch West India
Company was established. The Portuguese had no sooner got rid of the English and
French than yet a third rival appeared on the Gold Coast. “In the 1594s Bernard Ericks
of Medenblick made the first Dutch voyage and succeeded in establishing very friendly
relations with the people, who found his goods were both better and cheaper than those
with which the Portuguese were in the habit of supplying” (Claridge,1915:82). By
1637, the Dutch West India Company was successful in capturing Elmina Castle from
the Portuguese. The capturing of Fort San Sebastian at Shama and Fort Santo Antonio
at Axim also followed in 1640 and 1642 respectively. In 1621, the Dutch West India
Company was finally granted the monopoly to trade in the West Indies, including the
Gold Coast. One cannot underestimate the economic importance of the Dutch trade
with the Gold Coast. The Dutch were particularly interested in the gold mined by the
Akans in the interior region of the Gold Coast but they also purchase pepper, ivory,
and salt. Because the Dutch had a superior supply of trade goods sought by the African
gold merchants, such as cloth, hardware, beads, metals, arms, and ammunition, they
were able to secure the majority of the gold exported to Europe. This extensive effort
by the Dutch to expel the Portuguese from the Gold coast was due to the desire to
control the gold trade in the region. By 1791, The Dutch West India Company was
disbanded. All of the company's holdings were passed to the States-General of the
Dutch Republic. With France capturing the Netherlands around 1814, On the authority
of the Dutch authority on the Gold Coast was questioned. This led to France and the
British occupation of the Dutch territories on the Gold Coast. With the events which
reflect the changing world economic situation, the Dutch hegemony was successfully
challenged by the interest of the British and French. “1689 marked the beginning of
the second phase of rivalry between the Dutch and other European powers on the Gold
coast. Events in Europe had simultaneously reflected the European activities and
relations on the Guinea coast.it was characterized by continuous Anglo-French
competition and a resulting decrease in the Dutch monopoly on the Gold coast. Most
of the conflict centred on the coastal kingdom of Komenda, which lay just to the west
of Elmina. ”.(Daaku, 1964:78) There was also a growing tension between the Africans
and Europeans which led to frequent quarrels and even wars. Most of the tension was
a result of the Dutch trying to establish control over the local people around the coast.
As result, Fetu and Elminan forces went to the castle at Elmina in 1682 to protest
against the Dutch. The other European forces also capitalised on the tension and fuelled
44
the discontent among the people of Komenda. This eventually led to the Dutch-
Komenda wars.The following are the forts of the Dutch in the Gold coast until the
colony was completely captured by the British in 1872; Fort Nassau (Moree), Fort
Batenstein (Butri),Fort Elmina(Elmina),Fort Coenraadsburg,(Elmina) FortSan
Sebastian(Shama), Fort Santo Antonio(Axim) ,Fort Crèvecoeur(Accra),Fort
Orange(Sekendi), Fort Witsen (Takoradi), Fort Amsterdam(Cormantin), Fort Goede
(SenyaBeraku),FortDorothea(Akwidaa),FortVredenburgh,(Komenda),FortLijdzaamh
eid(Apam), Fort Hollandia(Princess Town).
2.8. Danish Traders (1700-1850)
Apart from the colonies of Denmark in the Caribbean and India, the Danish also
established a colony on the Gold Coast. The Denish was engaged on the Gold Coast
since 1700 and lasted till the 1850s. At first, Danish’s forts and lodges were under the
control of the Danish West India and Guinea Company until the company was
dissolved in 1754. Therefore, The Danish territories became under the jurisdiction of
a new private company known as the Danish Guinea Company (the Bargum Trading
Company). After which the Danish territories on the Gold coast became a Crown
Colony from 1754 until 1776 and finally sold to the British in 1850. After 1850, the
United Kingdom continuously purchased all the five Danish Gold Coast territorial
settlements and forts, which were incorporated into the British Gold Coast. From the
mid-seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, the Danes were massively
involved in the slave trade. The following are the forts of Denmark in the Gold coast
until they were all sold to Britain by1850:Fort Christiansburg (Accra), Fort Fredenberg
(Old Ningo), Fort Prinsensten(Keta) Fort Kongensten(Ada), Fort Augustaborg(Teshi)
From the early 1700s, the trade evolved to be much centred on slaves. Danish ships
transported weapons and spirits from Denmark to West Africa whiles slaves were also
transported to the West Indies and then sugar from the West Indies to Denmark. in
what was called the Triangle traffic.
45
Figure 3.1 Christiansburg Castle, Gold Coast (Ghana) (Ammitzbøll 2018)
2.9. The British Colonialists and Missionaries (1553- 1957)
Captain Thomas Windham and Antonio Anes Pinteado made the first English
voyages to the Gold Coast with two ships namely the Primrose and Lyon, and a
pinnace, the Moon which contains a total crew of 140 men Pinteado was a very famous
skilful navigator from the Port of Portugal (Oporto) but left Portugal to England. He
was previously entrusted by the King of Portugal to protect the Coasts of Brazil and
Guinea against (the West African coast) from the transgressions of the French. On
reaching the Gold Coast, they carefully avoided Elmina, but traded along the shore
both to east and west of it and succeeded in obtaining 150 pounds weight of gold.When
they reached the Gold Coast, they avoided the Portuguese Elmina but traded along the
other parts coast, they were able to acquire 150 pounds of gold. Even though they
encountered lots of difficulties during their first route, the large quantity of gold
obtained in exchange for only a few portions of their cargo immediately encouraged
them to return to the Gold coast. Captain John Lok, who sailed from the Thames in
October 1554 with three ships, the John Evangelist and Trinity, each of 140 tons, and
the Bartholomew, each of 90 tons of gold, were some of the next English voyages to
arrive in the Gold coast. They all passed through Fort St. Anthony at Axim to avoid
the Portuguese. Their experiences on their previous expedition, on the other hand, had
convinced them that if they could just gain the natives' trust, they would have little
reason to fear the Portuguese on the Gold coast. In 1580 under Philip II, Portugal
became a province of Spain, and the African possessions of Portugal were neglected
in preference of those in America. The Portuguese had barely gotten rid of the English
and French then yet a third rival, the Dutch in 1590 led by Bernard Ericks of
Medenblick also arrived on the Gold Coast. “From 1660 onwards, there were constant
46
squabbles between the English and the Dutch, which eventually led to actual war. In
August 1661 the Dutch captured an English ship, the Merchant's Delight, and took her
to Elmina, where her crew were imprisoned in the Castle by Governor Jasper van
Houssen; while in the November of the following year, further complaints were made
against the Dutch on account of aggressions at Komenda and Cape Coast, at neither of
which, according to the English statements, had they any factory at that
time.”(Claridge,1915:108). English efforts on the Gold coast were unorganized until
James I formed the Company of Adventurers of London in 1618. In 1662, the British
formed a new Company under a Charter granted by Charles II to handle British trading
on the Gold coast.This Company was called the Company of Royal Adventurers of
England Trading to Africa, and their Charter gave them the sole trading rights from
the Straits of Gibraltar to the Cape of Good Hope. “It included many influential
persons, amongst whom was the King's brother James Duke of York, undertook to
supply 3,000 slaves yearly to the West Indies, and was to maintain posts at Cape Coast,
Anashan, Komenda, Egya and Accra besides a factory at Winneba and their fort at
Kormantin. The headquarters too were to be removed from Kormantin to Cape Coast,
where the Chief Agent was to be assisted by two other merchants, a warehouse-keeper,
a gold taker, two accountants and three assistant factors. The Castle was to be
garrisoned by fifty English soldiers and thirty slaves under the command of a captain
and four sergeants. The garrison at Anashan was to consist of ten English soldiers and
eight slaves, while two of each were allotted to each of the other lodges. The Slave
Trade thus received the formal sanction of the Government and the direct patronage of
the Royal Family. ”(Claridge,1915:82). Finally, with the Treaty of Breda in 1667,
peace was between English and Dutch on the Gold coast. It was agreed that each side
should be returned to the region it had before the war. The Dutch therefore kept
Kormantin, while the English kept Cape Coast. By 1752, The Crown formed the Royal
Business Company to lead its trading in Africa. In the early nineteenth century, The
Royal Business Company was replaced by The African Company of Merchants. The
British government, therefore, withdrew their charter in 1821; seizing privately owned
land along the Gold coast. After taking over all the remaining assets of other European
countries on the Gold Coast, the British government, therefore, declared the region as
the British crown colony of Gold Coast colony in 1821. In 1850, The British purchased
and incorporated the Danish Gold Coast and the Dutch Gold Coast in 1872. Through
invasion and conquering of the native kingdoms, most especially the Ashanti and Fante
47
confederacies,Britain was able to extend its colony to control many territories on the
Gold Coast. Moreover, Wars between the Asante and the Fante also aided the
expansion of British control on the Gold Coast. The Fantes states were forced to sign
the Bond of 1844 with the British due to Asante operations on the Gold Coast. The
purpose of the bond is to provide the British with some judicial authority to try murder
and robbery cases only in the colony. Also under the Bond, The British cannot gain
new judicial powers without the approval of the chiefs and people of the British
protectorate. But In practice the, British were successful in capturing more judicial
powers to the extent that in the 1850s they considered establishing British courts in
place of traditional African courts.As a result of the ever-expanding British judicial
powers on the coast and also to ensure British control over coastal peoples, the British
after the defeat of Asante in 1874, declared the former coastal protectorate a crown
colony of the British on 24 July 1874. The Gold Coast Colony comprised the coastal
areas and extended inland as far as the ill-defined borders of Asante territories. The
Asante and the British, who were sometimes allied with the Fante, fought four different
wars known as the Anglo-Ashanti Wars which ended with victory for the British and
the fall of the Asante kingdom. The British influence was eventually extended to
include Asante. Following the defeat of Asante in 1896, the British therefore declared
a protectorate over the Asante kingdom. The Asantehene (Asanti king) and his council
were exiled. British appointed a resident commissioner to the Asante kingdom and
granted him both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Asante territories. After the
defeat of the Asante kingdom, the British developed much interest in the vast land
lying north of Asante known as the Northern Territories to prevent the French and
Germans who were rapidly advancing in the surrounding regions. But in 1898 and
1899, the boundaries between the Northern Territories of Gold coast and its
surrounding French and German colonies were demarcated by the European colonial
powers among themselves. Therefore, the Northern Territories also became a British
protectorate in 1902. With the northern territory becoming under British control, the
three territories of the Gold Coast; the Colony (the coastal regions), Asante, and the
Northern Territories became a single political unit, or crown colony, known as the
Gold Coast. In May 1956, British Mandated Togoland (the western portion of the
former German colony) also voted in a plebiscite to become part of modern Ghana.
This formed the borders of modern Ghana. Therefore, the British having the entire
Gold coast under their control exploited and exported a variety of natural resources
48
such as metal ores, gold, diamonds, pepper, ivory, pepper, timber, grain and cocoa.
The Ghana Independence Act of 1957consided the territories British Crown Colony
of Gold Coast as the territorial borders of modern-day Ghana.
Moreover, Christianity and colonialism are frequently linked with each other
because, Christianity, in its different sects (namely Protestantism, Catholicism and
Orthodoxy), acted as the state religions during the historical European colonial and
imperial era. In the British Gold Coast, British Christian missionary societies were
also fundamental to British colonialism as they were in other parts of the world. Their
activities tend to offer the British colonialists a sense of justice and moral authority
over the British colonies such as the Gold coast.“The British missionary societies
served as the"religious arms" of British imperialism and colonialism. The Earl of
Carnarvon, who happens to be twice the British Secretary of State for the Colonies in
1874 submitted a set of proposals on the system of governing all the West African
Settlements through a single governor which stated that, the protectorate was retained
very much as it had existed before the Ashanti War. Influence rather than edict would
still be Britain's method of advancing 'Commerce, Christianity and Civilization. But
this was not all. Two additions were made to this modest programme later in 1874
which in the long run profoundly influenced the history of the Gold
Coast.”(McIntyre,1967).“Carnarvon announced his new policy for the Gold Coast in
the House of Lords on 12 May 1874. There could be no withdrawal. If Britain had no
written obligations on the Gold Coast, she had moral ones.”(McIntyre,1967).
Initially, the British missionaries in the Gold Coast presented themselves as actual
saints and perfect examples of piety during the colonial era. However, towards the end
of the colonial era, in the second half of the 20th century, the missionaries were
increasingly recognized by some of the indigenous people as ideological foot soldiers
of the British colonialists and agents of British imperialism on the Gold coast. In most
of the regions, some of the indigenous people were converted from their traditional
belief systems into Christianity. the British colonialist used Christianity as a
justification for enslaving the indigenous people, eradicating the indigenous religious
beliefs and later exploiting the mineral resources. The British missionary societies as
well as other Christian missionaries were in many parts of the colonizing forces in the
Gold coast as were the explorers, traders and soldiers. There is no doubt the British
missionaries were agents of British colonialism in the practical sense whether or not
49
they recognized themselves in that light. The missionaries were initially centered at the
castles and forts to offer the British colonialists a sense of justice and moral authority
over the British colonies such as the Gold coast. But from the second half of the
eighteenth century, there was a significant wave of evangelical zeal in Britain and other
parts of Europe. As result, many missionary societies whose members would go out to
Africa and the other lands to convert the native people into Christianity were formed.
This was followed after centuries of exploration of the Gold coast and other African
societies through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the early nineteenth
century, British missionary societies such as The Society for the propagation of the
gospel in foreign parts( SPG Anglican mission) and The Church Mission Society
(C.M.S. Anglican Mission), Basel Mission (Presbyterian mission), The English
Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society), Catholic Mission,( From
Britain), The Apostolic Church from England, The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation
Army Church) and The Worldwide evangelization crusade, etc. emerged in the Gold
Coast to embark on what Earl of Carnarvon, (the British Secretary of State for the
Colonies in 1874) refers to as the Christianisation and Moral obligation when he
announced his new policy for the Gold Coast in the House of Lords on 12 May 1874.
2.10. Conclusion
Before the advent of Islam and Christianity in the region, African Traditional
Religion (ATR) was the only religious tradition found in the various indigenous
Ghanaian societies. The study of these indigenous religious Beliefs and Practices
among the ethnic groups located in the region later to be called Ghana after 1957 like
the Akans, Dagomba, Gonja, Mamprusi, Ewe etc. can best be described as primitive
monotheism due to their belief in the Supreme Being, But polytheistic due to their
beliefs in human and other nature spirits. Therefore we can deduce a classification of
these traditional religious beliefs in pre-colonial lower Volta Basin into four
categories: beliefs in the Supreme God or creator divinized natural forces, divinized
ancestors, charms, amulets, Myths, the presence of deities, ancestor veneration, and
divination. Islam on the other hand was brought to the Lower Volta Basin (Gold
Coast) modern Ghana in the first place via the trade routes across the West Africa subregion.
But Islamization of the people of the Lower Volta basin was essentially carried
out by the indigenous Africans themselves, who shared the same or similar
worldview, spoke the same language, and lived in entirely the same religious and
50
cultural world. There is no doubt that, for Ghanaian Muslims, Ghanaian history and
Islam are in no way opposed. Therefore, In the view of Ghanaian Muslims, rejecting
Islam corresponds to rejecting their families, traditions and socio-cultural identity.
because their religious and cultural traditions are holistically intertwined. One must
conclude that Islam, in its traditional African form, is entirely a part of the African
cultural heritage and thus a social-religious transformational reality for some
indigenous Ghanaian societies.
Modern Ghana was a British Crown Colony called Gold Coast from 1821 until
its independence in 1957. The term Gold Coast which was initially used to refer to the
coastal regions of Ghana during the era of Portuguese, the Dutch, Danes and early
British was later used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under
the British administration during the British colonial era. These were the Gold Coast
(coastal regions), the Ashanti, the Northern Territories and the British Togoland trust
territory. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to make their way to the Lower
Volta Basin, steadily making their way south down the West African coast in pursuit
of a short sea route to China and the Far East's famous riches. Initial Dutch connections
to the Gold Coast trace to the 1590s when Bernard Ericksz initiated trade to Guinea
from the United Provinces. the Danish Guinea Company (the Bargum Trading
Company). Danish territories on the Gold coast became a Crown Colony from 1754
until 1776 and were finally sold to the British in 1850. The British continuously
purchased all the Danish Gold Coast territorial settlements and forts, which were
incorporated into the British Gold Moreover, the first English voyage to the Gold coast
was made by a Portuguese sailor called Captain Thomas Windham and Antonio Anes
Pinteado with two ships namely the Primrose and Lyon, and a pinnace. But many
English efforts on the Gold coast were unorganized until James I formed the Company
of Adventurers of London in 1618 to handle British trading on the Gold coast. This
Company was given the sole trading rights from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Cape of
Good Hope. By 1752, The Crown formed the Royal Business Company to lead its
trading in Africa. In the early nineteenth century, The Royal Business Company was
replaced by The African Company of Merchants. The British government, therefore,
withdrew their charter in 1821; seizing privately owned land along the Gold Coast.
After taking over all the remaining assets of other European countries on the Gold
Coast, the British government, therefore, declared the region as the British crown
51
colony of Gold Coast colony in 1821. Furthermore, through invasion and conquering
of the native kingdoms, most especially the Fante and Asanti, Britain was able to
extend its colony to control many territories on the Gold Coast. The Fantes states were
forced to sign the Bond of 1844 with the British due to Asante operations on the Gold
Coast. This bond provided the British with some judicial authority to try murder and
robbery cases only in the colony. British succeeded in capturing more judicial powers
and finally established British courts to replace the traditional African courts. In 1898
and 1899, the boundaries between the Northern Territories of Gold coast and its
surrounding French and German colonies were demarcated by the European colonial
powers. As a result, the Northern territories became under the British protectorate in
1902. In May 1956, British Mandated Togoland (the western portion of the former
German colony) voted in a plebiscite to become part of modern Ghana. This formed
the borders of the British Gold coast colony and modern Ghana after
independence."Hardly any explorer or conquistador sailed without chaplains in his
company, who raised the cross and preached Christianity as soon as they set foot
onshore. This statement by the English explorer, colonial promoter and functionary
Harry Hamilton Johnston, made in the late 19th century, pays tribute to the close
connection between the extension of Christian missions and the expansion of European
power. Connection that indeed can hardly be denied historically.’’(Grunder,1995).The
British missionaries were initially to offer the British colonialists a sense of moral
justice and authority for colonialism and imperialism. But with the significant wave of
evangelical spirit in Britain which led to the formation of many British missionary
societies, many missionary societies whose members would go out to Africa and the
other lands to convert the native people into Christianity were formed. In the early
nineteenth century, British missionary societies such as The Society for the
propagation of the gospel in foreign parts( SPG Anglican mission) and The Church
Mission Society (C.M.S. Anglican Mission), Basel Mission (Presbyterian mission),
The English Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society), Catholic
Mission,( From Britain),The Apostolic Church from England,The Salvation Army
Mission (Salvation Army Church) and The Worldwide evangelization crusade,
etc.emerged in the Gold Coast.
52
CHAPTER THREE
BRITISH MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN GOLD COAST
3.1.Introduction
British colonial missionaries are distinctive features in the colonial landscape of
the Gold Coast (Ghana). There is no iota of doubt the activities and investments of
these British Christian Missionaries Societies which were part of British colonial
settlement that expanded not only in the Gold Coast but throughout Africa mostly in
the middle of the 19th century have also massively contributed towards the Colonial
expansion as well as the religious change in Ghana. This modem alliance between
mission and colonialism is based on previous historical developments. “Already in
classical antiquity, the Christian mission attached itself to Jewish colonial enterprise
and Roman imperial expansion. One landmark in the development of this alliance is
Constantine's victory over his adversary Maxentius by the Milvian bridge in 312 A.D.,
not only because this event resulted in the successive political tolerance, preference,
and promotion of Christian faith, but also because it marked that point in the history of
Western Christian expansion where the interests of state and Church began to merge:
for, as much as evangelization promised to further the expansion of the empire, so did
imperial expansion promise to further the spreading of the Gospel. Thus, from then on,
missionary enterprise became the business of emperors, kings, and princes, who no
longer separated politically from religious interests”.(Grunder,1995:18).In this
context, it has been proposed that future European colonization and imperialism such
as that of the British was also founded on this same idea. “Perhaps, the popular “strands
of inquiry into the British Empire and the missionaries flows from the growing
appreciation that the British Empire was as much a cultural as an economic and
political construction” (Carey,2008). but Our contributions to the debate focus on the
perspective of British missionary enterprise in the British Gold Coast (Ghana)
contexts. The importance of British missionary history in Ghana is due to its
connection with themes such as the political, economic, social and religious history of
the country. The British missionary enterprise, in particular, has contributed
tremendously in determining the social, political, economic, and religious
developments in Ghana. That is; British Missionary societies has been a part of
Ghana’s history since the inception and evangelization of British and other western
Christian missionaries on the Gold Coast.
53
Between the years 1500 and 1600, many of the European nations such as
England, Germany, France and Dutch left Catholicism left the Catholic Church and
became Protestants. Therefore, they did not obey the Pope’s command not to trade in
the West African Guinea coast under the sole monopoly of the Portuguese. They
started to visit the trading post established by the Portuguese in the region like the
Elmina on Gold Coast and the others which the Portuguese had occupied for many
years. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, adventurers first the Dutch,
English and later the Danish, and Swedish were also granted licenses by their
respective governments to trade overseas. Moreover, there was a significant surge of
evangelical spirit in Britain and other parts of Europe in the second half of the
eighteenth century. After centuries of exploration of African societies through the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade, these missionary societies were to go to Africa and other
regions to propagate Christianity. Historically, the most consistent difference between
French and British colonial territories concerning Catholic and Protestant missions in
various parts of the world is that Missionary societies entering British colonial
territories like the Gold coast could start their missionary activities immediately upon
arrival with few restrictions as compared to French colonies. Catholic colonizers on
the other often directly blocked Protestant missionaries. for example, well into the 20th
century, the French banned Protestant missionaries from entering French Indo-China,
French Equatorial Africa, French territories in the Americas, and so on.” (Pruett 1938;
Thiessen 1961; Jennings 2000: 201; Dennis, Beach and Fahs,1911; Woodberry
2004:32). “whereas on missionary maps of West Africa, there are many Protestants
mission stations in the British colonies of Ghana/Gold Coast, Nigeria, and Sierra Leon,
but almost none in the Portuguese and French colonies on the same coastline”
(Woodberry, 2004:35).Moreover, in the Nineteenth Century, there was a systematic
effort by British missionaries, namely: Society for the propagation of the gospel in
foreign parts( SPG Anglican mission) and The Church Mission Society (C.M.S.
Anglican Mission), Basel Mission (Presbyterian mission), The English Wesleyan
Mission (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society), Catholic Mission,( From Britain),
The Apostolic Church from England, The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation Army
Church) and The Worldwide evangelization crusade, etc. in Gold Coast.
In addition, “John Darwin's concept of the imperial 'bridgehead' stresses the
crucial role of sub-imperial agents in the British Empire's expansion. These agents
54
could be colonial officials, settlers, the military, traders and, crucially, missionaries,
who were often at the frontiers of British influence abroad. But after the early
establishment of missionary organizations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century, missionary work in the empire was largely carried out by so-called ‘native
missionaries’, or what Peggy Brock terms ‘new Christian evangelists’’ (Everill,2012).
These native African missionaries or new Christian evangelists, many of whom arrived
from British colonies in America, also contributed to the British missionary's growth
and impact on the Gold Coast and modern Ghanaian society. Some of the native
African missionaries or new Christian evangelists in Gold coast (Ghana) are the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion mission, the General missionary convention
(Triennial convention) The Christian Methodist Episcopal mission etc. all from the
United States of America. Therefore, activities and initiatives of both British
missionary societies from Europe as well as that of the native African missionaries or
new Christian evangelists on the Gold coast led to massive conversions of native
Ghanaians, primarily from African traditional religions to various forms of western
Christianity. “The process of the acculturation which had been going on for a long time
in and around the European trading settlements and forts scattered along the West
African coast got a new impetus when Christian missionaries began to arrive in
Africa”. (Pawl,2002) However, in this section, we shall explore some of the major
factors in Britain that created the patterns and mentality of British missionary
enterprise on the Gold coast. British colonial and Christian thought on mission and
colonialism in the long nineteenth century reveals a more complex and nuanced
picture. The British government allowed and even encouraged the activities of not just
the Anglican missionary societies but also other British and foreign Protestants
missionary societies on the Gold coast. This may be attributed in the eighteenth century
partly to the attitude of the Anglican Church toward other Protestants. “At the end of
the seventeenth century and through the beginning of the eighteenth the number of
contacts among Protestant churches in Europe increased. Protestants, reacting to some
success of the Catholic Church, sought closer co-operation among themselves. Many
Anglicans considered their Church a via media both in form and in doctrine which had
thrown off the power of the Pope without rejecting the ancient episcopal organization
and in the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer had also retained the
essentials of the liturgy.” (Diffendal,1974:9) “The English government accepted large
numbers of French Huguenots, Palatine Lutherans and Calvinists, as wel1 as members
55
of various German sects, who were a11owed to establish their congregations in
England when they had available ministers. 13 Lutherans and Calvinists were
permitted to take communion in the Anglican Church when they could not attend one
of their own.” (Diffendal,1974:5) The second characteristic of eighteenth-century
Anglicanism that tended to either encouraged Anglican missionary contacts with other
foreign Protestants missionaries is described by the term Latitudinarianism. “The term
originated at the end of the seventeenth century to describe proposals for a new
formulation of the church to encompass a large proportion of the English
Nonconformists”. (Diffendal,1974:10) The Latitudinarians were more concerned with
living a virtuous life than with fine issues of Christian doctrine. Even though they
adored the form of Anglicanism (the Church of England) they were also willing to
accept other varieties of Christian worships. It was through this atmosphere British
missionary societies such as the SPG and the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge emerged and flourished in England. These two attitudes of the Anglican
Church, that is, the co-operation among the European protestant churches in reacting
to the success of the Catholic Church as well as their belief in Latitudinarianism which
proposed for a church that encompasses a large proportion of the English
Nonconformists (other European protestant missionaries) in worship but not in but the
doctrine was transplanted into the British colony of Gold Coast in the nineteenth
century. For example, even though the Basel Evangelical missionary was a protestant
missionary society with a Swiss and German origin, “the first Basel missionaries set
out from London (Britain) and land at Christiansburg (Accra, Ghana) on 18th
December 1828.”(Foli, 2006:19). Also, the North German Missionary Society was
received by the Wesleyan missionary society (a British missionary society) when they
first arrived at Cape Coast on the 5th of May 1847. They were well received by the
Wesleyan missionary at Cape coast, Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman.”(Foli,
2006:24). “The Church Mission Society of the Anglican Church in London financially
supported the venture by initially sponsoring between four and nine Basel graduates
per year. The key contact in London was Carl Friedrich Adolf Steinkopf at the German
Lutheran Savoy Church in London.”(Ganter, 2018). Even the Roman Catholic
missionaries who were not protestant and does not conform to Anglicanism both in
doctrine and worship re-entered the Gold Coast after the expulsion of the Portuguese
“through the effort of Sir James Marshal, one of the English men on the coast who was
56
a Roman Catholic original baptised and trained as an Anglican priest.”(Foli,
2006:28). Marshal published some letters letter in certain English newspapers
pleading that a Catholic missionary should be sent to the Gold Coast. He also urges
Roman Catholic missionaries in Nigeria to write to their missionary authorities and
demand that missionaries be sent to the Gold Coast. This eventually resulted in the
returning of catholic missionaries to the Gold Coast in 1880.
From the above, we can demonstrate that British colonial expansion which
reached its apogee during the long nineteenth century provided the contest and
sometimes the accommodation for all Anglican doctrinal conformists’ protestant
missionary societies on the Gold Coast. The co-operation among these European and
native protestant missionaries as well as the Church of England's belief in
Latitudinarianism which proposed for a church that encompasses a large proportion
of the English Nonconformists (other European protestant missionaries) in worship but
not in doctrine in Christian missionary was seen in the case of British missionary
enterprise on the Gold Coast. In the context of British missionary enterprise and
Colonialism in Gold Coast, this chapter shall deal with the history of British missionary
enterprise in Gold Coast, discusses the relationship between the British missionary
enterprise and British colonialism and finally, the inquiry into the growing appreciation
that the British Empire was not just a cultural, economic, or political but also a religious
construction in the Gold Coast.
3.2.Critical Studies of British Anglican Missionary Societies in Gold Coast
3.2.1.The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Foreign Parts (SPG)
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was an Anglican
missionary society formed in 1701 by Thomas Bray in England. The society emerged
in an era when similar missionary societies were very prominent throughout Europe.
These missionary societies are formed with the main purpose of advancing European
foreign religious objectives. “Thomas Bray’s intention was to use this new society to
aid the Bishop of London in carrying out his re1igious duties in British colonies. The
President of the society was the Archbishop of Canterbury. From the beginning, the
SPG was interested not only in English colonists but also in Indians, Negroes, and non-
English white settlers in British territory”. (Diffendal, 1974:5) In 1751, “the society
sent out its first missionary Thomas Thompson to the Gold Coast, West Africa. After
a couple of years in 1754, he sent three local Fante boys to England to be educated
57
there as missionaries. Only one of the three African students survived, Philip Quaque,
who was ordained a deacon in London in 1765. The next year Quaque returned to Cape
Coast, accompanied by his English wife, to proselytize and educate his people. He
served as a chaplain in the Cape Coast Castle, opened a school there to instruct mulatto
offspring of African mothers and European fathers in religious knowledge, reading,
writing and arithmetic. After the death of his first wife in 1767, Philip Quaque married
an African wife and continued in his work for fifty years, witnessed the end of slaving
within the castle and died in 1816.” (Berman,1975:2) Thomas Thompson, the first
Anglican and British missionary to the Gold coast has a very negative mentality toward
the natives’ traditions and religions. This made him achieve very little during his
missionary activities on the Gold coast. But he left a legacy. When Thomas Thompson
realised that he was not making any progress, he then looked for African agents for his
mission on the Gold coast. Thompson established School for indigenous youngsters.
The school was to serve as means to convert the children into Christianity. “There was
two-part of them. There was the idea that literacy was essential not only for the reading
of the scriptures of the Christian religion but also for conversion to Christianity. On the
other hand, the school also served as the contact point with the parents of the pupils,
with whom they had hardly any other contact. Thompson encouraged the education of
Africans as part of the mission strategy.” (Pobee,2009:110) Thomas Thompson’s
achievement as a British missionary in the Gold Coast was the attempt to establish
formal education and the three African boys Thompson sent to England to be trained
as Native or indigenous Anglican missionaries. Furthermore, “Philip Quague, one of
the three African students who were sent to England to be trained as native
missionaries and the only one who survived among the three, was ordained a deacon
in London in 1765. He returned to Cape Coast, accompanied by his English wife, to
embark on his mission. Philip Quague served as a chaplain in the Cape Coast Castle
opened a school there to instruct mulatto (offspring of African mothers and European
fathers) in religious knowledge, reading, writing and arithmetic. One of the
achievements of Philip Quague’s missionary activities in the Gold coast was the school
established by his predecessor Thomas Thompson in the castle and continued by Philip
Quague. He acted as a Schoolmaster and Catechist. That school has been perpetuated
in one form or the other, through Government Boys school, Cape coast to the present
Philip Quaques school, Cape coast.” (Pobee,2009:116) Anglican presence in the Gold
coast, therefore, should occasion no surprise as that Christian (Anglican Church of
58
England) church was the official religion of Britain. It is generally recognised that there
was some relationship between Christian missions and the aggressive colonial policies
of the nations from which missionaries originated. “Whatever may have been the
beneficial intention of the missionaries, they were in fact tools of governments and
mission can be classed as one the instrument of western infiltration and control of Gold
coast and other countries of the Southern Hemisphere. .”(Pobee,2009:103)
Moreover, SPG did not only embark on missionary activities but also indulged
in the slave trade, branding its slaves on the chest with the word SOCIETY, to indicate
their owners. “At the General Synod of the Church of England on 8th February 2006,
the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams apologized for the Anglican Church
benefiting from the slave trade.” (Pobee,2009:103) Rev. Tom Butler of Southwark,
South London, was even blunt the profit from the slave trade was part of the bedrock
of our country’s industrial development. No one who was involved in running the
business, financing it or benefiting it or benefiting from its products can say they had
clean hands. We know that bishops in the House of Lords with biblical authority voted
against the abolition. The church own sugar plantations.” (Pobee,2009:114)Philip
Quaques was designated by the British as s a missionary, Schoolmaster and Catechist
on the Gold coast. Convey the idea that, the school was the handmaid of the British
missionary enterprise to convert the indigenous people of the Gold coast. Quaque also
established the branches of his school at Anomabo, Tantumquerre, Wineba, Accra,
Komenda, Sekondi and Dixocove all of which were located on the trading post. “As
to the matter of the purpose of education, it’s often prepared people to become teachers,
clerks, interpreters on land or board ships, and even soldiers, thus serving foreign
interests. .”(Pobee,2009:116) “The products Quagues schools became the elite class
with Christian background in Gold coast. Two of the Quaques: John Martin and Joseph
Smith wrote to the Wesleyan Missionary society through Captain Potter, a sea captain
of the Congo, a vessel which plied between Bristol (England) and the West Africa to
invite them to work in the Gold coast. They responded and thus came the first
Methodist mission to the Gold coast. and soon the brought in a Negro to spread the
mission.”(Pobee,2009:117) .When Queque died after fifty years of mission and
ministry in cape coast, though the SPG continued to supply chaplains to the castles, is
W, Philip (1817) Collins (1818-1819), R . Harold (1823-1822), A. Henry (1824-1826),
it made no effort to organise mission work among the native people in a systematic
59
manner.”(Pobee,2009:121) Quaque’s efforts appear to have petered out. Through his
evangelistic efforts in Accra, a period of four months between1712-1773 did not
appear to have yielded much fruit, somewhere later in 1879 some African decided to
establish a branch of the Anglican Church in Accra. They include Edmund
Bannerman, Alex Bruce, E.B. Addy, C.T. Nylander, J.O. Bruce, Thomas F. Bruce, P.
C.Reindorf, Chief John Barnor Williams Quaye, F.P. Fearon, J.E.M. Baskin, C.
Cuthbert Brown, J. Fleischer, J.L. Crabbe- some thirty persons altogether. They were
called Accra Episcopal Church of England society. Inaugurated 7th July 1880; divine
service was held in a courthouse at James Town, though earlier at Old government
Boys school.Nevertheless, in many ways, this period sees the beginnings of modern
Ghanaian Anglicanism. During these years the Gold Coast was made an independent
diocese under Canterbury (1909), and the tone of modern Ghanaian Anglican piety
was set. More importantly, if one considers the Anglican Church in Ghana as an
organisation of Ghanaian congregations, a church that in 1900 was confined to two or
three coastal towns had spread by 1925 close to its present geographical extent and its
numbers of practising adherents had grown at least tenfold in the process.”( Jenkins,
1974:23). “On 9th August 1893, the governor Sir William Brandforth Griffith laid the
foundation for Holy Trinity Church which is today called the Cathedral Church of the
Holy trinity. The Governor, Sir William Brandforth took the initiative to recommend
to London to include in the development budget the sum of five thousand pounds
sterling to construct the Anglican Church, which was approved. This became the first
Anglican Church in the Gold coast after years of missionary work.” (Pobee,2009:134)
Figure 1.2 Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral Accra .jpg Created: 26 August 2006
“When the Anglican mission was resumed at the beginning of the twentieth
century when captain George Maclean arrived in cape coast in 1830, he did not only
laid the foundation of the future British administration of the Gold Coast but also
60
encouraged Christian missions, i.e. SPG, Basel Mission(Presbyterian)and Wesleyan
Methodist mission to do their mission”. (Pobee,2009:138) The SPG missionary in the
Gold coast just lingered until the British started to cement control over the Gold coast
and established the British colony in the region. The Anglican missionaries societies
in the Gold coast (The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG)
and The Church Mission Society (CMS)) demonstrated the accommodative nature of
all Anglican doctrinal conformists’ protestant and Church of England's belief in
Latitudinarianism which proposed for a church which encompasses a large proportion
of the English Nonconformists (other European protestant missionaries) in worship but
not in doctrine in Christian missionary were seen in the case of British missionary
enterprise in Gold coast.“Even though Anglican Missionary activities in Gold coast
(Ghana) began in 1752, when Bishop Hamlyn was transferred by the Church of
England from Nigeria to Cape Coast in 1904, he opened congregations in Cape Coast,
Accra, Tarkwa and Sekondi. Membership was made up of mainly Europeans in
government service, and the medium of communication for the service was English.
However, in 1907, Bishop Hamlyn established a congregation for Yorubas in Sekondi
and another congregation for Fantes at Essikado. At the same time, Rev. Ernest Bruce
who had left the Methodist Church and joined the Anglican Church helped in
establishing the St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Accra for Ga speakers.”(Asare. 2020).
Later the Church for the Province of West Africa was established in 1951 by five West
African Anglican dioceses (Accra, Lagos, Niger, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea)
with the approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury. By 1977 the Diocese of Liberia
also joined the Anglican Church for the Province of West Africa. By February 1979,
four new Anglican dioceses were formed in Koforidua, Cape Coast, Sekondi and
Sunyani/Tamale. In November 2014, the Anglican Diocese of Asante Mampong,
previously under Kumasi was also inaugurated making a total of 11 Anglican Diocese
in Ghana. The list of Contemporary Anglican Diocese in Ghana is: Anglican Diocese
of Accra - Daniel Torto, Anglican Diocese of Asante Mampong - Cyril Kobina Ben-
Smith Anglican Diocese of Cape Coast – Victor Atta-Baffoe, Anglican Diocese of Ho
– Matthias Mededues-Badohu, Anglican Diocese of Koforidua – Felix Odei Annanc,
Anglican Diocese of Kumasi – Daniel Sarfo, Anglican Diocese of Sekondi – John
Otoo, Anglican Diocese of Sunyani – Festus Yeboah Asuamah, Anglican Diocese of
Tamale – Jacob Kofi Ayeebo, Anglican Diocese of Wiawso – Abraham Kobina Ackah
and Anglican Diocese of Dunkwa-on-Offin – Edmund Dawson Ahmoah
61
Figure 3.3 The Anglican Church in Ghana (Jenkins,1974:.27)
3.2.2. The Christian Missionary Society (CMS)
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary
Society is also a British mission society founded in 1799. a sister British Anglican
missionary society like the society for the propagation of the Gospel. “Church
Missionary Society (CMS), was founded in London in 1799 as the Society for
Missions in Africa and the East, by Evangelical clergy of the Church of England (those
who stressed biblical faith, personal conversion, and piety). In 1812 it was renamed
the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East.”(Britannica, 2013) “When
SPG work in the Gold coast was in the doldrums, the sister missionary society, CMS,
was active in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. SPG invited an old coaster, The Venerable
N.T Hamlyn, Archdeacon of Legos to be Assistant Bishop of Western Equatorial
Guinea with the charge of the Gold Coast and its hinterland. The Episcopal signature
of N.T Hamlyn was Nathaniel; Accra suggesting Accra was his official seat. Of course,
the British had moved their capital from cape coast to Accra in 1890. So, Accra was
the natural see” (Pobee,2009) By the first decades of the 20th century, during the
missionary activities of the Church Missionary Society (a missionary wing of the
62
Church of England), Bishop Hamlyn was transferred from Nigeria to Ghana in 1904.
“Hamlyn founded the Adisedal College; one of the orders Anglican boys’ schools in
Africa and the second-oldest secondary school in Ghana after Mfantsipim School
established in 1876 by the Wesleyan missionary Society from London. Hamlyn's
ambition was to establish a grammar school to educate the sons of Anglicans in the
colony, and also create an educational institution that will serve as a training ground
for the clergy.”(Mobley,1970) Throughout the British colonial era in the Gold coast to
the sovereign independent nation of Ghana on 6 March 1957, The Anglican Diocese
of Accra covered the whole geographic area of Gold Coast (Ghana). The succession
of Diocesan bishops for the Anglican Diocese of Accra has been Nathaniel Temple
Hamlyn (1909–1910), Mowbray Stephen O'Rorke (1913–1923), John Orfeur
Aglionby (1924–1951), John Charles Sydney Daly (1951–1955), Reginald Richard
Roseveare (1956–1967). The growth of the Anglican church in the Gold Coast
demanded the establishment of a regional Anglican diocese. Throughout the colonial
era, the Anglican Diocese of the Gold Coast was led by the British. Later the Anglican
diocese of Ghana which was centred in Accra began to have its indigenous church
leaders. they are; Ishmael Samuel Mills LeMaire (1968–1982), Francis William
Banahene Thompson (1983–1996), Justice Ofei Akrofi (1996–2012) and Daniel
Sylvanus Mensah Torto, the current bishop, who was consecrated on 24 June 2012 and
inaugurated on 11 November 2012.
In conclusion, even though Anglicanism was born in the 16the century in Britain
it was until the 18th century that Anglicanism appeared on the Gold Coast. Anglican
Missionary activities in Gold Coast (Ghana) began in 1752 through the effort of the
SPG missionary called Thomas Thompson but took a different dimension in terms of
church development when Bishop Hamlyn (of the Church Mission Society) was
transferred by the Church of England from Nigeria to Cape Coast in 1904. Both the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) and The Church
Mission Society (CMS) demonstrated two main characteristics in their missionary
endeavours on the Gold Coast. Firstly, The Church of England’s accommodative
nature of all Anglican doctrinal conformists’ protestant missionaries and secondly, the
Church of England's belief in Latitudinarianism which proposed for a church that
encompasses a large proportion of the English Nonconformists (other European
protestant missionaries) in worship but not in doctrine. The British allowed and even
63
encouraged the activities of not just the Anglican missionary societies but also other
British, European Protestants missionaries both in England and in British colonies like
on the Gold Coast. Moreover, from the onset of British missionary activities on the
Gold Coast, The British missionary societies were very instrumental in using education
as a tool for Christianising the native people. The schools were used as a centre for
training catechists, and later to train teachers as well as ministers. In 1754, Thomas
Thompson sent three local Fante boys to England to be educated as Anglican
missionaries. When he also realised that he was not making any progress, he then starts
to look for African agents for his mission on the Gold Coast. Thompson started a
school to educate African children. This development was rooted in the philosophy
that the school was doing to be a tool for Christianizing the people. Thomas
Thompson’s achievement as a British missionary on the Gold Coast was the three
African boys, he sent to England to be trained as Native missionaries and the attempt
to establish formal education to train the student to become agents of Anglicanism on
the Gold coast. Philip Quaque (A native Anglican missionary) also established the
branches of the Anglican school at Anomabo, Tantumquerre, Wineba, Accra,
komenda, Sekondi and Dixocove. The product of these schools became teachers,
clerks, interpreters on land or aboard ships, and even soldiers, thus, becoming an
African elite class with Christian background serving British interest. These Anglican
missionary-initiated schools are still very influential in contemporary independent
Ghanaian society Academy of Christ the King, Holy Trinity Cathedral SHS, St
Monica’s SHS, Kumasi Anglican SHS, Adisadel College are a few examples of only
Anglican Senior High schools in Ghana.
Furthermore, the spread of Anglicanism during the British colonial era over large
areas in the British West African colonies necessitated a regional Anglican episcopate
on the Gold coast. The Church for the Province of West Africa was established in 1951
by five West African Anglican dioceses (Accra, Lagos, Niger, Gambia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea) with the approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury. By 1977 the Diocese
of Liberia also joined the Anglican Church for the Province of West Africa. By
February 1979, four new Anglican dioceses were formed in Koforidua, Cape Coast,
Sekondi and Sunyani/Tamale. In November 2014, the Anglican Diocese of Asante
Mampong, previously under Kumasi was also inaugurated making a total of 11
Anglican Diocese in Ghana.
64
3.3. Critical Studies British- Basel Mission (Presbyterian Church) in
Gold Coast
The Basel Mission was founded on Wurttemberg Pietism's socio-religious
ideals. Pietism began as a reform movement in the German Lutheran Church of
Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries. Their objective was to renew the
devotional ideal in the Protestant religion. Wurttemberg Pietism began as a missionary
movement in rural and pre-industrial society in the nineteenth century. They were large
settlements of Pietistic farmers and craftsmen who came together to form Christian
model villages. The Basel mission had both Calvinists from Basel and Lutherans from
Württemberg (Germany) content in its history. The society was founded to be
Protestant but non-denominational. “The members of this organization were people
from different backgrounds in Switzerland and South Germany who identified with
the movement known as Wiirttemberg Pietism. From the 1820s their proselytizing
activities took them to Russia, Persia, India, China, and Africa”. (Miller, 1993:31).The
Basel Mission was founded in 1815 in the Swiss city of Basel and sent its first
missionaries to Ghana in 1828. The Basel Mission had a special connection with
Pietists in Wurttemberg. Before the First World War, almost all missionaries of the
Basel mission were usually recruited from Wurttemberg. It is worth noting that before
the first Basel missionaries arrived on the Gold coast, there are already missionary
societies such as the Monrovian missionary society, and the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, already operating in the region.”The First four Basel men
to be selected were three Germans, Karl F.Salbah, Gottlieb Holzwarth, Johannes
Henke and a Swiss, Johannes Gottlob Schmidt. Having had the carefully thought out
priorities, missionaries set out from London and Landed at Christiansburg on 18th
December 1828 and settled near the Castle, turning their attention firstly to the mulattos
and to the people of the nearby village of Osu where they open a school”.
(Foli,2006:19) The Basel Mission sent another team of three missionaries: Andreas
Riis, 28years, Peter Petersen Jaeger, 24 years, and a doctor, Christian Friedrich Heinze,
28years. Unfortunately, Dr Heinze and P.P. Jaeger failed to survive after three months,
leaving Andreas Riis alone. Riis later moved to Akropong to be away from the
problems of the coast; malaria fever, negative examples of the Europeans along the
coast, and to preach the gospel to a people who were not yet greatly affected by the
contact with the Europeans. He was joined in November 1837 at Akropong by two
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more missionaries, Johannes Murdter and Andreas Stanger who came together with
Anna Wolters, the bride of Riis.Stanger died in December 1837 while Murdter
survived until November 1838. The time in Akropong was not altogether very
successful causing Andreas and Anna Riis to leave Akropong in 1840 for Europe.“The
Moravian Church in the West Indies was willing to provide missionaries and a new
team made up of Andreas and Anna Riis, Johann Georg Widmann and George
Thompson went to Jamaica to find suitable Christians for the Mission. The team
arrived at Christiansborg on the 16th of April 1843. Onboard the Irish ship, there was
Joseph Anderson, with 25 West Indians. This marked the rebirth of the Basel Mission’s
enterprise in the Gold Coast.”(Yamanai, 2021)With the arrival of the Moravian
missionaries in 1843, Basel missionary activities became more productive in the
region. “The Basel Mission Church established a seminary in1848, presently known
as the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, to train church members to assist
in missionary work. By the mid-20th century, the church had expanded and founded
churches among the Asante people who lived in the middle belt of Ghana as well as
the northern territories by the 1940s. The Basel missionary (now represented by the
Moravian missionaries on the Gold coast) left the Gold Coast during the First World
War in 1917. The work of the Basel missionary society was continued by missionaries
from the Church of Scotland, the mother church of the worldwide orthodox or
mainstream Presbyterian (Separatists from the Church of England) denomination.”
(Wikipedia contributors,2022) The word Presbyterian, when capitalized, is often
applied uniquely to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to
English dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War. (Wikipedia
contributor,2022b) English Dissenters or Separatists were Protestant groups that
separated themselves away from the Church of England during the 17th and 18th
centuries. “They rejected British government interference in religious affairs and as
result established their churches, educational institutions. After the breach with Rome,
it was uncertain for more than a century whether the church in Scotland would be
episcopal or Presbyterian in government. Charles I, who ruled Scotland and England,
preferred the episcopal form, while the Scottish people insisted on the Presbyterian
form. The struggle was long and complicated, but, when William and Mary became
the English monarchs in 1689, Presbyterianism was permanently established in
Scotland by the constitutional act. (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia,2020) The
Church Mission Society of the Anglican Church in London financially supported the
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venture by initially sponsoring between four and nine Basel graduates per year. The
key contact in London was Carl Friedrich Adolf Steinkopf at the German Lutheran
Savoy Church in London (Ganter, 2018)
The Presbyterians were asked by British colonialists asked to take over the
Mission's (Basel missionary) activities on the Gold Coast. In 1926, after a nine-year
absence occasioned by the war in Europe, the Baslers themselves were allowed to
return and resume their work. The current presence of Basel Mission agents in Ghana,
working in "partnership" with indigenous religious groups, is witness to how securely
anchored the Mission has become since that return. It has been over a century-and-ahalf
since the first Basler arrived on the Gold Coast, more than 70 years since the
British suspended the Mission's activities during World War I, and 35 years since the
country emerged from colonial rule, pledging itself under Kwame Nkrumah to struggle
free of both the symbols and the realities of foreign cultural domination. Since those
early beginnings, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has established and managed, in
partnership with the Government of Ghana, hundreds of primary schools, many high
schools and colleges of education. “These schools and colleges, guided by the
proverbial Presbyterian discipline, set very high moral as well as educational standards,
which have characterized the Presbyterian Education tradition. Also, in partnership
with the government, the church has provided and managed Professional, Technical
and Vocational Institutions in a wide range of fields including Agriculture and Health.
Specifically, the church has established 1,886 schools comprising 490 Nurseries, 973
Primary Schools, 388 Junior High Schools, five (5) Vocational Institutes, five (5)
Colleges of Education and 25 Senior High Schools”. (Presbyterian University College,
Ghana,2017) and the Presbyterian University College, Ghana.
3.4. Critical Studies of the British -Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan
Methodist Missionary Society in Gold Coast)
Methodism also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related
denominations of Protestant Christianity that derive their doctrine of practice and belief
from the life and teachings of John Wesley (1703–1791 and John's brother Charles
Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named
Methodists for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith
Methodism originated as a revival movement within the 18th-century Church of
England and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement
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spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond because of
vigorous missionary work, today claiming approximately 80 million adherents
worldwide” (Wikipedia contributors,2022c) Methodism emerged in England with a
group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles as a movement
within the Church of England the in the eighteenth century. In Africa, most Methodist
congregations follow the British Methodist tradition. They see the Methodist Church
of Great Britain as their mother church. However, since the attainment of
independence, most of these churches have adopted an episcopal model of Methodism.
English Wesleyan Missionary society (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society) firstly
emerged in the West African sub-region with the advent of the settlers from Nova
Scotia in Freetown in 1792. In 1796, Dr Coke, of the Wesleyan Methodist society in
England sent a team to Sierra Leone to civilize the Fulani. But in the Gold coast,
Methodism emerged as a result of the Wesleyan missionary activities in the region.
“Joseph Rhodes Dunwell, the first Wesleyan missionary was sent to the Gold Coast in
1835. Anglicanism played some role in the rise of Methodism. One William de Graft,
a product of the Anglican Church and school at Cape Coast Castle and founder of the
Anglican Bible Study Group talked about the Cape Coast Castle mission with an
English sea captain, Potter. Following the discussion, Potter requested that
missionaries be sent to the Gold Coast in 1835. As a consequence, the Wesleyan
Methodist Missionary Society sent Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to Cape Coast”
(Sarbah,2010:50). “After Joseph Rhodes Dunwell, other missionaries such were, Rev.
& Mrs George Wrigley and Rev. & Mrs Peter Harrop were also after Rhodes Dunwell
but all of them in the course of their missionary work in the Gold Coast. Consequently,
Thomas Freeman, the son of an African father and English mother, was recruited. He
arrived at the cape coast in January 1838 with his wife Mrs Freeman survived only the
first six months. Lonely Freeman settled down after a period of ill health and rendered
untiring service for the building of the Methodist Church in Ghana with the help of
devoted Africans.”(Foli,2006:23) “The accolade “founder of Ghana Methodism”
belongs to an Englishman, son of an African father and an English mother who worked
in Ghana from 1838 to 1890. Freeman is honoured not only for the length of his service
in Ghana but also for the breadth and reach of his missionary zeal. He helped expand
the work of Methodism to the dreaded Asante and Dahomey kingdoms.”
(Essamuah,2003:16). As in the case of previous missionary societies in the Gold coast,
the missionary work of Freeman was not confined to only evangelism, but
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encompassed projects in the fields of education, agriculture, and industry. “Through
the initiative and leadership of Freeman, the first Wesley church in the Gold coast
Wesley “cathedral.” was established in Cape Coast. Three months later, on September
3, 1838, Freeman organized the first missionary meeting presided over by Governor
George MacLean.The chairing of the meeting by MacLean pioneered a practice in
Ghanaian Methodism in which secular and political leaders have chaired the church’s
missionary meetings. At these meetings, missionaries give their reports and launch
appeals for funds for the extension and expansion of their work.” (Essamuah, 2003:17-
18). In the Asante territories, Freeman was not the first to introduce Christianity. There
were records of few Fante Christians and traders in the region. What Freeman brought
into the Asante territory was a colonial missionary force. Which, once established will
provide the interior region Western Christian education as well as the civilization. In
the Asante territories, Freeman was not the first to introduce Christianity interior
territories. “There were records of few Fante Christians and traders in the region.
Freeman brought into the Asante territory was a colonial missionary force. Which,
once established will provide the interior region educational benefits as well as the
British culture After completing the journal of his visit to Kumasi. Freeman sent it to
the mission committee in London, with a recommendation by George MacLean,
President of the Council of European Merchants at Cape Coast, who in the absence of
a governor oversaw the interests of the British government. Upon receipt of the report
in England, Freeman was invited, along with de Graft, to visit London. Accepting the
invitation was easier to contemplate because just about that time Brooking Mycock
and his brother Josiah Mycock had arrived from England to complement the leadership
of the indigenous Christians in Freeman’s absence.”(Essamuah, 2003:19). Wesley
missionary activities in the Northern territories of Gold Coast (Ghana) began in 1910.
But the Missionary work was finally established in 1955, with Rev. Paul Adu as the
first indigenous missionary sent to the Northern territories of Gold Coast, Ghana. “The
Wesleyan missionary society used Christian songs, lyrics), dawn preaching in suburbs,
class meetings (where studying of the bible or discussion of any relevant topic for
Christian living took place), Sunday morning and evening services, annual camp
meetings (involving teaching and intense prayer activities), among others. An
outstanding dimension of Methodist missionary work is the provision of schools,
hospitals/clinics and other social services based on community needs. The
abovementioned activities of the church were some of the reasons that accounted for
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the church’s spread and growth in this area and Ghana as a whole”. (Acquah, 2011
p.100)By 1854, “the Church had been organized into circuits constituting a district
with T.B. Freeman as Chairman. However, Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William
West. On 6th February 1878, Synod took steps that were confirmed at the British
Conference in July 1878, that the district should be divided into two for effective
ministries. The district had then extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and
Nigeria. The two districts were: Gold Coast (Ghana) District, with Rev’d T.R. Picot as
Chairman.Yoruba and Popo, District with Rev’d John Milum as Chairman.Currently,
the Methodist Church Ghana, is one of the leading Churches in our country, with a
total membership of over 600,000. The Church has 17 dioceses, 3,814 societies, 1,066
pastors, 15, 920 local preachers, 24,100 Lay Leaders, many schools, an orphanage,
hospitals and clinics.”(Beginning of Methodism in Ghana. (2021) According to
available conservative estimates, by the end of 2009, the church had established 719
kindergartens, 1,017 primary and 483 junior high schools. The Methodist Church
Ghana also boasts of 20-second cycle public schools, 22 secondary/tertiary/vocational
institutions, and three colleges of education. Two hospitals, sited at Wenchi in the
Brong Ahafo Region and Ankaasi in the Ashanti Region, bear the mark of the church.”
(Chronicle, 2010)
3.5. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Black Methodist
church From the United States) in Gold Coast.
One of the lasting impacts of the transatlantic slave trade is that it led to the
establishment of an African diaspora in the western world. Some of these diaspora
Africans were converted to various forms of western Christianity, the colonial master’s
religion. The African diaspora in the Caribbean provided a fertile ground for the
Christianization of Africans who would serve as agents of Christian missionaries in
Africa. In other words, the freed Christianised slaves from the Caribbean became new
agents of British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast The African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church (Black Methodist church From the United States) is one of
these African churches that originated from the British missionary enterprise in
America but consciously or unconsciously later became agents of British missionary
enterprise on the Gold Coast. Historically, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church emerged in the United States as an African-American Christian denomination.
The church was officially founded in 1821 in New York City. The African Methodist
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Episcopal Zion Church maintained the British Wesleyan protestant theology. “The
A.M.E. Zion Churches were a nationwide league of congregations founded in New
York in 1820 by and for the African American religious community. Like the related,
but separate, A.M.E. Churches, they were established and patronized by black
Methodists who withdrew from the white-dominated Methodist churches as a reaction
to the racism of the majority white Methodist community and to its reticence to take
an organized stand against slavery as a religious issue”. (Deutch,2001) Furthermore, in
1821, a meeting of members from six black churches presided by white a Methodist
clergyman was organized and finally chose James Varick as a black bishop. In the
Gold coast, John Bryan Smallan, an African-American is often recognized as the
Founder of Zion Methodism in Ghana. John Bryan Small who happens to be a former
British clerical sergeant in Gold coast during the Ashanti-British war is mostly
regarded as the founder of the A.M.E. Zion Church in Gold coast. After he retired from
the army he visited the United States on his way to England. “In the state, he came into
contact with the Rev. R.H.G. Dyson and Bishop J.J.CLITON who persuaded him to
join the A.M.E Zion Church. In 1896 he was consecrated by the Bishop of Alabama.
when he visited Ghana soon after, he had interactions with his old friends including
Rev. Kobina Fynn Eqyir-Asaam of the Wesleyan Church who asked him to recruit
suitable young Africans of piety and promise for training in America and to be
prepared as ministers”(Foli,2006:33) Rev Kobinah Fynn Eyir Asaam of the Wesleyan
Church, therefore, became the first representative of the AME Zion church in Ghana
after he has resigned from the Wesleyan Methodist Church as a result of a conflict over
a local newspaper By 1908, John Bryan Small authorized Thomas Birch Freeman, Jr.
of the Methodist Church (who happens to be the second promoter of AME Zion
activities in the Gold coast) to establish the St. John A.M.E. Zion Churches and
Schools in the Gold coast. “Today, the church and its schools are found in practically
every region of Ghana. For administrative purposes, the church is divided into four
conferences. The East Ghana Conference is made up of churches in the Volta and
Greater Accra regions, West Ghana Conference comprises Central and Western
regions, the Mid Ghana Conference consists of Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Eastern
regions and North Ghana Conference has churches in Northern, Upper West and
Upper East regions. Apart from its administrative expansion, the A.M.E. Zion Church
is one of the five founding members (with the Methodist Anglican, Evangelical
Presbyterian and Presbyterian churches) of the Christian Council of Ghana, which was
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formed in 1926.” (AME church in Mamprobi, 2021)Apart from the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion, Other Churches originating from Black Methodism in the United
States and transplanted in Ghana are the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and
Christian Methodist Episcopal mission. There is the possibility of many other Black
Methodism Churches in Ghana. However, the detailed discussion of more of these
Black Methodism churches in Ghana is beyond the scope of this research
3.6. Critical Study of British-Catholics Missionary in Gold Coast
Catholicism is one of the most popular Christian denominations in contemporary
Ghanaian society. However, the history of the Catholic Church in Ghana is difficult to
comprehend due to its complex missionary history in the region. What is mostly
accepted but subject to debate is that, during the 15th century, the Portuguese were the
first to introduce Catholicism to the Portuguese Forts located on the Gold Coast in
1484. But the catholic mission did not make much impact on the native people because
their lifestyle was contrary to the message they preached and also their final departure
from the Gold Coast in 1637. In an attempt at getting religious missionaries into the
Gold Coast, Propaganda Fide (In Rome) assigned the Gold Coast to the Society of
African Mission (SMA) as their new mission territory in the latter part of
1879”(Addai,2012). Catholic missionary efforts in the Gold coast were rekindled with
the emergence of Society of African Mission (SMA) missionaries Elmina in 1880. It
is worth noting that, Sir James Marshall a Chief Magistrate and Judicial Assessor in
the Gold Coast (1873-1874) as well as British Anglican clergy who later converted to
Catholicism and became Chief Justice of the Gold Coast played a significant role in
enhancing the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in the region. James Marshall
through his letters and articles published in The Tablet (a Catholic international
newspaper published in London) was able to appeal to the Catholics in Europe on the
need to send English or Irish missionaries to territories under British control such as
the Gold coast. In Marshal’s perspective, the coastal settlements, especially those
under British control, he argued, held out a much better prospect of success, for they
provided a safe environment and were administered by a government favourable to
missionaries of all denominations. He also emphasized the special responsibility of
British Catholics since virtually all the existing West Coast missions were in areas of
British influence. “This responsibility, he stressed, could be best exercised by the
provision of direct financial support and by the dispatch of English (or Irish)
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missionaries; also, by alerting the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (the chief
international funding agency for missions) to the great opportunities in the region and
Propaganda Fide the Holy See's Congregation responsible for missions) to the need to
appoint a bishop over the work.” ( Hogan,1990) “On 18 May 1880, two Society of
African Missions (SMA) missionaries, August Moreau and Eugene Murat came to
Elmina. One Mr. Bonnat was at the shore to receive them and introduce them to the
chiefs and prominent citizens of Elmina. The British governor came a few days later
to discuss plans for establishing the new mission with the SMA missionaries.” (Addai,
2012:28). The outcome was the establishment of a Gold Coast apostolic prefecture in
1897.The prefecture was entrusted to the Society of African Missions (SMA). As a
result, the Roman Catholics returned to Elmina (Gold coast) in 1880. These
missionaries therefore became the Roman Catholic pioneer missionaries in the Gold
coast. Within 10 days Moreau fell sick and was advised to a sea voyage to Lagos,
which he undertook with Murat. Soon after their return from Lagos to Elmina Murat
died and was replaced by Fr.Michon. Moreau and his new colleague intensified efforts
and soon open an Elementary School that served as the Backbone for evangelism.
From 1881, annually, more and more pupil of the school were baptised. Same of them
became catechist-the first lay apostles through whom Roman Catholic faith was spread
from Elmina. Moreaus health failed and was invalidated home on 18th March 1886.He
died three days later aboard a ship off Axim .Under the next missionary ,Fr .Pellet,
Roman catholic attempt to open stations outside Elmina met success. Stations
openedinclude;Axim(1882),Cape coast(1889)Keta(1890)Accra(1893),Kumasi(1903)
and Navrgo(1906). (Foli,2006:29)
3.7. The Salvation Army Mission (Salvation Army Church)
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Christian international protestant religious and
charitable denomination. It is made up of a group of soldiers, officers, and followers
who identify themselves as the Salvationists. “They aimed to provide salvation to the
poor by providing their physical and spiritual needs. Historically, The Salvation Army
was founded in London, England in 1865 under the leadership of General William
Booth, a Methodist minister who was concerned about the effects of rapid
urbanisation.” (Wolf-Branigin,2017:157). William Booth and his wife, Catherine, left
the Methodist Church in London because the Church had refused to allow them to
provide for the spiritual and physical needs of those they believed to be individuals
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most in need. As result, Booth established the Christian Mission which subsequently
became The Salvation Army with donations from the mission’s patrons and other
sources. Salvation Army's theology is based on Methodist belief systems but differs in
terms of institutions and practices. The usage of titles derived from military hierarchy,
like "lieutenant" or "major," is a distinct feature of the Salvation Army. But the
Salvation Army does not observe the rites of Baptism as well as the Holy Communion.
It is popularly accepted among the Salvationists in Ghana that the Salvation Army
firstly emerged on the Gold Coast as a result of the native of the Gold Coast who
encountered the Salvation Army abroad and subsequently introduced the Salvation
mission to the Gold Coast in 1902. But unfortunately, there are no records of the
Salvation Army that was officially established by this unknown native of the Gold
coast. On August 23, 1922, King Hudson, popularly known as Amoako Atta, who
also happens to a native of the Gold coast( From Agona Duakwa) officially introduced
the Salvation Army British protestant tradition to the Gold Coast. “Amoako Atta was
nurtured in Methodist home as well as a prosperous farmer and businessman in the
Gold coast. Amoako Atta (King Hudson) read about the services and efforts of the
Salvation Army in seventy different countries in 1921 and became touched with the
Salvationist mission. He wrote to the General who was then General Bramwell Booth,
a son of General William Booth that he wished to be a Salvationist and to be trained
as an officer. Hudson wanted a more active church (a church with vigorous worship
and praises) than the solemn Christianity he was seeing on the Gold Coast. Before he
could get his reply he was on his way to London”.(Boapeah, 2010:50). “Whilst in
London, on one Sunday at a street comer not far from Oxford circus, he met
Salvationists in an open-air meeting. He was attracted and followed the Salvationists
to Regent Hall (Chapel). He became converted and a soldier (an adult member of The
Salvation Army) at the Ranks Corps (Ranks branch). He later fellowshipped with the
Clapton congregation in England.” (Boapeah, 2010:51). On August 19, 1921, King
Hudson began his pastoral education in London and was later commissioned as a
Lieutenant by General Bramwell Booth on May 1, 1922. Through King Hudson's
evangelical activities, the Salvation Army quickly spread in the Central region and
later into other parts of the Gold coast. In 1922 the first British and European Salvation
Army missionaries on the Gold Coast named Ensign and Mrs Charles V. Roberts were
appointed. King Hudson met them in Accra and took them to Winneba to join the
Salvationists in worship. After a few months, a branch was established at James Town
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in Accra. From James Town, they move to Tudu and finally settle at Mamprobi. From
the 1950s, Salvation Army started to spread to all parts of the Gold coast (modern
Ghana) through native and foreign initiatives. Currently, “there are more than 2,000
schools in The Salvation Army, educating more than 500,000 children. Salvation
Army schools are central to the mission objectives of many territories and offer an
incredible opportunity. Schools have the potential to shape young people's lives by
ensuring they receive a quality Christian education and are enabled to play a
meaningful role in their community”. (The Salvation Army International –
Schools,2021)
3.8. The Apostolic Church from England and the Christ Apostolic
Church of Gold coast
The Apostolic Church was founded in 1915 in Penygroes, South Wales, United
Kingdom. The first leader of the Apostolic Church was Daniel Powell Williams, who
was ordained as an Apostle in 1913 and later became the first President of The
Apostolic Church Council, a position he held until his death in 1947. According to the
Apostolic beliefs, William Jones Williams was also called a Prophet and in 1913 and
was ordained also into the full-time ministry of the Church. Apostolic believed the two
were called together with others to demonstrate the New Testament offices of Apostle
and Prophet in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, these ministries were implemented
in other countries and continents of the World. The people of the Gold coast firstly
came into contact with the Apostolic Church through the Faith Tabernacle of Nigeria.
a group of Asamankese Christians on the Gold Coast were introduced to The
Apostolic Church, which had already missionary begun its missionary activity in
Nigeria. The Asamankese Christians, therefore, requested The Apostolic church in
Bradford (England) to send a delegation to visit them. In response, the Apostolic
Missionary Office in Bradford sent Pastor George Perfect, a British missionary already
posted to Nigeria to leave Nigeria and attend to the Christian congregation at
Asamankese in 1935. Subsequently; the Asamankese Christian group accepted to be
members of the Apostolic Church and embraced the Apostolic Church's Tenets
unreservedly. Peter Newman Anim, the group's leader, was officially ordained as the
first African pastor of the Apostolic Church, Gold Coast, by Pastor George Perfect. In
1936, Pastor Vivian Wellings, the Apostolic Church of Bradford's Missionary
Secretary at the time visited Gold Coast and on his return to England proposed that a
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permanent Missionary should be sent to the Gold coast. On March 2, 1937, Pastor
James McKeown arrived in the then Gold Coast to take up the mantle as the first
resident Missionary. His wife, Sophia arrived later in September, the same year to
support her husband. Barely six months after his arrival, Pastor James McKeown was
taken ill with malaria fever. “A controversy broke out over his being taken to the Ridge
Hospital by an English District Commissioner. The Faith Tabernacle Church members
who had joined The Apostolic Church still held fanatically the doctrine of divine
healing. During a Christmas Convention at Asamankese, Pastor McKeown’s belief in
medication was questioned by Pastor Anim and some of the Elders. This led to a split
in the infant Church with Pastor Anim leading a faction of the Church to break away
to form Christ Apostolic Church in 1938. More Missionaries were later posted from
England to strengthen the work in the then Gold Coast. Pastor C. B. Sercombe arrived
in 1943 to be the Vice Superintendent. Pastor Adams Mckeown, Brother of Pastor
James Mckeown as a Prophet arrived in December 1944. Pastor Albert Seaborne came
in 1946, followed by Pastor S. M. Hammond in 1948. Others were Pastor H. L. Copp
in 1953 and Pastor C.H. Rosser in 1962. Pastor F. Johnson arrived in 1966, and Pastor
P.W. Cawthorne in 1971. Then Pastor E. H. Williams also arrived in 1973”. (The
Apostolic Church International,2021) After several years on the Gold coast, the Ghana
Apostolic Church after independent of Ghana and to be precise in 1962 changed its
name to the Church of Pentecost. Some other similar Churches like The Apostolic
Reformed Church, the Divine Healers Church, and The New Covenant Apostolic are
all originated from the Ghana Apostolic Church. Nevertheless, all these Churches are
affiliated with the Apostolic Church under the umbrella of the Ghana Pentecostal
Council. Today there are more than a thousand five hundred local Churches in Ghana.
The Church has also been instrumental in establishing the glorious vision and the seed
of truth in Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, La Cote D’Ivoire, and the United States of
America. The Apostolic Church, Ghana celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1985. From
1982 through 1985 Apostle A. Ofori-Addo served as the first Ghanaian Field
Chairman of the church. (The Apostolic Church International,2021)
3.9. Worldwide evangelization crusade (Evangelical Church of Ghana)
WEC was founded by Charles Studd, a cricketer who later became a missionary,
in 1913. Studd was a student and member of the Cambridge Band popularly known as
the Cambridge Seven. The Cambridge Seven was a group of seven Cambridge
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University students who volunteered for missionary service in the China Inland
Mission following a visit to the university by American missionary D.L. Moody in
1884. After spending many years in China and India, Studd established a mission nary
organization called the "Heart of Africa" Mission (HAM).” The Heart of Africa" was
renamed the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade in 1919. Because of the several
ambiguities attached to the word "crusade", the name the Worldwide Evangelization
Crusade was replaced by Worldwide Evangelization for Christ (WEC International).
Later on Studds’ journey to Congo (Africa), Studd claimed God told him, "This
journey is not only for Africa but for the entire evangelized world.Since1940, WEC
has been operating on the Gold coast to plant churches, particularly among the Muslim
dominated peoples in the north. Currently, the work is based in the three regional
capitals of northern Ghana at Tamale in the Northern Region, Wa in the Upper West
Region and Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.WEC is working in partnership with
the Evangelical Church of Ghana to plant churches in places where currently there are
no churches, especially among the unreached peoples of Ghana. (WEC in Africa Ghana,
2021). In modern Ghana, the WEC is involved in a variety of educational projects
mostly in the northern sector of the country as part of its holistic approach to mission.
3.10. Conclusion
Approximately around 1800, an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians were
believers in various Indigenous African traditional religions. Except for the Muslim
dominated territories in the northern part of the country. Today, Christianity is Ghana’s
most common religion. However, between 1828 and 2021 Christianity has now
become the most widely practised religion in Ghana.
After the earlier dormant Portuguese (Catholics Christians) made no effort in
Christianizing the natives of the Gold coast, the British Anglican society for the
propagation of the gospel(SPG) sent Anglican Rev. Thomas Thompson to the Gold
coast in 1752. One of Thomas Thompson’s accomplishments was the ability to send
three young men to England to be trained as Anglican evangelists. Only one among
these three young men, Philip Quaque survived and returned to the Gold Coast as the
first ordained African Anglican priest in 1765. Philip Quaque worked as an evangelist
and schoolmaster at the Castle School until his demise in 1816. During the era of Philip
Quaque, The Church of England through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
established the branches of Thomas Thompsons Schools at Anomabo, Tantumquerre,
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Wineba, Accra, komenda, Sekondi and Dixocove to prepare natives to become clerks,
teachers, interpreters on land or aboard ships, and even soldiers, thus serving the
interest of British. Students of these Schools later became the pioneers of British native
missionaries in the Gold Coast. Nevertheless, in 1893, the British governor of the Gold
Coast, Sir William Brandforth Griffith officially laid the foundation for Holy Trinity
Church (the first Anglican Church in Ghana) which is today called the Cathedral
Church of the Holy trinity.
British missionary enterprise in the Gold coast gained momentum with the
arrival of new Protestant Anglican Conformist missionary societies mostly from
Britain and other parts of Europe. Massive evangelization started with the arrival of
the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries who set out from London and
Landed at Christiansburg on the Gold coast. In the same year as the Basel missionaries
settled in the Gold coast (1835) another British protestant missionary society, The
Wesleyan missionary society (British Methodist missionary society) also emerged and
established a Church at Cape Coast in 1835. Through One William de Graft, a product
of the Anglican Church in the Gold coast, Anglicanism played a massive role in the
rise of Methodism in the region. The Wesleyan missionary society sent Joseph
Dunwell and later was followed by Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based
West Indian father and an English mother. Thomas Birch Freeman introduced
Methodism to Asante’s interior region in 1839 and won the support of the Asante king.
It is worth noting that, Catholic missionary efforts in Gold Coast was also rekindled
through the effort of Sir James Marshall a Chief British Magistrate and Judicial
Assessor in the Gold Coast (1873-1874) as well as British Anglican clergy who later
converted to Catholicism and became Chief Justice of the Gold Coast.
From the aforementioned, it is clear that the intensive Christianization of modern
Ghana started with the emergence of the three main British Protestant missionary
societies. The Presbyterians emerged in 1828 at Accra in the east, whereas the
Methodists emerged in 1835 at Elmina in the west. The map below illustrates the
respective locations of the first two main British missionary societies in the Gold Coast
as well as how they expanded along the coast and into the interior forest region
dominated by the Asante.
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Figure 3.4. Christian mission stations, Ghana 1752–1932( Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018)
In 1880, Catholic missionaries set out from England also arrived in Elmina, the
southern part of the Gold Coast. The expansion of Catholic missionaries in the region
was gradual at the initial periods but between 1910 and 1920, the Catholic missionaries
effectively competed with the British protestant missionary societies on the GoldCoast.
Figure 3.5. Illustration of three missionary society stations between 1932 to 2000( Jedwab, Selhausen
and Moradi, 2018)
The illustration above also depicts the respective annual evolution of the three
main missionary societies in Ghana from 1932 to 2000.
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Figure 3.6. Annual evolution of the three main missionary societies in Ghana from 1847 to
1932.( Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018)
Moreover, another British protestant missionary society, the Salvation Army
also officially established itself in the Gold Coast on August 23, 1922, through
King Hudson, popularly known as Amoako Atta, a native of the Gold coast from
the Methodist background. In 1922 the first British Salvation Army missionaries
named Ensign and Mrs Charles V. Roberts arrived on the Gold Coast. Another
British missionary society, the Worldwide evangelization crusade (Evangelical
Church of Ghana) had also been operating on the Gold coast since 1940 to plant
churches, particularly among the Muslim dominated peoples in the north.
The Apostolic Church in Bradford (England) also sent Pastor George Perfect, a
British missionary already posted to Nigeria to leave Nigeria and attend to the Christian
congregation at Asamankese on the Gold coast. In 1935; the Asamankese Christians
embraced the Apostolic Church. Peter Newman Anim, the leader of the Asamankese
group was ordained as the first African pastor of the Apostolic Church. . On March 2,
1937, Pastor James McKeown arrived in the then Gold Coast to take up the mantle as
the first resident Missionary.
Furthermore, the freed Christianized slaves from the Americas also became new
agents of British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast. Among these American
missionary societies are the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (1898), the African
Methodist Episcopals (1933), and the Christian Methodist Episcopal (1957). The
Mission Churches established the Christian council of Ghana, the unifying
organization, in 1929. In 1929, The Christian Council of Ghana was formed as the
uniting body of the Mission Churches in Ghana.
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CHAPTER FOUR
THE IMPACT OF BRITISH MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES IN
GHANA
4.1. Introduction
There are two persistent and interrelated assumptions on western Christian
missionary impacts on social change. These two assumptions are; firstly, what is
mostly referred to as the assumption of minimal impact which tends to relegate
missionaries to the side-lines in the broader social transformations of the colonial
period. Secondly is the complex assumption mostly referred to as the assumption of
secondary effects, this implies that missionaries were ancillary in the political and
economic colonial processes that brought about the social change. Thus, missionaries
functioned in important ways to advance other nonreligious interests of the colonial
powers. These two assumptions raise questions on our understanding of the role of
British missionary enterprise on the Gold coast. They also discourage researchers from
asking more probing questions about the missionary societies but opting to accept
either of them uncritically, we need to ask whether they are applicable or not applicable
to the broader context of social transformation in Ghana to move toward a more
accurate assessment of British missionary enterprises on the Gold coast. This research
will be worthless unless the activities of British missionary societies on the Gold Coast
is critically analysed. However, we need to emphasize that, the influence of these
Christian missionary societies on the indigenous society of Gold Coast has become an
integral part of the people's socio-cultural experience, a reality that cannot be neglected
in this study. Therefore, this chapter examines the impact of the British missionary
activities on the indigenous societies of the Gold Coast. Because of this, this chapter
examines the positive and negative impact of the Christian missionary activities on
Ghana under the following headings; Religious impact, educational impact, Impact on
health care, Socio-Economic impact and Political impact.
4.2. Religious impacts
Frankly speaking, the activities of British missionary societies in the Gold Coast
marked a major turning point in the religious situation in the region. Before the
emergence of British missionary societies in the Gold coast, (modern Ghana) the
indigenous people except for the Muslims in the Northern territories lived in a world
believed to be full of Spirits such as Supreme Being, lesser gods, ancestors, Witchcraft
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etc.“Given that religion is inextricably linked to culture, especially in the African
context, any attempt at studying African peoples and cultures that do not involve a
meticulous examination of traditional African religions would be incomplete.
Traditional religions have had a tremendous influence on Africans in their thought
processes, belief systems, and worldviews.”(Ndemanu,2018:71)There were numerous
indigenous African spiritual systems in the region. Almost every ethnic group in the
Southern territories, as well as some ethnic groups in the Northern territories, had
developed a complex and unique set of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices.
Despite the seemingly unrelated aspects of these beliefs, there are some common
features to these belief systems. This indicates the existence of cohesive interrelated
religious traditions in the Gold Coast before the arrival of British missionary societies.
4.2.1. Pre-Colonial Religious Situation
The indigenous context into which the missionary societies in Gold Coast
penetrated was (and still is), extremely religious. there was a great awareness and belief
in the existence of a Supreme Being, conceived as the creator and controller of the
universe. They also believe in ancestors and other spirits who serve as mediators
between human beings and the Supreme Being. Many indigenous people of the Gold
Coast. People born into the indigenous communities of Gold Coast were also
automatically born into traditional religion, they inherently participate in the traditional
religious practices as they grew up through socialization. The people viewed the
universe as a larger community that is made up of a variety of divine spirits, humans,
animals, and inanimate arranged in a hierarchy of authority but always interacting with
one another. The description above provides us with a glimpse of the religious
background of the indigenous societies in which British missionary societies operated
on the Gold Coast. The description will assist us to understand what was in existence
previously and examine some of the religious impacts that took place after indigenous
societies came into contact with the British missionary societies.
4.2.2. Colonial Religious Situation
During the early periods, the religious situation in Gold Coast was generally in a
peaceful and stable condition. Religion was quite important in the successful
functioning of the indigenous societies. This was the religious atmosphere into which
British missionary enterprise engaged in the Gold Coast. The missionary established
missionary centres, engaged in farming, provided medical care and education. Despite
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all missionary investment and initiatives, the missionaries put in place, initially, most
of the natives did not easily in Christianity because of their ties with traditional
religious life. Early natives to be converted into Christians were primarily drawn from
people who were already dissatisfied with native society like the slaves and social
outcasts. But later, As Christianity flourished and established itself in this area and
Gold coast (Ghana), it began to impact the indigenous religious worldview of the
native societies. Moreover, “many natives converted not because of the message the
missionaries presented but for opportunistic reasons. since conversion in several
instances was opportunistic. as the perspectives of the African broadened and the
attention and rewards of the missionary were spread among a much wider range of
followers, the "good fortune and social status" of the role of Christian tended to
diminish and role conflicts, as a result, became more acute.” Some of the religious
impacts the British missionary enterprise had on the indigenous societies of the Gold
coast is reflected in the religious festivals and transitional rites that were observed in
these societies and our discussions will now turn to these aspects.
The introduction of British missionary societies into Gold coast (Ghana)
originated with the Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts (Anglican
mission) in 1751, followed by Basel Mission (Presbyterian missionary society) in 1828
and The English Wesleyan Mission (Wesleyan Methodist missionary society) in 1835.
Other British missionary societies to follow are the Society of African Missions
(Catholic Mission from England) in 1880, The Church Mission Society (Anglican
Mission) in 1904, The Apostolic Church from England in 1935. The Salvation Army
Mission in 1922, The Worldwide evangelization crusade in 1940 etc. all emerged in
the then Gold Coast( modern Ghana) to aid the British missionary enterprise in Ghana.
Generally, through evangelism, catechism, and formal education, the missionary
societies were able to convert natives of the Gold Coast mostly from the traditional
African religious beliefs into different versions of western Christianity. Most European
missionaries in the Gold coast and other parts of Africa perceived African traditional
religious beliefs and practices as superstitions that cannot be acceptable in western
Christianity they wanted to present to the native Africans. It’s reported that a
missionary at Elmina Gold coast once said; As for paganism, the village was rife with
superstitions and magical rites of which the people were so fond that they allowed only
every other child to be baptized and those baptized were quickly corrupted by their
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pagan brothers and sister. (Wiltgen,1956; Acquah, 2011:85) As a response, some
missionary societies made explicit efforts to create a significant separation between the
natives converted to Christianity and their African religious-cultural settings. “To
prevent the indigenous converts to the Christian faith from being contaminated by the
pagan ways of their family members and relatives, the Presbyterian Church, initially,
created separate communities referred to as „Salem‟ within various towns and villages
in Ghana. This negative attitude and confrontational stance of the European Christian
missionaries towards African religious and cultural values was one of the factors that
created tensions in some of the traditional societies.” (Acquah, 2011:88)
4.2.3. Post-colonial religious impacts
As previously stated, The British Missionaries' antagonistic attitudes toward
traditional African religious experience led the missionaries and their earlier converts
against the African traditional religion and culture, including the celebration of
traditional festivals. Busia records that some of the early Christian converts refused to
be part of the community celebration of the traditional festivals and observance of
some of the rites as a result of their new religious faith. Nonetheless, with time most
mainline missionary societies (churches)began to acknowledge the fact that, the
festivals were just communal events and started to participate in them. Almost all of
the festive activities were attended by missionary churches, except for religious rites,
which included sacrifices to ancestors and other spirits. In this context, we can see the
Christians in the Gold coast going through a responsive process by attempting to
distinguish between what is religious and what is cultural in a particular traditional
festival. As a result, some components of the indigenous festivals were embraced
whereas others are dismissed. For instance, Acquah reported that “in the Nkusukum-
Ekumfi-Enyan area of the Central Region. The festival activities ended with
thanksgiving service by the various religious groups in the community. A point to be
noted here, concerning change, is the absence of libation offering during the Sunday
gathering. Nana Kwansah III explained that the absence of the libation was an effort
at finding a common ground to involve the diverse religious communities, most of
whom do not subscribe to that practice. Moreover, Sunday was a Christian worship
day, hence the Christian service adopted by the community for that event.” (Acquah,
2011:184) many of the traditional religious sacrifices are now restricted to specific
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palaces or sacred areas and the Christian communities are mostly not allowed to be
involved in these sacrifices.
Also, the Christian involvement in the celebration of the traditional festival has
occasioned certain modifications in the practices of the traditional religious rituals.
“The exclusion of some of the traditional religious rituals and symbols, for example,
from public participation due to the indirect influence of immigrant religions
(including Christianity), had stripped, to some extent, the event of its mystical
character and symbolic meanings. Those elements had served, over the years as an
important point of attraction.” (Acquah, 2011:186). The participation of Christians in
these festivals has provided some of these indigenous festivals with a Christian style.
For example, in places like Mankessim, a night is used for candle procession. The
Christians will therefore turn out in large numbers to participate in these candle
processions as part of the traditional festival.
Another significant British missionary religious impact on the traditional
African religion in Ghana can be seen in the celebration of Christian religious festivals
such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. These festivals are almost celebrated by
all Ghanaians through fanfares, games and special food. except for Muslim (Zongo)
communities. all Ghanaians seems to be celebrating this Christian religious festival
particularly Christmas on the 25 December of every year. The photo below shows
masquerading Ghanaians captured during Christmas2022.
Figure 4.1. Christmas celebration in Takoradi, Ghana
During Christmas, many people Ghanaians travel to their respective hometowns
and villages to celebrate the festival with their extended family members.
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Another important evidence of the religious impact of British missionary
enterprise in Ghana can be seen in how most Ghanaians observe Sunday as a Christian
day of worship every week. In Ghana, Sundays are also honoured as a day of rest for
almost the entire Christian community. Before Christianity, the traditional days of rest
for the indigenous Ghanaians except for Muslims were associated with numerous gods
of the land or oceans. “During these traditional holidays, people in these societies were
normally not permitted to go to farms or at sea. working on these days was regarded
taboo (forbidden)and could result in punishment from the gods Before Christianity, the
traditional days of rest for the indigenous Ghanaians except for Muslims were
associated with numerous gods of the land or oceans. Some Christian members,
however, violated these traditional injunctions, regarding them as prohibitions that
were rooted in “fetish” beliefs and practices.” (Acquah, 2011:188).
Moreover, another religious impact of the British missionary enterprise that
aided the Christianization of Ghana can be seen in the contemporary practice of
transitional rites such as naming ceremonies among the Christians in Ghana. “These
Christian rites have effected some changes in the traditional observance of these
practices, but have not, completely, replaced them. There is the virtual absence of
libation and the role of the family elder, which has now, in most cases, been taken over
by Christian Priests/Ministers in christening or child baptism”. (Acquah, 2011:194).
there were some differences between the two systems. “While the Christian practice
of giving biblical names or names of early Christian fathers or mothers were meant to
honour and perpetuate memories of the good deeds of such personalities in the
Christian family, the traditional naming of the child intended to honour the ancestors
and to maintain the traditional family name”. (Acquah, 2011:194)
Another observation of the religious impact of the church can be seen in the
observance of funeral rites in Ghana. Some of the visible Christian influence on funeral
rites is virtually the absence of libation during funerals but the church has also become
a prominent component of funeral rites in Christian communities. “The church is
allowed to perform Christian rituals during traditional burials rites. However,
Christianity has failed to completely impact the traditional funeral rite among
Christians in Ghana. with the advent of Christianity and its western civilization in
Ghana, the situation of the funeral rites has even worsened. Among contemporary
Christian communities in Ghana, almost every funeral in the family, it has become
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customary for new uniform clothe to be acquired by every family member and some
members in the community. It has, also, become a fashion now to use big billboards
on roadsides to advertise the funeral of departed ones, not counting the cost for very
expensive coffins, which has, now, become a matter of competition”. (Acquah,
2011:205)
In conclusion, Before the indigenous people in Ghana came into contact with the
missionaries, the majority of them were engaged in traditional religious beliefs
systems. there was no region in the southern territories of the Gold Coast without its
particular deity, the deities are believed to inhabit specific forests, animals, mountains,
trees and rivers. Superstition was very common among the indigenous people. Except
for Muslims dominated Northern territories, as well as a few commercial Muslim
diasporas in the south, the natives of the Gold coast, were living in a world, believed
to be full of Spirits such as Supreme Being, lesser gods, ancestors etc. Almost every
ethnic group in the lower Volta Basin had in one way the other establish a complex
and unique set of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. The arrival of the
missionaries has impacted the beliefs system of the people concerning their ancestors,
gods, religious superstitions, drumming and dancing, outdooring, burial ceremonies
pouring of libation etc. Most traditional sacrifices are modified and sometimes
restricted as compared to Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Good Friday
which are nationally celebrated in Ghana. Though some Ghanaians still value their
cultural traditions, missionaries have succeeded in replacing some traditional values
with western Christian traditions such as Christian blessing of marriages and
monogamous marriage etc which were championed by the missionaries and are still
practised today. After traditional marriages, many couples go to the church for
Christian blessing.
Moreover, the negative attitude of the missionaries toward the traditional
religious concept of the supreme being and many other beliefs of the natives persists
strongly in Ghana. This has affected the religious worldview of the native people such
as the belief in ancestors and pouring of libation etc. There is no doubt that the native
people of Ghana strongly believe in the supreme Being (God) even before the
emergence of Christianity in the region. “They acknowledge the supreme Being as
Father, Creator, Eternal, completely Beneficent, creatively Omnipotent and ethically
Holy. All over Africa people have a notion of God as the Supreme Being, the origin
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and sustenance of all things. Truly, African peoples strongly believe in the supreme
Being” (God). (Mbiti, 196:29) This demonstrates that, long before the natives of Ghana
came into contact with Christian missionaries, there was already in existence of distinct
social, political, and cultural institutions that were expressed in their indigenous
religious worldview, which was also centred on the belief in a supreme being as the
greatest of all the spiritual beings in their hierarchical order. It is also important for us
to bear in mind that, though the relationships between missionaries and British
colonialists were never straightforward in Ghana, “the response of the General
Secretary of the Methodist missionary Society Beecham, to the British Parliamentary
in 1842 testifies to the relationship between the missionary societies and British
government in the Gold coast. He replied, “Yes, I am bound to say the British
authorities and administrators upon the Gold Coast have always manifested a
favourable disposition to our missionary undertakings and they have offered the kind
of felicity which a Government can ever afford to persons under his control” ( (Select
Committee Report 1842:124; Eshun, 2012:385-386) “Following Ghana's
independence in 1957, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, the country's first
president, it is reported that In Nkrumah’s office there was a cartoon of a white bishop
with a Bible in hand, hugged by a white soldier with a gun in hand who had shot down
some Africans. The cartoon caption read: “Watch the Bible and Not my Actions.” The
cartoon insinuated missionaries’ complicity in the colonial enterprise” (Pobee
1988:15) “Nkrumah’s ambivalent attitude convinced many European missionaries and
Ghanaians that if Christianity would have any future, change was needed in the
leadership of the church, its theology, liturgy, and attitudes towards traditional religion
and culture. Nkrumah’s demand that libation prayers should be offered at all state
occasions likewise signalled that traditional religion could no longer be ignored in
religious discourse.” ( Eshun,2012:390) Therefore, Nkrumah was trying to combine
Christianity, African traditional religion, and culture as well as nationalism. But
Nkrumah’s behaviour generally triggered Ghanaian Christian leaders who wanted to
see Christianity at the centre of national affairs. “Nkrumah's attitude towards
Christianity resulted in a different for engaging with Christianity. “As Christian
leadership moved from Europeans to Ghanaians, theological and missiological
denigration of traditional religion changed. At the dawn of independence and beyond,
the general attitude towards the missionary enterprise was that they could have treated
indigenous religious understanding better and incorporated indigenous insights into
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Christianity more effectively.” ( Eshun, 2012:391)In response, the main missionary
churches such as the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Catholics held evangelical
conferences and workshops to discuss how the church could engage in dialogue with
the indigenous traditional religion and culture. The endeavour to make Christianity
relevant to the indigenous Ghanaian religious and cultural values was essential in the
expansion of Christianity to the centre in post-independence Ghanaian society. Today,
“Ghana is predominantly Christian and continues to experience significant Christian
expansion. The statistics speak for themselves: in 1900, 4.7 per cent of the population
was Christian; in 1960, three years after independence, this rose to 41 per cent; in 1970,
50.5 per cent; in 2000, 65 per cent; in 2015, 71.1 per cent; in 2020, 72.6 per cent; with
76 per cent projected in 2050.” ( Eshun, 2012:392) Furthermore, since the 1980s, the
most identified development of Christianity in Ghanaian has been the explosive rise of
Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian churches in Ghana and among Ghanaian
diaspora populations.
4.3. Educational impact
Firstly, Education can be referred to as a formal or informal process of learning.
It involves nurturing or training from childhood to adulthood to produce responsible,
cultured, and productive citizens who can contribute positively toward societal
development. “Education according to Achimugu (2000) is defined as a conscious and
purposeful effort directed towards the transmission of accumulated abilities,
knowledge, and attitudes from one generation to another with the ultimate intention of
producing men and women who will be relevant and useful to themselves and the
society.” (Ndubuisi, 2018:85)
4.3.1. The Traditional Education system in Gold Coast (Ghana)
Despite the massive impact of Christianity or Western education, indigenous
educational systems still have an intensive influence on the people of Ghana. Before
the emergence of missionary societies, education systems in Ghana (Gold Coast) were
mostly informal. “Knowledge and skills in the indigenous societies were transmitted
verbally and through apprenticeship. Moreover, all the myriads of African languages
and the basic education of the vast majority of African children, especially from
mothers and family relations in the first five years, are taught within the indigenous
system.” (UNESCO in Dakar (Senegal) Ajayi 1982, p. 15). Except for the North
Africans, whose indigenous systems of imparting knowledge such the languages have
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been replaced by the Islamic system of education, In the Gold coast (Ghana) as well
as other parts of Africa, the indigenous systems of education have dominance and
influence over the transmitting of African languages, cultural values and
Apprenticeship before the Europeans emerged in the region. due to the close-knit
nature of indigenous Ghanaian families, there was a cooperative effort in educating
and socializing the child. This was seen as a function of not just the parents but also
the extended family and the community at large. “All this is in addition to the role of
the indigenous systems of education in general adult education, in the training by
apprenticeship in specific skills in arts and crafts, as well as for various professions
such as divining, entertaining or delivering health care according to traditional methods
which are still prevalent, especially in the rural areas.” (Ajayi 1982:16)
4.3.2. The Islamic Education system in Gold Coast (Ghana)
The Islamic education system is also referred to as the Arabic education system
since the Arabic language was used in impacting Islamic Knowledge and values.
Islamic education system developed in Arabic and its expansion was closely tied to the
Arabic language as well. “Though the Islamic system of education has succeeded in
impacting the indigenous educational systems of the North Africans, therefore
replacing their indigenous values and languages with Islamic values and Arabic
language, outside those areas, where massive Arabic colonization has not taken place,
the spread of Islam has nevertheless remained tied to Arabic language and culture.”
(Ajayi 1982:12). “This is not to deny that in various places and to varying extents, the
Islamic system was influenced by indigenous cultures, values and philosophies. It has
been pointed out, for example, that African Islam has not been able to ignore the
central role of ancestors and the predominant sense of the continuity of history, and
that the cult of saints, some aspects of the mysticism of Sufi orders and maraboutism
represent manifestations of the impact of indigenous African thought on Islam
However, the unity of Islamic faith as manifested in the Koran, the Hadith and the
five pillars of Islamic law and practice has remained the dominant ideal. The Islamic
system of education is oriented, therefore, towards both the religion of Islam and the
language and culture of the Arabs.” (Ajayi 1982:13)
Furthermore, in chapter one, we deliberated on the history of Islam in the lower
part of the Volta Basin (former Gold coast and Ghana). Firstly, through the
commercial activities (of gold and kola nuts,) of the Mande (Wangara) Muslim traders
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from Mali Empire, Muslims finally settled in the Volta Basin (Gold coast, Ghana)
before the European missionaries and colonialists. They established different
dispersed ‘Commercial Diasporas’ in the region. The encounter between the Mande
(Wangara) Muslim traders and indigenous people in the Northern territories and the
commercial diasporas scattered into the interior Akan Forest resulted in some of the
indigenous people embracing Islam. For instance, “it is said that as a result of their
trading activities, the Mande scholarly community in Timbuktu arrived at Dagbon
around 1700 C.E. These Mande scholars were known in Dagbon as Yarnas, which
was the Mande word for religious leaders.” (Hiskett,1962:122) Moreover, other
indigenous people of the Gold Coast mostly in the south were also embraced Islam
due to their encounter with the Hausa traders and scholars.”One remarkable effect of
Hausa’s trading engagement in the area of the Volta Basin is that it has facilitated the
emergence of certain learning and trading centres in the region. This further enhanced
the interaction between people of the Volta Basin and the Muslim communities in
West Africa. The most notable centre was the Salaga Market in the Gonjaland which
emerged in 1775 as a Hausa-speaking town”. (Hiskett, 1984:45) In Ghana and other
areas of the world, the role of Islamic education in the entire educational process has
remained uncertain. Both in the Arab and non-Arab parts, there is ambiguity in the
search for revival whether it is to be through a renewal of the fundamental religious
roots of Islam or the mastery of modern technology. “Educational methodology in the
Koranic schools has remained resistant to change and has become outmoded.
Teachers of Arabic trained in modern methods of language education are few. There
is a need therefore to modernize the Islamic system. In the non-Arab parts, there is the
further complication of coming to terms with the African roots in terms of integrating
African languages and cultures into the system, especially in the multinational secular
state" (Ajayi 1982: 13)
In Ghana, the Islamic systems of education began with Islamic learning and
clerical practices back in the 15th century. “the Islamic education systems provided
intellectual and spiritual development in the Muslim dominated territories of Ghana.
The traditional qur’anic schools called “makaranta” were purely to train adherents and
their children in qur’anic verse and morals" (Obeng, 2017). “In the 20th century, these
schools were converted into Islamic schools and later into the national education
system for efficient management. The migration of the Islamic school was not as fast
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as that of the Christian schools given the Christian school edge over the Islamic
schools” (Owusu,2017; Akuaku,2018:120) “In contemporary Ghanaian society,
Humphrey Fisher (1975) highlighted three main approaches used in addressing the
issue of modernization of Islamic schools in Ghana. The conservative approach
advocated the teaching of traditional Islamic subjects, particularly Arabic, in a
modernized way. The other methods comprised either the incorporation of certain
secular subjects within the framework of Islamic learning or the option of adding an
Islamic framework to a full secular curriculum. “(Owusu,2017:29)
4.3.3. Colonial missionary Education in Gold coast (Ghana)
By the nineteenth century, missionary societies from the Western world; Europe
and North America tried to Christianize the indigenous people in Africa. The
missionary enterprise, therefore, became part of the European search for markets for
products of the new industrialization, and central figures in the European colonialism
in Africa and other parts of the world. Although the missionary society has a Christian
religious orientation, the missionary movement's primary character was secular. The
missionary societies operated in cooperation with various colonialists or operating
under their colonial laws.
In the earlier chapters, I contended that church-state relations influenced where
Protestant missionaries went and how much control the colonial government had over
all forms of missionary activities in the colonies. “Protestant missionaries were central
to the development of mass Western formal education outside the West. This is
because Protestants wanted people to be able to read the Bible in their language. Thus,
unlike other groups, wherever Protestant missionaries went, they almost immediately
began mass education campaigns and pressured the state to invest in mass education
as well. When threatened with Protestant competition, other religious groups also
invested in mass education. As a result, British colonies and other areas with large
numbers of Protestant missionaries ended up with more formal education per capita”
(Woodberry, 2004: 36) Therefore, the Christian educational system led by the
missionary societies became part of the British colonial administration in the Gold
coast as in other British colonies in the world. The educational process under colonial
rule was intended to facilitate control and exploitation by the European powers.
“Although there were marked differences of policy between Protestant and Catholic
missions, and between British, French, Portuguese and Belgian regimes, the goal of
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subordination to European interests was general.” (Ajayi 1982:13). The western
Christian education championed by the missionary societies showed contempt for
African values whiles consistently promoting admiration for European values in the
colonies. As a result, in contemporary African societies, “the Christian educational
system has rarely succeeded in converting the entire religious world view of the
indigenous people but its religious and socio-political impact can never be denied.
Moreover, in the early part of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the education of African
Americans had a bearing on the education of Africans in British colonies” (Malisa, and
Missedja.,2019:1).
In the Gold coast, the arrival of European settlers during the 16th century brought
new forms of learning; formal schools appeared, providing a book-based education.
“Their audience was mainly made up of local elites (mulattos, sons of local chiefs and
wealthy traders) and their presence was limited to the colonial forts, long confined to
the coasts.” ( Opoku, Manu and Wiafe,2015:2) Moreover, The British Government
established full colonial control over the Gold Coast colony in 1874. before then, a lot
of progress had been already made by the missionaries in providing Christian
education in the region. There were many Missionary Schools already scattered across
the length and breadth of the Gold coast (Ghana). “By 1881 there were 139 schools.
However, the education systems used varied widely. This prompted the government
to draw up its first plans in 1882 to guide the development of education. An Inspector
of Schools was instated from 1887 until 1890. Then the office of the Director of
Education was created” (Obed, 2018:8)
The establishment of the Gold Coast (Ghana)as a British colony in 1874 also
resulted in significant transformations in the Christian missionary educational
initiatives in the Gold coast due to an increase in the number of missionary societies
and their affiliated educational initiatives in the British colony of Gold coast. While
some missionary societies such as the Wesleyan mission (Methodist church) stayed in
the coastal areas using the English language as their main language, others such as the
Basel missionary (Presbyterian church) society also expanded deeper into the interior
territories using the indigenous languages as the medium for their missionary activities.
Through the initiatives and support of the British colonial government, missionary
oriented education flourished on the Gold coast with more room for methodological
freedom. The missionaries used schools, the Christian morning worship(devotion) at
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schools as well as bible knowledge lessons Schools as a process of evangelizing the
younger generation of the Gold Coast. As Casely Asamoah, rightly, observed, “the
Mission schools, besides its other-worldly benefits, provided the right environment for
the people to come under the influence of the Christian gospel “ (Essamoah,2010:56;
Acquah,2011:180) The missionaries were not just interested in interest in only
elementary primary, and secondary education but they also invested in technology and
teacher training colleges in Ghana. Adu Boahen however chronologically arranges in
sequence, the various secondary schools established by the missionaries in the field of
education. The Wesleyan mission in 1876 was the first to build Secondary School in
Ghana now properly known as Mfantsipim School. The second Secondary School was
the Adisadel College formerly known as “The Church of England Grammar School
which was started in Cape Coast in 1910. The Catholic mission in 1930 founded St.
Augustine’s college while in 1938 the Presbyterian mission established the Odumase-
Krobo Secondary School.” (Adu-Gyamfi, Donkoh and Addo 2017:161) However, it
was observed that the system of education adopted by the various missions differed
widely, and so in 1882, the Government drew the first plans to guide the development
of education. The missions co-operated wholeheartedly with the new policy. The plan
called for the establishment of a General Board of Education, and for the formation of
local boards to study and report on existing conditions”. (Amoah,2018:9)
Also, in the field of informal education, the missionary societies trained many
Christian converts the people of the Gold coast both adults and children were engaged
in a different form of apprenticeship by the missionary societies. “Both men and
women received this kind of education. In the case of women, for example, women
who formed the Bible Class were taught different kinds of handiwork such as weaving,
knitting of socks, hand gloves and caps for children. Those women who had the chance
to learn other things like soap making, oil preparation and the rest could sell them for
a living.” (Dzandzo,2018:71)
5.4.4. Post-colonial Education in Gold coast (Ghana)
Before independence, the missionary societies were the primary initiators and
providers of formal education in Ghana. When Ghana attained independence from the
British colonial government in 1957, the new government led by Kwame Nkrumah
made universal education for all Ghanaians a priority of his administration. Therefore,
The Accelerated Development Plan was approved in August 1951 immediately
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Nkrumah assumed office. The plan laid much emphasis on the expansion of secondary
education and postsecondary technological and managerial training in technical
institutions and universities to meet the needs of expanding industry, agriculture and
other sectors of the economy. Furthermore, ten years after the introduction of the
Accelerated Development, the Education Act of 1961 was passed. It was a legal
instrument passed in parliament stating what the government policy was regarding the
development and promotion of education in republican Ghana. The act spelt out the
way education was to be organized. The Education Act of 1961 was passed because
the Accelerated Development Plan had run for ten years and as such there was the need
to introduce innovations to tune up education to meet the philosophy and aspirations
of the government and the citizens.” (Amoah,2018:19)After the post-independence
Education Act of 1961 reforms, Education in Ghana has experienced many other postindependence
which are beyond the scope of this paper. Some of these educational
reforms in Ghana are; The Kwapong Education Review Committee of 1966, The Mills
– Odoi Commission, The Dzobo Report and The New Structure and Content of
Education (1972-1974), The Education Commission Report on Basic and Secondary
Education 1987/88The Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education Programme of
1995 to present, Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) of 2017, The Double Track
System under the FSHSP of 2018. The existing structure of the education system in
Ghana comprises six (6) years of primary education made up of three (3) years lower
and three (3) years upper primary, three (3) years of Junior High School, three (3) years
Senior High School and four (4) years University Education (6-3-3-4). (Gyamfi,
Donkoh, and Addo, 2016, p.165). Some of the Educational investments under British
missionary enterprise in Gold Coast Ghana are:
The Basel missionary (Presbyterian) Schools in Ghana by 2004, the
Presbyterian Church(Basel missionary) of Ghana was running 1,907 schools and one
University. There are now 37 health institutions associated with the church.
Agricultural development programs are also sponsored by the PCG. Market and prison
ministries are vital aspects of the mission. The vernacular tongue has been in use in
Ghanaian churches for over 176 years, and much of the literature has been translated.
The membership of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is around 527,000 and rising
(WPCG). (Cashen,2010, :24)
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List of Pentecost (Apostolic Church, Bretford) Missionary Schools in
Ghana
Pentecost vocational training
Pentecost JHS Koforidua
Pentecost Preparatory School Akyem Kwabeng
Aburi Girls Senior High School, Aburi, Eastern Region
Accra Academy, in Kaneshie, Greater Accra Region
Aburi Secondary Technical School, in Aburi, Eastern Region
Adisadel College, in Cape Coast, Central Region
Adonten Senior High School [Aburi] [Eastern Region]
Aggrey Memorial A.M.E. Zion Senior High School, in Cape Coast, Central
Region
Akosombo International School, in Akosombo, Eastern Region
Anamon Hyeren Standard School, in Tutuka, Obuasi Municipal District, Ashanti
Region
Anglican Senior High School, in Kumasi, Ashanti Region
Axim Girls Senior High School
Antoa Senior High School, in Kwabre East Municipal
Barekese Senior High School, in Barekese, Ashanti Region
Bimbilla Senior High School
Bishop Herman College, in Kpando, Volta Region
Boa Amponsem Senior High School, in Dunkwa-on-Offin, Central Region
Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School
Bompeh Senior High Technical School, in Sekondi-Takoradi, Western Region
Pentecost Preparatory School
Pentecost Preparatory School, Koforidua
Pentecost Jhs , Koforidua
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Odorkor SDA Church And Schools
Pentecost Senior High School, Koforidua (PENSEC)
Pentecost Preparatory School
Nkawkaw Pentecost Preparatory School
The Church Of Pentecost Ebenezer Down Assembly
Koforidua Pentecost Junior High School-Old Estate
Pentecost Preparatory International School Techiman
The Catholic Schools in Ghana
St. Martin Sec. School.
Pope John Sec. School and Junior Seminary
St. Thomas Sec/Technical School
St. Paul’s Senior Sec. School
St. Peter’s Secondary School
St. Rose’s Sec. School
St. Francis Day Sec. School.
St. Dominic Senior Sec. School.
St. Michael’s Senior Sec. School
St. Fidelis Sec/Technical School
Star Of The Sea Catholic School.
OLA Catholic Prim School
St. Ignatius of Loyola School
St. Anthony Catholic School.
St Anne Roman Catholic School
St. Kizito Roman Catholic School.
Corpus Christi Catholic Basic School
Our Lady of Holy Cross School
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Mary Mother Of Good Counsel School.
Rev. Father John Memorial Preparatory School
St Martin de Porres School.
St Bernadette Soubirous School
St Mark Primary and JSS
VOCATIONAL/TECHNICAL
St. Paul’s Tech. School
St. Joseph’s Tech. Institute
St. Mary’s Vocational Training Centre.
St. Anne’s Vocational School
St. George’s Vocational Institute.
St. Mary’s Vocational
Training colleges
Mt. Mary Teacher Training College
Holy Family Nurses’ Training College.
Orthopaedic Training Centre etc.
The British -Wesleyan (Methodist) Missionary schools in Gold Coast
The Methodist church has established an estimate of 719 kindergartens, 1,017 primary
and 483 junior high schools, 22 secondary/tertiary/vocational institutions, three
colleges of education etc.
In conclusion, Before the emergence of British missionary societies,
education systems in Ghana (Gold Coast) were mostly informal. Knowledge and skills
in the indigenous societies were transmitted verbally and through apprenticeship. the
indigenous systems of education have a dominant influence over the transmission of
African languages, cultural values and Apprenticeship before the Europeans emerged
in the region. Moreover. There was also in existence the Islamic education system
before colonial and missionary education emerged on the Gold coast. Islamic
education system used the Arabic language as a medium of impacting Islamic
Knowledge and values. Therefore, the spread of Islam has nevertheless remained tied
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to the Arabic language and culture. Educational methodology in the Quranic schools
has remained resistant to change. But Islamic education system lacks Teachers trained
in modern methods of language education. There is also the need to modernize the
Islamic education system to come to terms with the indigenous roots in terms of
integrating African languages and cultures into the system, especially in multinational
secular states like Ghana. In the 20th century, the already existing Quranic schools
were converted into Islamic schools and late assimilated into the national education
system of Ghana for efficient management. But The migration of the Islamic schools
into the national education system took much time, therefore, giving the Christian
missionary schools edge over the Islamic schools in contemporary Ghana. Christian
educational system in the Gold Coast emerged with the arrival of early Portuguese and
British missionaries, and traders. Their students were mainly from local elites
(mulattos, sons of local chiefs and wealthy traders) in the colonial forts along the
coastal region. Moreover, when the British Government established full colonial
control over the Gold Coast colony in 1874. It led to a significant transformation in the
Christian missionary educational initiatives in the region due to an increase in the
number of missionary societies and their affiliated educational initiatives in the British
colony of the Gold coast. The Christian missionary educational process under colonial
rule was intended to facilitate control and exploitation by the British colonialist. There
were about 139 missionary schools as of 1881 in the Gold coast but their education
systems varied from one to another. The British colonial government, therefore,
established the first Gold coast educational plan in 1882 to guide the development of
education. The government appointed the Inspector of Schools from 1887 until 1890.
In the field of informal education, the missionary societies also trained many Christian
converts on the Gold coast. These new converts were trained in a different form of
apprenticeship by the missionary societies. Both men and women received this kind of
education. They were involved in education because they need people to help them
communicate and interact with the natives and to help them propagate the gospel. This
aim has prevailed to date and Owusu (2017:14) confirmed and write “and such
colonization of education has continued to the present time. (Akuaku,2018:13)
After independence, Christianity and Islam both influenced education in Ghana
and today they are the major stakeholders in education contributing both to
infrastructure and human resources. Their histories make them visible in public and
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private schools in Ghana. Their visibility in the school setting leads to the inculcation
of the rights to religious freedom in all schools most especially the public schools
which is accessible to all citizens. (Akuaku,2018: 13)
Although various successive governments in Ghana have recognized the crucial
importance of education as a factor in development. Yet their efforts since
independence can only be said to have failed to make a significant impact. The
increasing expenditure in education such as the establishment of new schools, colleges
and universities are very impressive, but the rate of developmental impact is nowhere
near the educational investments.
Furthermore, there is over dominance of English languages in the educational
systems and little transfer of technology are said to be promoting more of western than
African education the educational systems remain fragmented, with no coherent world
view and the lack of African identity. The educational system constantly serves the
interests of the metropolitan capitalists and local exploiting elites, and its shortcomings
can be justified by the dependent nature of the Ghanaian economy.
Also, The Government of Ghana cannot afford to disregard modern science and
technology in the contemporary educational system. modern science and technology
should not be transferred or imported but manufactured locally. Science and
technology must be promoted as an important aspect of the post-colonial educational
system in Ghana, borrowing from abroad when is necessary, but developing locally
within an overall autonomous educational system capable of generating growth and
development.
There is also the need for adequate attention to be given to the African traditional
religion as well as the Islamic religious aspects of educational systems to develop a
system of education compatible with the role of the state in ensuring religious freedom
in Ghana.
4.4. Impact on health care
A health care system can simply be referred to as a collection of people,
institutions, and resources that work together to provide healthcare services to people
in specific communities. There are different types of health care systems in the world.
Each of these variations of health care systems has its history as well as organizational
structures. Moreover, different nations over the years have constructed and developed
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health systems under their specific needs and available resources. But most health care
systems are categorized into primary health care and public health care. In this subchapter,
we shall deliberate on the Pre-colonial Health Care, Colonial and Missionary
Health Care, Post-independence health care and the Ghana Christian Health Association of
Ghana.
4.4.1. Pre-colonial Health Care in Gold Coast
During the pre-colonial period, Health services in the regions later to became
Gold Coast and Ghana respectively was based on healing from the traditional
herbalists as well as traditional priests and priestesses. The patient will usually seek
medication by themselves. But in cases of severe illness, their families will send him
or her to the priests, priestesses, or medicine men or invite healers to attend to the sick
in his or her house. In most instances, the causes of the sicknesses were attributed to
wrath on the part of the lesser gods or the ancestors. But the intensity of this belief
depends on the religious orientation of the indigenous people. Some of the venerable
diseases that were in existence in this period are chicken-pox, the clap, guinea worms,
itches or craw and malaria etc. however briefly, African healing methods were in the
following broad areas: Surgical interventions, internal disturbances, contagious
diseases, epidemics and parasite infestations and therapeutics. “Dr Tedlie who
accompanied the Bowdich Mission to Ashanti in 1817 had something definite to say
about how the Ashantis dealt with such surgical problems as fractures and
haemorrhage from physical trauma: The Ashantis bound up the broken limb with
leaves and other herbs without any regular attempt at reducing the fracture. The attitude
was taken that the patient would survive if God willed it”. (Addae,1996:8-9).
The early European traders and missionaries on the West African Coast were
also attacked by several diseases as the natives. most prominent among these diseases
was Malaria which was mostly referred to as the chief killer on the West African
Coastal region. however, the Gold Coast continuously attracted most of the European
traders due to the availability of slaves and the high profit associated with the slave
trade. Therefore, the primary mission of the colonial medical services during the early
decades of colonial rule was first and foremost to protect the health of European
officials and then other Europeans. (Arhinful,200:34) Moreover, the profitability
associated with trading in slaves was determined by the delivery of healthy slaves to
the sales destination in the Americas and Caribbean. The profitability of the trade
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rested 1n the delivery of healthy, or tolerably-healthy, slaves to the Americas and the
Caribbean. “They need to ensure that healthy slaves were bought and remained in good
health at delivery on the other side of the Atlantic, made necessary the employment of
ship surgeons by the slave traders. In this curious way, modern medicine began to be
practised along the West African coast, albeit principally on slaves ready for
shipment.” (Addae,1995:13). As a result, ship surgeons employed by the British and
other European traders to guarantee that healthy slaves make it to the New World,
accidentally introduced modern medicine to the Gold Coast and other regions on the
West African coast. But it took the initiatives of the missionary societies to introduce
modern medical service to the native people of the Gold Coast. In the earlier centuries,
the missionary movement had begun and the provision of medical help to local
Africans started. According to Schram, “Catholic traders and Missionaries built a
hospital in 1504 on St Thomas Island off Nigeria, and, apparently subsequently, on
various islands off the West African coast. In keeping with the practice of the day,
missionaries often doubled as lay physicians. We can assume then that wherever a
Christian mission was established, mission schools were also established, and, as a
rule, there was an accompany1ng medical service”. (Addae,1996:15)
4.4.2. Colonial and Missionary Health Care in Gold Coast
As indicated above, the high mortality rate among the Europeans in the last
quarter of the 19th century necessitated the creation of colonial medical service in the
colony. Meanwhile, by 1827, the British became the sole European power on the Gold
Coast due to the departure of the Dutch. Therefore, the political power of the British
colonialists began to spread beyond the coastal region to the interior regions after they
defeated the Asante kingdom. “In 1850 therefore, the Colonial Secretary of the Gold
Coast, Earl Grey proposed direct taxation to supplement custom duties to generate
additional revenue for social infrastructure and services like road extension, the
establishment of schools and hospitals and sanitation.” (Arhinful,2003:33) “But
Governor Stephen J. Hill (1851-53) succeeded in 1852 in getting some Fanti chiefs
around the British settlements to agree to form a Legislative Assembly and to a Poll
Tax of one shilling for every person in the towns and districts under British protection.
Some of the proceeds of the Poll Tax were to be used for medical work.”
(Arhinful,2003:33) “As a result of continued opposition to the poll tax, it was abolished
after only a few years. Therefore, the administration established posts for the Poll Tax
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Doctors or "Doctors to the natives". The first two such doctors were Dr J. Jenkins and
Dr R. Clarke. Others were soon appointed to the various British forts and settlements
with the instructions that the natives were entitled to gratuitous medical treatment from
the physicians “(Blue book 1955). “Army doctors were also appointed to undertake
part time duties. For example, in 1857, Dr Martin was appointed to the office of
colonial surgeon on a salary of hundred pounds per annum with the understanding his
duties included attending to the native” (Arhinful,2003:34) By the late 1890s, the
population of the Europeans in the Gold Coast further increased to six times its level
in the late 1880s.Therefore, there is the need to further expand the health system due
to the high death rates among Europeans in the region to curtail the increase in
European death rates.This concern prompted the need to channel the resources of the
colony into securing their health. This led to the build-up of civil medical
infrastructure, virtually from scratch, in the colony from 1890. “An effective medical
policy, therefore, became necessary from 1890 for two reasons; consolidation of
British power and influence and concern for European health with the principal aim of
reducing the abnormally high mortality of Europeans resident in colonial tropical
climates, principally due to malaria. During that period (thel880s), a Gold Coast
Medical department was established, headed by a physician entitled Principal Medical
Officer (PMO), who was designated to administer the department” (Arhinful,2003:35)
“The point that needs to be emphasised here is that the system of health care that the
colonial government introduced in the Gold Coast was that private people paid for
health care in the government system while civil servants were exempted.”
(Arhinful,2003:39). At first, the indigenous people of the Gold Coast perceived the
European medication provided by the colonialists and missionaries with mistrust just
like the way they suspected their Western education. however, later they came to
realized that the medication provided by that colonialist mostly through the missionary
societies can also heal. This led to the increase in the rate of reception of modern health
care in the Gold Coast (Ghana).Therefore, the British colonialist and missionaries
pioneered the introduction of contemporary health care service in Gold Coast.
(Ghana)modern hospitals, clinics and dispensaries or their equivalents where the sick
could be attended in an organized way were introduced to the people of Gold Coast.
The indigenous African medical system has no such equivalents during the precolonial
and missionary periods.
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Before political independence, the health system of Ghana was dominated by a
collection of government health centres situated in the southern coastal regions as well
as Christian mission hospitals which are not confined only to the Europeans and their
civil servants in coastal regions but also to the indigenous native in the rural areas. In
many territories, missionary hospitals and dispensaries were in place several decades
before the colonial government accepted any general responsibility for African health
care. “Unlike Medical Missionary work in other British colonies, such as Nigeria or
East and Central Africa which were begun in the late 1800s, missionary hospitals were
not started in the Gold Coast until 1931, when the Basel Mission started the Agogo
hospital in Asante Akim. This was followed by the Catholic hospital at Breman
Asikuma in 1943. By 1951 there were two more at Jirapa (maternity) and Worawora.
Before hospitals were started though, medical missions in the Gold Coast had taken
off as small dispensaries, aid posts and clinics” (Arhinful,2003:47). From 1951 and
1960, the missionary hospitals increased from three to twenty-seven which were
distributed throughout the country, including the Northern Territories, Volta Regions,
and Ashanti territories.
4.4.3. Post-independence health care in Ghana
At Independence Ghana’s formal health system was a collection of government
and mission hospitals and health centres situated in the southern coastal regions These
included four former colonial army medical facilities turned civilian facilities (c.1878)
situated in Keta, Accra, Cape Coast and Elmina; four purpose-built health facilities
(c.1890) in Dixcove, Saltpond, Winneba and Ada; four mission hospitals in Agogo,
Asante Akim (built 1931), Breman Asikuma (built 1943), Jirapa and Wora Wora (built
1951); a collection of mission run dispensaries, aid posts and clinics situated largely in
rural areas. (Arhinful,2003;Aikin and Koram,2017:370).At these periods of political
independence in 1951-1957, the first government of Ghana led by Dr Kwame
Nkrumah inherited a medical service that was tremendously curative with several
inherent weaknesses. The success of vaccination campaigns and modern treatments
against the previous outbreak of yaws, trypanosomiasis and smallpox as well as other
diseases such as leprosy, venereal diseases and pneumonia, had led to public
confidence in the medical services. However, the success of modem medicine also
became a source of limitation since it could not meet all demands and expectations.
(Arhinful,2003:44-45). Moreover, because of the highly discriminatory nature of the
105
colonial health care system which tends to neglect the ordinary natives and safeguard
European health as well as that of their native civil servants, the colonial system highly
ignored the rural communities. The newly independent government, therefore,
developed a policy framework for the development of health services in the country to
cover the native in the rural areas, particularly those located in the interior and northern
territories. Also, “the new government of Ghana after independence recognized the
important role the missionary societies are playing in the health care system of Ghana.
The government, therefore, makes annual budgetary provisions for subsidizing the
missionaries’ operations in the health care system. This is channelled through the
Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG). CHAG was started in 1967 with the
help of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Catholic Bishops Conference of
Ghana and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), and duly registered under the
Trustees (incorporation)) Act of 1962. Its mission is "to provide holistic, affordable
and quality health care in fulfilment of Christ's mandate to go and heal the sick"
(Christian Health Association of Ghana:2000).In modern Ghana, these missionary
Churches continue to impact the health care system. All the missionary churches
involved in the 19th-century British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast have
clinics and hospitals in different regions across the country which provides medical
services to members of the Church as well as the local communities. They continue to
show love and affection to the sick, poor and the aged in the communities as a means
to attract the indigenous people into Christianity.
4.4.4. Christian Health Association of Ghana
Most of the Christian churches operating in the health care system in Ghana are
under the umbrella of The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) founded in
1967. The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) is the mother organization
that coordinates the activities of the Christian health institutions in Ghana. The
Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) is a faith-based network organisation
of 21 Christian church denominations, involved in the provision of health care and
training of health professionals. “Established in 1967, the Association comprises 58
hospitals, 114 health centres and clinics, and 12 health training institutions,
Membership has gone up from 25 in 1967 to 184 in 2010. There is potential for further
growth since not all church health facilities have been registered. The network
members collectively have a staff strength of approximately 7,300. In 2010 the total
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number of outpatient contacts exceeded 4,000,000 and inpatients exceeded 300,000
persons” (Christian Health Association of Ghana Annual Report, 2010:1) “The Board
is composed of nominated representatives of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference
and the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Pentecostal Council. The Board is
tasked to support and monitor the implementation of decisions and programmes by the
secretariat that serve the interest of members. (Christian Health Association of Ghana
Annual Report, 2010:1) The CHAG network comprises 172 health care facilities and
10 health training institutions which are spatially deployed in all the ten (11) regions
of the country and belong to 21 church denominations. All CHAG facilities make up
5.3% of all health infrastructure in Ghana.” (Christian Health Association of Ghana
Annual Report, 2010:25)
The Figure below provides an overview of the total facilities of CHAG,2010
(Christian Health Association of Ghana Annual Report, 2010:25)
Figure 4.2.An overview of total facilities of the Christian Health Association of Ghana CHAG,2010
The Figure below provides an overview of facility ownership by denominations
under the Christian Health Association of Ghana in Percentage in 2010.
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Figure 4.3. Facility ownership by denominations in Percentage CHAG,2010
From the figure above, the Catholic Church owns 43.4 % o, the Presbyterian
Church (16.5 %) the Seventh Day Adventist Mission (8.8%) and the others making a
total of 182 health facilities in 2010. It is worth noting that, “members of the network
are financed through government contribution, internally generated funds,
grants/donations and direct funding support from development partners through
projects. 99% of government contribution goes directly to support salary costs and the
remaining 1 % supports capital investments”. (Christian Health Association of Ghana
Annual Report, 2010:1)
The Figure show an overview of the Percentage Distribution of Christian Health
Association of Ghana staff on Government Payroll by Category in 2010.
Figure 4.4. Percentage Distribution of Staff on Government Payroll
Note: From the figure above, it is evident that the majority of staff are nonprofessional
workers [others] as compared to the other professional workers.
108
In conclusion, During the pre-colonial period, the health system in Ghana was
centred on healing from traditional herbalists as well as traditional priests and
priestesses. Various diseases usually attacked the indigenous people as well as the few
European traders and missionaries operating on the coastal region of the Gold Coast.
However, the region continuously attracted more European traders due to the
availability of slaves and the high profit associated with trading in slaves. the need to
ensure that healthy slaves were bought and delivered to the Atlantic made it necessary
for the European traders to employ surgeons of the ship who will give health care to
the slaves on and off the trading ships. As result, modern medicine was first introduced
into to the Gold Coast and other regions on the West African coast
Furthermore, the European population in the Gold Coast increased to six times
its level in the late 1880s. Therefore, the British colonial government saw the need to
expand the health system in the Gold Coast because of the high mortality rates among
Europeans in the region. the primary aim of the colonial and Christian missionary
health services during the early decades of colonial rule was first and foremost to
protect the health of European officials and then other African civil servant working in
the European interest. This prompted the need to use the resources of the colony into
providing health care services. This led to the establishment of medical infrastructure
in the colony. Therefore, in Ghana, the European colonialists and missionaries mostly
from Britain pioneered the introduction of modern health care services. Hospitals,
clinics and dispensaries where the sick could be attended in an organized way we're
introduced to the people of Gold Coast. The indigenous African medical system was
not having such equivalents during the pre-colonial and missionary periods.
Before Ghana attained political independence, the health system in the region
was dominated by a collection of government and Christian missionary health centres
situated mostly in the southern coastal regions. This colonial health care system was
only confined to the Europeans and their civil servants in coastal regions and later
extended to cover the natives through the efforts of the missionary societies.
Moreover, because of the rate of discrimination in the colonial health care system
which tend to neglect the ordinary natives and focus on the health of the Europeans
and their native civil servants, the newly independent government led by Kwame
Nkrumah developed a policy framework for the development of health services in the
109
country to cover the native in the rural areas, particularly those located in the interior
and northern territories.
The Missionary Churches continue to impact the health care system in
contemporary Ghana. All the missionary societies involved in the 19th-century British
missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast have clinics and hospitals in different regions
in the country which provides medical services to members of the Church as well as
the local communities as a means to attract the indigenous people into the Christianity.
Most of the Christian church’s initiatives in the health care system of Ghana are
executed under The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) founded in
1967. The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) acts as the mother
organization that coordinates the activities of most Christian health institutions and
services in Ghana.
4.5. Socio-Economic impact
“Socioeconomic impact assessment is a methodical procedure in which pros and
cons for a whole community or various processes are shown and studied. The objective
is to explore and evaluate the objective of a given plan/program along with associated
eventual impacts. Basically, in this technique, the socioeconomic cost is evaluated
against the socioeconomic benefit. The method is used to evaluate the economic and
social impacts associated with product and processes.”(Nautiyal and Goel:2002),
4.5.1. Pre-colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana)
The pre-colonial economy of the Gold Coast was primarily in barter trading
(exchange of goads for goads). The indigenous people were engaged in fishing and
salt production in the coastal region, farming, and mining in the interior region as well
as trading which was mostly controlled by the Muslim traders (commercial diasporas)
passing through the northern territories into the interior and later to the coastal regions.
The Muslim traders will transport their merchandize product back to Jenne and
Timbuktu for onward transportation to North Africa. With the emergence of the
European colonial experience, slave trading was also commercialised. “By colonial
experience, we do not only mean the direct control of the Gold Coast by the colonial
powers but more generally, European influence on the entire region. So, according to
this definition, Sub-Saharan Africa was strongly affected by ‘colonialism’ between the
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sixteenth and nineteenth centuries because of the Atlantic slave trade.” (Acemoglu et
al., 2001: 1370; Austin,2008:1004).
The Figure below shows data on the goods sold by the RAC trading on the West
African coast in the 1720s to 1740 in Gold Coast.
Figure 4.5. Goods sold by the RAC trading in the Gold Coast coast from the 1720s to 1740. (Rönnbäck,2020:7)
From the above, it is clear that in terms of value, the indigenous people of Gold
Coast saw textiles as the most important commodities in the barter trade, textiles
accounted for almost half of the total value of the goads the British company brought
to the Gold Coast in this period. the company also imported alcohol, guns, and
gunpowder each of which accounted for approximately 10% of the total value of the
trade each. Metals and metalware such as jugs, pots, and pans of brass were also
imported into the Gold Coast by the British Royal African Company between 1720
and 1740.
The figure below shows the goods purchased by the Royal African Company
(RAC) on the Gold Coast in the benchmark years 1725 to1745.
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Figure 4.6. Goods purchased by the RAC on the Gold Coast in the years 1725–1745. (Rönnbäck,2020:7)
From the above, it is clear that in terms of value the British traded much in
Slaves, almost more than half of the entire goads purchased on the Gold Coast of Gold
Coast. In terms of the value of exchange, gold, African provisions, and others followed
respectively after slaves between the benchmark period of 1725 and 1745. ‘In total,
approximately £105,000 sterling for the five benchmark years, or around £21,000
sterling per year on average.” (Rönnbäck,2020:6)
4.5.2. Colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana)
Moreover, from 1850, Britain gradually seized political control of the coastal
regions of modern Ghana and formed a protectorate called the Gold Coast Colony.
However, When the British defeated the interior Asante kingdom in1874, The Gold
Coast became a recognized British crown colony established based on the 1875 peace
treaty. In 1896, another war between the Ashanti and British forced the kingdom to
become under the British protectorate. finally in 1902, the British extended their
political control to the Northern territories of modern Ghana. By 1898, The British
Construction of railroads had begun which will assist the British in consolidating their
control over entire Ghana and lowering the cost of transportation commodities for
export exports.
Furthermore, after a long period of Christianity emerged in the region, the
indigenous people showed little interest in the religion. But later when the British
gained full political control over the Gold Coast, “Evangelical efforts from
Presbyterian, Methodist, and other missionary societies, the indigenous people mostly
in the coastal regions began to convert to Christianity. Evangelization efforts
intensified when Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries reached the Gold Coast in
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1828 and 1835, respectively. By 1850, only 904 Ghanaians had converted and 21
missions existed” (Isichei, 1995:169; Miller, 2003:23). “Mass evangelization did not
take off until the 1870s when 67 Protestant missions served about 6,000 Ghanaians.
Catholic missions started their conversion efforts from 1880 onwards. By 1932, the
number of missions had expanded to 1,775 with about 340,000 followers (9% of
Ghana’s population). The Christian share has since grown to 41% in 1960 (Ghana
Census Office, 1960) and 71% in 2010” (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012:Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:9) The Missionary societies viewed the provision of
education as an effective tool to attract the native people into Christians. As result, they
provided the bulk of formal education in Ghana during the colonial period.
The missionary societies initially depended on financial support from Western
congregations, philanthropists and the colonial government with the final goal of
establishing a self-financing African church in Ghana. therefore, the was the need to
economically emancipate the native converts to take that mantle. Later these new
economically viable African converts contributed to the spread of Christianity
throughout the country.
As stated above, the expansion of the missionary churches can also be connected
with their convert's engagement in trading in kola, palm oil, palm kernel as well as
engaging in kola and plantation. In particular, cocoa farming dramatically increased
incomes from the 1890s onwards (Hill, 1963a; Austin, 2003). By 1911, Ghana had
become the world’s leading cocoa producer. Ghanaians invested their cocoa revenues
in their children’s education at mission schools (Foster, 1965; Meyer, 1999).
Debrunner (1967;54) made it clear: Cocoa money helped the African Christians to pay
school fees and church taxes and to pay off old debts from the building of schools and
chapels”. Consequently, “Ghana Churches and the Christians became very dependent
on cocoa for their economic support.” (Sundkler and Steed, 2000: 216; Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:11)
More generally, various Protestant mission societies established trading
companies that exported African cash crop production and allocated portions of their
profits to sustain missionary activities (Johnson, 1967; Gannon, 1983). “Catholic
missions, in contrast, were less constrained as they relied on the financial backing of
the Vatican and its missionary associations across Europe” (Debrunner, 1967; Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:11)
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4.5.3. Post -Colonial Socio-economic situation of Gold Coast (Ghana)
There is no doubt the Christian missionary societies embarked on different socioeconomic
initiatives such as investment in education, agriculture and health care in
Ghana. In line with recent economic theory that suggests that education increases
human capital, which spurs economic growth (Lucas1988; Romer 1989; Barro 1991;
Brown 2000; World Bank 1991; Schultz 1993) one will be tempted to conclude that
the initiatives of the missionary societies have resulted into economic development in
the country. However, the type of education is also important not just the amount of
education” (Woodberry, 2004:64)
In the British colony of Gold Coast, the Missionary societies were directly
involved in educating the indigenous people to help them acquire the needed skills to
make a transition into the emerging British crown colony of Gold Coast (Ghana). Also,
the missionaries introduced new crops such as Cocoa on the Gold Coast, they taught
new converts new farming techniques and industrial skills such as carpentry and
masonry, they taught the native people to read and understand the bible and taught
them the English language which will enable them to trade with the Whiteman. One
may assume that the education, as well as the transfer of resources and skills by the
missionary societies in one way or the other, helped foster economic development on
the Gold Coast (Ghana). But the study of Felix Meier zu Selhausen, Alexander Moradi
and Remi Jedwab (Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:1) on the economic effects
of Christian missionary societies in Ghana relied on six different identification
strategies that exploit exogenous variations in Christian missionary expansion in
Ghana from 1828 to 1932 found out that there is no relation between Christian
missionaries (both Protestant, Catholic) and economic development whether during
the colonial and contemporary independence state of Ghana. However, some of their
findings suggest that Christian missionary societies might have had a positive
influence on human capital formation in Ghana. In other words, the Christian
missionary societies might have had a positive impact on human capital formation in
Ghana but that did not necessarily translate into the economic development of the
country.
From the above discussions, it is obvious the pre-colonial economy of the Gold
Coast was primarily in barter trading (exchange of goads for goads). The natives of
Gold Coast were engaged in fishing and salt production in the coastal region, farming,
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and mining in the interior region as well as trading which was mostly controlled by the
Muslim traders (commercial diasporas) passing through the northern territories into
the interior and later to the coastal regions. The Muslim traders will transport their
merchandize product back to Jenne and Timbuktu for onward transportation to North
Africa. However, with the emergence of the colonial experience, massive slave trading
was also commercialised in Gold Coast (Ghana)
During the Colonial period, the Socio-economy of the Gold Coast changed. The
British Constructed railway lines that will assist them to firmly consolidate their
political and economic control over the entire region and lower the cost involved in
transporting their purchased items final exportation to the western world. However,
the missionary societies were initially dependent on financial support from Western
congregations, philanthropists and the colonial government with the final goal of
establishing a self-financing native missionary church in Ghana. therefore, the was the
need to economically emancipate the native converts to take that mantle. Later these
new economically viable African converts contributed to the spread of Christianity
throughout the region. “The missionary and the native Christian converts engaged in
plantation and trading of commodities such as kola, palm oil, palm kernel. In particular,
“cocoa farming dramatically increased incomes from the 1890s onwards” (Austin,
2003). By 1911, Ghana had become the world’s leading cocoa producer. Ghanaians
invested their cocoa revenues in their children’s education at mission schools”
(Debrunner,1967:54) made it clear: Cocoa money helped the African Christians to pay
school fees and church taxes and to pay off old debts from the building of schools and
chapels”. Consequently, “Ghana Churches and the Christians became very dependent
on cocoa for their economic support.” (Sundkler and Steed, 2000:216; Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:11) Also, “various Protestant mission societies
established trading companies that exported African cash crop production and
allocated portions of their profits to sustain missionary activities”. (Johnson, 1967;
Gannon, 1983;Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018) The Post-Colonial Socioeconomic
situation of Gold Coast can be described as basically originating from the
colonial and missionary societies’ socio-economic initiatives such as investment in
education, agriculture and health care in Ghana. Although recent theories in
Economics tend to suggest that, education leads to increases in human capital
development and therefore economic growth, one will be tempted to conclude that the
115
educational initiatives of the missionary societies in Ghana have resulted in economic
development in the country. But the study of Felix Meier zu Selhausen, Alexander
Moradi, Remi Jedwab (Jedwab, Selhausen and Moradi, 2018:1) on the economic
effects of Christian missionary societies in Ghana relied on six different identification
strategies that exploit exogenous variations in Christian missionary expansion in
Ghana from 1828 to 1932 found out that there is no relation between Christian
missionaries (both Protestant, Catholic) and economic development whether during
the colonial and contemporary independence state of Ghana. However, some of their
findings suggest that Christian missionary societies might have had a positive
influence on human capital formation in Ghana. In other words, the Christian
missionary societies might have had a positive impact on human capital formation in
Ghana but that did not necessarily translate into the socio-economic development of
the country.
4.6. Political Impact
4.6.1. Pre-colonial political situation
In the pre-colonial period, indigenous traditional societies in the Gold Coast were
relatively in stable condition. Religion in these indigenous kingdoms generally played
a significant role in the smooth administration of their political processes. “Religious
rituals were one of the chief instruments by which power-holders maintained control
over the community decision-making process, and the religious "myths" of these
primitive groups (e.g., those related to tribal origin) were one of the principal means of
legitimizing and also limiting the political leadership. Moreover, in these societies, the
political and religious processes were closely intertwined, often in a single set of
institutions and practices.” (Hopkins,1966:556)
The highest in the power structure of the pre-colonial African political system
was the State. The state (duko in Ewe; omcin in Akan) today (otherwise referred to as
‘traditional area’) is a sub-division comprised of semi-independent political groups,
each of which is headed by a chief (nutomefia in Ewe; omanhene in Akan). Assisting
the chief is a council of lower chiefs and elders. “Although this council’s role is
advisory, the state functions democratically in that the divisional chief regularly
summons the council and seeks its role in times of serious crisis in the sub-division. In
addition, the commoners are invited to share their views during public debates of issues
related to the sub-division” (Asimpi,202:49) Also, “one may also find in the state
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machinery such institutions as ‘divine leaders, ... sub-chiefs, young men’s groups
(asafo), professional groups organised as political units, all in their inter-relationship
indicating a very sophisticated political arrangement whose fundamental thrust is the
economic and spiritual well-being of the people”(Awoonor,1990; Asimpi,2021)
Furthermore, some of the indigenous traditional societies led by the Paramount
Chiefs or King are the Akan (Omanhene) and the Ewe (Awoamefia or Fiaga).) But
unlike the Ewe and the Akan, the Ga people never had a paramount chief or chiefs at
all in the sense in which the word is used by the Ewe and the Akan. “Ga were originally
complete theocracies and the only rulers were the wulomei (priests). As such the Chief
Wulomo (high priest) was the only ruler of the town. But they later borrowed the idea
of secular chiefs and stools from the Asante and the Akaupem.”(Asimpi,201:50)
Moreover, because of the sacred position the paramount chiefs occupied, they
commanded great authority and powers. They were not autocratic leaders, but they
ruled in democratic nature. The indigenous Ghanaians societies believed that the
paramount chiefs were the people's representatives and their powers are therefore
derived from the people. Also, in most of the traditional kingdoms on the Gold Coast,
there was an organization called the Council of Elders. “The Council of Elders, from
whom the Paramount Chief or King derived his power, was viewed as the people’s
general assembly or legislature whose deliberations centred on all the political and
administrative matters affecting the whole state” (Awoonor,1990:15)
This was the political setting in the Gold Coast into which Christianity emerged
as a form of proselytizing Christian missionary societies. The missionary societies
established their missions on the Gold Coast, provided formal education to teach the
native people about Christianity and possibly convert them into the new religion. They
began farming, and provided medical health care to enhance the socio-economic
situation of their new native coverts and possibly to also provide social stimulus which
will attract new converts. “Despite the clear values missionary societies were offering
to the indigenous people in the form of skills, economic well-being, and possibly
prestige, only a few native Africans accepted this new religion, early recruits to
Christianity came largely from those already disaffected from traditional society, such
as slaves and outcast” (Hopkins 1966:557)
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4.6.2. Colonial political situation
Ghana was a British Crown Colony called Gold Coast from 1821 until its
independence in 1957. Before the British finally declared the region a British crown
colony, other European powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes were all
competing in regional trade and authority on the Gold Coast. The British eventually
gain political authority over the four separate jurisdictions of the British crown colony
of Gold Coast through wars with the natives as well as the purchase of territorial
settlements and forts of other European powers in the region. Therefore, by 1821 the
British colonial administration in the region covered; the Gold Coast (coastal
regions,1844), the Ashanti (1874), the Northern Territories and the British Togoland
trust territory (1902).
When the British increasingly cemented control Gold Coast, they established the
direct system of the British political authority in the colony. This changed the already
existing political systems in the region. The British Gold coast was headed by the
Governor of the British colony who was then assisted by the Executive Council and
the Legislative Council. The Executive Council was made up of a few British officials
acting as an advisory body to the governor on laws and taxes whiles the legislative
Council was also made-up of members of the Executive Council and some British
merchants in the region. After 1900, the British colonial government-appointed three
chiefs and three other Africans were chosen from then Christianized communities of
Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi to the Legislative Council. Representatives of Asante
and the Northern Territories followed later. Before before1925, the governor is solely
responsible for the appointment of all members of the legislative council.
Furthermore, the progressive establishment of a centralized British colonial
government resulted in centralized control of local services. Therefore, specific roles
and responsibilities were assigned to the indigenous traditional states in the region.
Village councils of chiefs and elders were almost exclusively responsible for the
immediate needs of individual localities, including traditional law and order and the
general welfare. The councils, however, ruled by consent rather than by right. Chiefs
were chosen by the ruling class of the society; a traditional leader continued to rule not
only because he was the choice of what may be termed the nobility, but also because
he was accepted by his people. The unseating or destooling of a chief by tribal elders
was fairly common practice if the chief failed to meet the desires or expectations of the
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community Traditional chiefs figured prominently in the system of an indirect rule
adopted by British authorities to administer their colonies in Africa. According to
Frederick Lugard, “architect of the policy, indirect rule was cost-effective because it
reduced the number of European officials in the field. By allowing local rulers to
exercise direct administrative control over their people, opposition to European rule
from the local population would be minimized. The chiefs, however, were to take
instructions from their European supervisors. The plan, according to Lugard, had the
further advantage of civilizing the natives, because it exposed traditional rulers to the
benefits of European political organization and values. This "civilizing" process
notwithstanding, the indirect rule had the ultimate advantage of guaranteeing the
maintenance of law and order. The application of the indirect rule in the Gold Coast
became essential, especially after Asante and the Northern Territories were brought
under British rule. Before the effective colonization of these territories, the British
colonial government intended to use both force and agreements to control chiefs in
Asante and the north. Once the indirect rule was implemented, the chiefs became
responsible to the colonial authorities who supported them” (Berry,1994)
By World War I, the colonial government situation had commenced to weaken
the authority of the chief and disrupt their clientship relations to the colonial
government. “As the chief became a civil servant of the colonial government (or was
replaced by one), and as the churches grew into large-scale institutions, the rewards
and motivations leading to conversion began to change. As a result, Welbourn argues,
Africans were losing a sense of identity and sought to reintegrate themselves "at a more
complex leve1."(Hopkins, 1966:557)
On the other hand, one outstanding characteristic of the British missionary
enterprise in the British Gold Coast was the cooperation between the British
colonialists and the missionary societies. The British colonial government in Gold
Coast cooperated with almost all the European protestant missionaries (English
Conformist and Nonconformists), and sometimes with even the catholic missionaries
during this period.). “Indeed, it has often been expressed by the African nationalists
that, the presence of some of the European missionaries facilitated the exploitation of
Africans by the colonialists.” (Pobee,2000; Acquah 2011:89) Certain events during the
mercantile period seemed to confirm this perception. The Rev. Thomas Thompson,
the first Anglican missionary to Ghana, made these comments on his return to England
119
in 1772: “The African trade for Negroes and slaves are shown to be consistent with the
principles of humanity and the laws of revealed religion.” (Pobee,197)
Almost all the missionary societies involved in the British missionary enterprise
on the Gold Coast operated freely and sometimes allied with the British Colonial
administration in their efforts to Christianize the indigenous people of the Gold Coast
(Ghana). For instance, “From the time the S. P. G. recommenced work in Ghana in
1904, the British Colonial Government actively cooperated through its representative,
the Governor, with the mission by giving its missionaries every assistance they needed
in promoting their activities. For instance, in addition to receiving Archdeacon Hamlyn
(the soon-to-be consecrated bishop) and giving him temporary accommodation upon
his arrival in Ghana, one of the first acts the Governor, Sir John P. Rodger, performed
to aid the mission was the granting of government land for the construction of a
mission house in Sekondi as well as making a provision towards the financial support
of a clergyman. Also, when the bishopric was moved to Accra a few years later, it was
the government again which gave a site for the building of the bishop’s house
“(U.S.P.G. G.C. Archives,1909; Asimpi,2021:231)
Also, In the case of the Basel missionary society (Presbyterian church), the sale
by the Danes of their possessions to the English and their subsequent withdrawal from
Ghana meant the extension of the English protectorate by the annexation of the eastern
region of the country. It also meant that the Basel missionaries would now
automatically be operating within the English sphere of authority. “As we have seen,
Riis had already developed a cordial relationship with Governor Maclean and both
became very popular in the area, to the chagrin of the Danish authorities. The
relationship between the missionaries and the English administration was implicitly
given official sanction when the Basel Missionary Committee instructed Riis to appeal
to Maclean for protection against Danish hostilities towards the missionaries. Now that
the missionaries came under English influence, they would officially also enjoy their
protection. The missionaries for their part would now be responsible to the British
administration. It was against this backdrop that the Basel missionaries, represented by
the Rev. Elias Schrenk, pleaded with the British in 1865 not to withdraw from Ghana
when they were contemplating doing so”. (Asimpi,2021:208) “Another form of
collaboration between the Basel. Missionary and colonialism can be seen in the
hostilities between the British Colonial Government and the Asante in 1873 and 1900.
120
In the 1873/74 war, known in Ghanaian speech as the ‘Sagrenti’ war” (Ward 1967:
271), in which British forces invaded Asante and destroyed its capital, Kumase, 109
B. M. converts, accompanied by two catechists, fought on the British side. Similarly,
a group of B. M. volunteers from Akyem fought with the British army six years later
during the Yaa Asantewa War. The missionaries, the Rev. O. Liidrach and the Rev. B.
Ntow, also went with them (Smith 1966: 129 Asimpiu page 212Four years before this
war, the British Government and the B. M. had collaborated against the Asante.
Accusing the Asantehene of violating the Treaty of Fomena34, the British Governor,
Sir Brandford Griffith, despatched an expeditionary force to Kumase and on 20
January 1896 arrested and later banished the Asantehene, Agyemang Prempeh I
(Kwaku Dua III) to the Seychelles Island. Also exiled with the King were his mother
and father and other close relations as well as some of the prominent chiefs. Then the
sacred trees, some of the temples and the royal mausoleum at Bantama were destroyed.
The British built a fort in Kumase and appointed as the first Resident there Major
Piggott, who headed a council of chiefs. The Governor then invited the Basel
missionary, the Rev. F. Ramseyer, who had at that time been stationed at Abetifi
following his release as a P.O.W. by the Asante, to move to Kumase.’’
(Asimpi,2021:213)
Moreover, when we take into account the relationship between the Wesleyan
missionary society (Methodist church) and the British colonial government, we can
see a deeper partnership between missionary society and the British colonial
government. “While the British administration needed the missionaries’ services to
accomplish its political, economic and social objectives, the missionaries likewise
needed the British Governors to offer them protection. Realising the crucial role, the
missionaries could play in maintaining law and order and the peace necessary for
spreading Western ‘civilisation’, the Governors threw their wholehearted support
behind the missionaries and their activities right from the time the first Wesleyan
missionary arrived at Cape Coast in 1835”. (Asimpi,2021:14) Indeed, Maclean British
governor in Gold Coast personally participated in some of the missionary activities, as
when he presided over Freeman’s first missionary meeting on Monday, 3 September
1838. In his speech, “Maclean pointed out, inter alia, the advantages of the planting of
Christianity in Ghana. He appealed for funds for the extension of the Christian ministry
in the country, he contributing £25 out of a total of £54 that was collected in response
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to his appeal” (Bartels 1966 and Asimpi,2021: 215).” And the most prominent
enterprise in which both the Wesleyan Mission and the British administration jointly
participated was Freeman’s mission to Kumase in 1839”. (Asimpi,2021:215)
In most instances during the colonial period, most of the missionaries failed, to
address and, even, turned a blind eye to some of the acts of injustice and exploitation
inflicted upon the indigenous people by the European trading merchants and colonizers
due to their close links with the latter; sometimes, the former even affirmed those
actions. Christian missionary churches have often been accused of common interests
and collaboration with European merchants and colonizers in slavery, colonization and
exploitation of Africans and Ghanaians in particular. For these reasons, the Christian
church and colonialism were, sometimes, seen as the two faces of the same coin.
(Acquah 2011: 89) Thus, all the British missionary societies were allied with the
British colonial government at one point or another. they cooperated fully with the
British colonialists throughout the missionary enterprise, promoting government
policies, particularly in the field of education. the British government took over
mission schools and began to pay the missions grants-in-aid for the administration of
the schools. (Asimpi,2021:233)
4.6.3. Post-colonial politics
Later in the nineteenth century, there was a great number of emerging educated
Africans on the Gold Coast. These educated natives found the British political system
unacceptable because it placed almost all powers in the hands of the governor through
his appointment of council members. “Therefore, the educated coastal elite formed an
organization called the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society. These educated natives
went protested against a land bill that threatened traditional land tenure in the 1890s,
this protest helped lay the foundation for political action that would ultimately lead to
independence.” (Berry,1994)
From the aforementioned, it’s clear the collaborative efforts of both the
missionary societies and the British colonial government must have begun to
undermine the authority of the chiefs and disrupt political structures in the indigenous
communities. By the end of the first world war, the chiefs became civil servants of the
colonial government (or was replaced by one), and as the churches grew into largescale
institutions, the rewards and motivations leading to conversion began to change.
As a result, Welbourn argues, Africans were losing a sense of identity and sought to
122
reintegrate themselves "at a more complex leve1. (Welbourn, Cited by Hopkins,
1966:557)
In contemporary post-colonial politics of independent Ghana, Christianity is
reflecting itself in different dimensions: Firstly, In Campaigning Religiously in
electioneering periods in 1992 and 1996 both the National Democratic Congress (N
DC) and the New Patriotic Party (N.P.P). took the Christian constituency very
seriously and thus concentrated on gaining their votes. The then N.D.C. candidate J.J.
Rawlings concentrated more on the independent/spiritual churches, while his wife was
billed for the mainline churches. The N.P.P. on the other hand concentrated more on
the mainline churches. (Fredrick,2013:2)
Secondly, there is the use of Religious Songs for Political Campaigns. One of
the notable differences in the use of religious songs on campaign platforms in the 2008
election aside from those adopted or composed for national campaigns was the
composition of songs, with a Christian ethos for party primaries. This was most
common in the campaigns leading up to the presidential primary of N.P.P in 2007.
(Fredrick,2013:12).
Moreover, there is a Spiritual Forecast in Ghanaian Politics. Christian African
Independent leaders, some of whom have re-emerged and formed churches under the
new strand of Pentecostalism-Neo-Prophetism, maintained their old ways of
predicting and prophesying ahead of elections. Some of them were even allowed on
political platforms to make such claims. Nana Kwame Ampadu, who claims he
predicted the candidature of Prof. Mills in 1998, was reported to have proclaimed at
an N.P.P. rally at Accra Academy Senior High School in Accra that Nana Addo was
going to win the 2008 elections (Fredrick,2013:6)
In conclusion, The British missionary enterprise impacted the political history of
Ghana through the recruitment into the post-independent nationalist political
movements in Ghana. Almost all the early politicians in Ghana were educated in the
missionary schools established by the missionary societies. As products of the
missionary's initiatives, these new Ghanaian elites learned new norms and habits.
These norms and habits were later inducted into their new roles from which
recruitment into the proto-nationalist churches and political parties emerged
particularly in the early years of the 21st century. In other words, based on responses
acquired during their Christian education and conversion process, the habits, skills,
123
goals, and political ideologies were largely able to feed into the contemporary political
environment in Ghana. Political power has now shifted from the traditional chiefs into
the hands of the colonial missionary educated elites. Thus, post-independent Ghanaian
politicians and politics are products of the missionary and colonial educational system
in the Gold Coast.
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CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
This chapter presents the general conclusions of this thesis entitled the impacts
of British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast (Ghana). We shall summarise the
general impacts of the British missionary enterprise in Gold Coast (Ghana) namely;
the religious impacts, the impacts on educational systems, the political Impact, the
Impacts on health care and the impacts on socio-economy under the following periods.
The Pre-colonial Period (the 1400s - the 1840s), The Colonial Period (1840s - 1950s)
and the Post-colonial Period (1950s - Onwards). The modern republic of Ghana was
previously referred to by a progression of European colonialists as the Gold Coast. The
Gold Coast was carved out from the region previously referred to as the Bilad Sudan
by the ancient Arab traders and Lower Volta Basin by the 15th century European traders
in the region. Geographically, the region ambit traditional kingdoms of Mamprusi,
Gonja, Dagbon, and Wala, the interior Ashanti kingdoms as well as the kingdoms
along the coastal regions.
During the Pre-colonial era, the religious situation in the Lower Volta Basin
(Gold Coast, Ghana) was characterized by the existence of variant traditional African
religious beliefs and practices. Before Islam and Christianity emerged in the region,
the indigenous people were in one way or the other consciously or unconsciously
identifying themselves with one traditional religious tradition or the other. Traditional
Spirituality was very prevalent among all the indigenous people. Superstition was also
very common among the indigenous people, particularly among those of the interior
such as the Akan. Every ethnic group in the region under consideration had developed
a complex and distinctive set of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. Regardless
of their unrelated aspects, there were some common features to these belief systems.
these indigenous traditional religious traditions can best be described as primitive
monotheism due to their belief in the Supreme Being, But polytheistic due to their
beliefs in ancestral and other spirits. We can therefore classify these traditional
religious beliefs in pre-colonial lower Volta Basin into these belief systems: beliefs in
the Supreme Being or creator, divinized natural forces, divinized ancestors, charms,
amulets, Myths, the presence of deities, ancestor veneration, and divination. This
shows that the African traditional belief systems in the lower Volta Basin which (Gold
coast) can be referred to as a form of connected interrelated religious tradition.
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On the other hand, Islam was initially brought to the Lower Volta Basin (Gold
Coast, Ghana) in the 15th century by the Mande (Wangara) traders via the trade routes
across the West Africa sub-region. But Islamization of the natives in the region was
carried out by the indigenous natives themselves, who shared a similar world view,
spoke the same language, and lived in entirely the same religious and cultural world
views. Moreover, the emergence of the Hausa traders from the 16th century brought
about a significant number of west African Muslims in the region who consciously
turn not to the Arabian or West African model of living Islam as reported by Some
western scholars but to the Islamic tradition as they imagine it to have been instituted
by the Prophet Muhammad (saw) in Mecca and Medina.
Therefore, Islam and traditional African religions in the pre-colonial lower Volta
Basin (Gold Coast, Ghana) can mostly be characterized by thousand years of
cohabitation, adaptation, and intermixture between the two religions. But in many
areas, indigenous people have little by little substituted themselves to embrace Islam,
without any clashes or ruptures between the two religions. In other words, religion in
the pre-colonial Ghanaian societies is not just important because of the number of
indigenous people who claim religious adherence but also because of its intense
manifestation in the daily lives of the native people and the extent it impacts their ideas.
Moreover, starting from the 15th century during the early periods of European
colonial and missionary adventures the religious situation continues to be the same as
before except the coastal regions of the Gold Coast, which began to witness some
religious transformations but in very small quantity. Some of the early Christian
missionaries in the coastal regions were the early Portuguese (Catholics Christians)
who made no effort in Christianizing the natives, as well as the British Anglican society
for the propagation of the gospel(SPG) who sent Thomas Thompson as the first
missionary to Gold coast in 1752. When the British gained political control over the
Gold coast and established the British Crown Colony of Gold Coast from 1821 until
Ghana became independent in 1957, British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast
gained momentum with a constant arrival of Protestant Anglican Conformist and
sometimes non-conformist missionary societies mostly from Britain and other parts of
Europe. Massive evangelization started with the arrival of Basel (the Presbyterian
Church of Ghana) missionary society which set out from London and Landed at
Christiansburg on the Gold coast in 1828. Followed by another British protestant
126
missionary society, The Wesleyan missionary society (British Methodist missionary
society) in 1835, In 1880, Catholic missionaries (Catholic Church of Ghana) set out
from England also arrived in Elmina, Gold coast. Another British protestant
missionary society, The Church Mission Society (C.M.S. Anglican Mission) in 1904,
the Salvation Army (Salvation Army Church, Ghana) also officially established itself
on the Gold coast in 1922. Followed by another British missionary society, the
Apostolic Church in Bradford, England (The Apostolic Church – Ghana) also arrived
in the Gold coast in 1935, the Worldwide evangelization crusade (Evangelical Church
of Ghana) in 1940. Furthermore, the freed African Christianized slaves from America
also became new bridgeheads of British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast.
Among these American missionary societies are the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
(1898), the African Methodist Episcopal (1933), and the Christian Methodist
Episcopal (1957). All these mission churches except the catholic church established
the Christian council of Ghana, the unifying organization in 1929. All catholic
missionary churches also formed the Ghana Catholic Bishop's Conference (now
Bishop's Conference) in 1960. Generally, through evangelism, catechism, formal
education, and other socio-economic initiatives, the missionary societies were able to
convert natives of the Gold Coast mostly from the traditional African religious beliefs
into different versions of western Christianity. During this period, the missionary
societies made efforts to create a significant separation between the new converts of
Gold Coast and the African religious-cultural settings. “This was to prevent the native
converts from being contaminated by the pagan ways of their family members and
relatives, the Presbyterian Church, initially, created separate communities referred to
as Salem within various towns and villages in Ghana. This negative attitude and
confrontational stance of the European Christian missionaries towards African
religious and cultural values was one of the factors that created tensions in some of the
traditional societies.” (Acquah, 2011:88)
In post-colonial Ghanaian societies, religion is still an important phenomenon.
There is no doubt the religious contact between the indigenous traditional religions,
Islam and Christianity in the Gold Coast (Ghana) was led by the British missionary
enterprise in the region. This religious contact via the British missionary institutions
transformed Ghanaian society. Today, Christianity has become Ghana’s most
common and widely practised religion. The British missionary enterprise has impacted
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the beliefs system of the people concerning their ancestors, gods, religious
superstitions, drumming and dancing, outdooring, burial ceremonies pouring of
libation, etc. Most traditional sacrifices are modified and sometimes restricted as
compared to Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday. These
Christian festivals are celebrated nationally in Ghana. Though some Ghanaians still
value their cultural traditions, missionaries have succeeded in replacing some
traditional values with western Christian traditions such as Christian blessing of
marriages and monogamous marriage, etc which were championed by the missionaries
and are still practiced today.
Moreover, the British missionary enterprise has also impacted the educational
systems in Ghana. Before the emergence of British missionary societies in the Gold
Coast (Ghana) the education systems in the region (Gold Coast) were mostly informal.
Knowledge and skills were transmitted verbally and through apprenticeship. the
indigenous systems of education have dominance and influence over the transmitting
of African languages, cultural values, and apprenticeship before the Europeans
emerged in the region. There was also in existence the Islamic education system in the
region before colonial and missionary education emerged. The Islamic education
system used the Arabic language only as a medium of impacting Islamic Knowledge
and values.
During the colonial era, the formal educational system was introduced in the
Gold Coast with the arrival of the missionary societies involved in the British
missionary enterprise in the region. Initially, students of these missionary Schools were
mainly from local elites (mulattos, sons of local chiefs, and wealthy traders) in the
colonial forts along the coastal region. Moreover, when the British colonialists
established full colonial control over the Gold Coast colony in 1874. It resulted in a
significant transformation in the Christian missionary educational initiatives in the
region due to an increase in the number of missionary societies and their affiliated
educational initiatives in the British colony. The missionary educational process under
colonial rule was intended to facilitate control and exploitation in the region. By 1881,
There were about 139 missionary schools on the Gold coast but their education
systems varied from one to another. The British colonial government, therefore,
established the first Gold coast educational plan in 1882 to guide the development of
education. The government appointed the Inspector of Schools from 1887 until 1890.
128
In the field of informal education, the missionary societies also trained many Christian
converts on the Gold coast. “These new converts were trained in a different form of
apprenticeship by the missionary societies. They were involved in education because
they need people to help them communicate and interact with the natives and to help
them propagate the gospel. (Owusu,2017:14) This aim has prevailed to date and such
colonization of education has continued to the present time.” (Akuaku,2018: 13)
In the post-colonial era, the influence of Christianity on education in Ghana is
very clear. Christian churches initiated by the missionary societies are the major
stakeholders of education in Ghana in terms of infrastructure and human resources.
Since independence, various successive governments in Ghana have also invested in
education as a factor in development. But both the effort made by the missionary
societies and the independent successive governments are yet to make a significant
impact on the country's development. The increasing expenditure in education for the
establishment of new schools, colleges, and universities by both the Christian churches
and the government is very encouraging, but the rate of developmental impact is
nowhere near the educational investment. There is also over dominance of English as
a language of instruction in the educational system, as well as lack of technology
transfer, which are said to be promoting more western than indigenous educational
interest. The educational system constantly serves the interests of the metropolitan
capitalists and local exploiting elites, and its shortcomings can be justified by the
dependent nature of the Ghanaian economy. Therefore, there is the need to restructure
the education system to take into account the importance of modern science and
technology. Science and technology should not be transferred or imported but
manufactured locally. Importing from the western world when is necessary, but
develop locally within an overall autonomous educational system capable of
generating growth and development. there is also the need for adequate attention to be
given to the African traditional religion as well as the Islamic religious aspects of
educational systems to develop a system of education compatible with the role of the
state in ensuring religious freedom in Ghana.
During the pre-colonial period, the Health System in the Volta basin (Gold
Coast, Ghana) was based primarily on healing by indigenous traditional herbalists and
traditional priests and priestesses. Various diseases attacked the indigenous people.
Some of these diseases are chicken-pox, clap, guinea worms, itches or craw, malaria,
129
etc. Indigenous healing methods were in the following broad areas: Surgical
interventions, internal disturbances, contagious diseases, epidemics, parasite
infestations, and therapeutics. “Dr Tedlie who accompanied the Bowdich Mission to
Ashanti in 1817 had something definite to say about how the Ashantis dealt with such
surgical problems as fractures and haemorrhage from physical trauma: The Ashantis
bound up the broken limb with leaves and other herbs without any regular attempt at
reducing the fracture. The attitude was taken that the patient would survive if God
willed it”. (Addae,1996: 8-9).
During the Colonial period, Many European traders, colonialists, and
missionaries emerged in the region. These European were mainly Portuguese, English,
Dutch, and Dane. Just like the indigenous people, many of these Europeans were also
attacked by these diseases. But the region continuously attracted more European
traders such as due to the availability of slaves and the high profit associated with
trading in slaves. The need to ensure that healthy slaves were bought and delivered to
the Atlantic made it necessary for the European traders to employ surgeons of a ship
who will give health care to the slaves on and off the trading ships. As result, modern
medicine was first introduced into to indigenous the Gold Coast and other regions on
the West African coast. Moreover, the European population in the Gold Coast
increased to six times its level in the late 1880s. Therefore, the British colonial
government saw the need to expand the health system in the Gold Coast because of
the high mortality rates among Europeans in the region. the primary aim of the colonial
and Christian missionary health services during the early decades of colonial rule was
first and foremost to protect the health of European officials and then other African
civil servant working in the European interest. This prompted the need to use the
resources of the colony into providing health care services. This led to the
establishment of medical infrastructure in the colony. Therefore, in Ghana, the
European colonialists and missionaries mostly from Britain pioneered the introduction
of modern health care services. Hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries where the sick
could be attended in an organized established manner. The indigenous African medical
system was not having such equivalents during the pre-colonial and missionary
periods. Even before Ghana attained independence, Ghana's health system was
dominated by a collection of government and Christian missionary health centers
situated mostly in the southern coastal regions. This colonial health care system was
130
only confined to the Europeans and their civil servants in coastal regions but later
extended to cover the natives through the efforts of the missionary societies.
Moreover, in the post-colonial era, because of the rate of discrimination inherited
from the colonial health care system which tend to neglect the ordinary natives and
focus on the health of the Europeans and their native civil servants, the newly
independent government led by Kwame Nkrumah developed a policy framework for
the development of health services in the country which will cover the native the rural
areas particularly those located in the interior and northern territories. In the postcolonial
period, the missionary initiated Churches continue to impact the health care
system in contemporary Ghana. Almost all the missionary societies involved in the
19th-century British missionary enterprise in the Gold Coast have clinics and hospitals
in different regions in the country which provide medical services to members of the
Church as well as the local communities and also serve as a means to attract the
indigenous people into the Christianity. Most of the Christian church’s initiatives in
the health care system of Ghana are executed under the Christian Health Association
of Ghana (CHAG) founded in 1967. The Christian Health Association of
Ghana (CHAG) acts as the mother organization that coordinates the activities of most
Christian health institutions and services in Ghana. According to the Christian Health
Association of Ghana (CHAG) report, Catholic Church owns (43.4%), the
Presbyterian Church (16.5%), the Seventh Day Adventist Mission (8.8%) and the
others making a total of 182 health facilities in 2010. It is worth noting that, members
of the network are financed through government contribution, internally generated
funds, grants/donations, and direct funding support from development partners
through projects. 99% of government contribution goes directly to support salary costs
and the remaining 1 % supports capital investments. (Christian Health Association of
Ghana Annual Report, 2010:1) Moreover, it also became evident from the Christian
Health Association of Ghana Annual Report, 2010 that the majority of the staff
representing (52.1%) of the organization's workers on government payroll are nonprofessional
workers as compared to the other professional workers.
Furthermore, the British missionary enterprise has also impacted the political
history of Ghana through the recruitment into the post-independent nationalist political
movements in Ghana.
131
During the pre-colonial periods, the indigenous traditional kingdoms in the Gold
Coast were relatively in stable conditions with the indigenous religious traditions
generally playing a significant role in the smooth administration of their political
processes “ Religious rituals were one of the chief instruments by which power-holders
maintained control over the community decision-making process, and the religious
"myths" of these primitive groups (e.g., those related to tribal origin) were one of the
principals means of legitimizing and also of limiting the political leadership. Moreover,
in these societies, the political and religious processes were closely intertwined, often
in a single set of institutions and practices” (Hopkins,1966:556) The highest in the
power structure of the pre-colonial indigenous political system was the State
(traditional area) called Oman in Akan and Duko in Ewe. The traditional area was
governed by the paramount Chiefs called Omanhene in Akan and Awoamefia or Fiaga
in Ewe. Bellow the paramount chiefs are the sub-chiefs governing semi-independent
political groups. There is also the institution of the council of lower chiefs and elders.
(Playing advisory role). “One may also find in the state machinery such institutions as
‘divine leaders, sub-chiefs, young men’s groups (Asafo), professional groups
organised as political units, all in their inter-relationship indicating a very sophisticated
political arrangement whose fundamental thrust is the economic and spiritual wellbeing
of the people” (Awoonor,1990; Asimpi,202:49) Because of the sacred position
the paramount chiefs occupied, they commanded great authority and powers. The
indigenous Ghanaians societies believed that the paramount chiefs were the people's
representatives and their powers are therefore derived from the people.
With the emergence of the colonial era, European powers such as the Portuguese,
Dutch, Danes were all in different wars and negotiations to conquer the lucrative trade
and political authority on the Gold Coast. The British eventually gain political
authority over the four separate jurisdictions of the British crown colony of Gold Coast
through wars with the natives as well as the purchase of territorial settlements and forts
of other European powers in the region. Therefore, by 1821 the British colonial
administration in the region covered; the Gold Coast (coastal regions,1844), the
Ashanti (1874), the Northern Territories, and the British Togoland trust territory
(1902). When the British increasingly cemented control Gold Coast, they established
the direct system of the British political authority in the colony. This changed the
already existing political systems in the region. The British Gold coast was headed by
132
the Governor of the British colony who was then assisted by the Executive Council
and the Legislative Council. After 1900, the British colonial government-appointed
three chiefs, and three other Africans were chosen from then Christianized
communities of Accra, Cape Coast, and Sekondi to the Legislative Council. And
representatives of Asante and the Northern Territories followed later. Before 1925, the
governor is solely responsible for the appointment of all members of the legislative
council. “The British intended to use both force and agreements to control chiefs in
Asante and the north. Once the indirect rule was implemented, the chiefs became
responsible to the colonial authorities who supported them”(Berry,1994) In this period,
almost all the missionary societies involved in the British missionary enterprise on the
Gold Coast operated freely and sometimes allied with the British Colonial
administration in their efforts to Christianize the indigenous people of the Gold Coast
(Ghana). For instance, “One of the first acts the Governor, Sir John P. Rodger,
performed to aid the mission was the granting of government land for the construction
of a mission house in Sekondi as well as making a provision towards the financial
support of a clergyman. Also, when the bishopric was moved to Accra a few years
later, it was the government again which gave a site for the building of the bishop’s
house’’ (U.S.P.G. G.C:1909, Asimpi,2021:231). “Another form of collaboration
between the Basel. Missionary and colonialism can be seen in the hostilities between
the British Colonial Government and the Asante in 1873 and 1900. In the 1873/74 war,
known in Ghanaian speech as the ‘Sagrenti’ war (Ward,1967: 271), in which British
forces invaded Asante and destroyed its capital, Kumase, 109 B. M. converts,
accompanied by two catechists, fought on the British side’’(Asimpi,2021:212). Also,
‘‘realising the crucial role the missionaries could play in maintaining law and order
and the peace necessary for spreading western ‘civilization’, the Governors threw their
wholehearted support behind the missionaries and their activities right from the time
the first Wesleyan missionary arrived at Cape Coast in 1835’’. (Asimpi,2021:214)
“And the most prominent enterprise in which both the Wesleyan Mission and the
British administration jointly participated was Freeman’s mission to Kumase in 1839”.
(Asimpi,2021:215) Thus, “all the British missionary societies were allied with the
British colonial government at one point or another. they cooperated fully with the
British colonialists throughout the missionary enterprise, promoting government
policies, particularly in the field of education. the British government took over
mission schools and began to pay the missions grants-in-aid for the administration of
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the schools.” (Asimpi,2021:233-234) The collaborative efforts of both the missionary
societies and the British colonial government disrupt political structures in the
indigenous community by the end of the first world war. the chiefs became civil
servants of the colonial government (or was replaced by one), whiles the churches
grew into large-scale institutions, the rewards and motivations leading to conversion
began to take a different dimension. In the nineteenth century, there was a great number
of emerging educated Africans on the Gold Coast. These educated natives found the
British political system unacceptable because it placed almost all powers in the hands
of the governor through his appointment of council members. Therefore, “the educated
coastal elite formed an organization called the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society.
These educated natives went protested against a land bill that threatened traditional
land tenure in the 1890s, this protest helped lay the foundation for political action that
would ultimately lead to independence.” (Berry,1994)
In post-independence Ghanaian politics, the missionary impact is seen in
different endeavours. Almost all the early politicians in Ghana were educated in
missionary schools. As products of the missionary's initiatives, these new Ghanaian
elites learned new norms and habits. These norms and habits were later inducted into
their new roles from which recruitment into the proto-nationalist churches and political
parties emerged particularly in the early years of the 21st century. In other words, based
on responses acquired during their Christian education and conversion process, the
habits, skills, goals, and political ideologies were largely able to feed into the
contemporary political environment in Ghana. Political power has now shifted from
the traditional chiefs into the hands of the colonial missionary-educated elites. Thus,
post-independent Ghanaian politicians and politics are products of the missionary and
colonial educational system in the Gold Coast.
Last but not least, the British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast has also
had a tremendous impact on the socio-economic situation in the region.
In this research, we discussed that the pre-colonial economy of the Gold Coast
was primarily based on barter trading thus, the exchange of goads for goads due to the
lack of currency as a medium of exchange. Most of the natives were engaged in fishing
and salt production in the coastal region, farming, and mining in the interior region as
well as trading which was mostly controlled by the Muslim traders (commercial
diasporas) passing through the northern territories into the interior and later to the
134
coastal regions. The Muslim traders will transport their merchandise product back to
Jenne and Timbuktu for further transactions to North Africa. However, with the
emergence of the colonial experience, massive slave trading was also commercialized
in Gold Coast (Ghana). Between 1725 and 1745 alone, we found out that in terms of
value, the British Royal African Company traded much in Slaves. Almost more than
have of the entire goads purchased on the Gold Coast of Gold Coast. In terms of the
value of exchange, gold, African provisions, and others followed respectively after
slaves between this benchmark period. Also, the indigenous people of the Gold Coast
saw textiles as the most important commodities in the barter trading, textiles accounted
for almost half of the total value of the goads the British company brought to the Gold
Coast in this period. the company also imported alcohol, guns, and gunpowder each of
which accounted for approximately 10% of the total value of the trade each. Metals
and metalware such as jugs, pots, and pans of brass were also imported into the Gold
Coast by the British Royal African Company between 1720 and 1740. “In total, the
trade during the benchmark years was reported to have a value of approximately
£105,000 sterling for the five benchmark years or around £21,000 sterling per year on
average.” (Rönnbäck,2020:6)
During the Colonial period, the Socio-economy in the region witnessed some
changes. British colonial government Constructed railway lines that will assist them to
firmly consolidate their political and economic control over the entire region and lower
the cost involved in transporting their purchased items to the coastal regions for final
exportation to the western world. However, “the missionary societies and the native
Christian convert engaged in plantation and trading of commodities such as kola, palm
oil, palm kernel. In particular, “cocoa farming dramatically increased incomes from
the 1890s onwards” (Hill, 1963 and Austin, 2003). “By 1911, Ghana had become the
world’s leading cocoa producer. Ghanaians invested their cocoa revenues in their
children’s education at mission schools” (Foster, 1965, Meyer, 1999, and Debrunner
1967: 54) made it clear: Cocoa money helped the African Christians to pay school fees
and church taxes and to pay off old debts from the building of schools and chapels,
Consequently, “Ghana Churches and the Christians became very dependent on cocoa
for their economic support.” (Sundkler, Steed, 2000:216, Jedwab, Selhausen and
Moradi, 2018:11) Also, “various Protestant mission societies established trading
companies that exported African cash crop production and allocated portions of their
135
profits to sustain missionary activities” (Johnson, 1967, Gannon, 1983, Jedwab,
Selhausen and Moradi, 2018) The missionary societies were initially dependent on
financial support from Western congregations, philanthropists, and the colonial
government with the final goal of establishing a self-financing native missionary
church in Ghana. therefore, there was the need to economically emancipate the native
converts to take that mantle. Later these new economically viable African converts
contributed to the spread of Christianity throughout the region.
In Post -Colonial Era, the Socio-economy of Ghana was inherited from the
colonial and missionary society’s socio-economic initiatives such as investment in
education, agriculture, and health care in Ghana. It is very important to note that,
although recent theories in economics tend to suggest that, education leads to increases
in human capital development and therefore economic growth, one will be tempted to
conclude that the educational initiatives of the missionary societies in Ghana have
resulted into economic development in the country. But the study of Felix Meier zu
Selhausen, Alexander Moradi, Remi Jedwab (Jedwab, Selhausen, Moradi, 2018:1) on
the economic effects of Christian missionary societies in Ghana relied on six different
identification strategies that exploit exogenous variations in Christian missionary
expansion in Ghana from 1828 to 1932 found out that there is no relation between
Christian missionaries (both Protestant, Catholic) and economic development whether
during the colonial and contemporary independence state of Ghana. However, some
of their findings suggest that Christian missionary societies might have had a positive
influence on human capital formation in Ghana. In other words, the Christian
missionary societies might have had a positive impact on human capital formation in
Ghana but that did not necessarily translate into the economic development of the
country.
In this research, we discovered that the modern state of Ghana was previously
referred to by a progression of European colonialists as the Gold Coast. The Gold
Coast was carved out from the region previously referred to as the Bilad Sudan by the
ancient Arab traders and Lower Volta Basin by the 15th century European traders in
the region. Geographically, the region ambit traditional kingdoms of Mamprusi,
Gonja, Dagbon, and Wala, the interior Ashanti kingdom as well as the kingdoms along
the coastal region. During the Colonial era, the missionary societies established their
missions in the region, provided formal education to teach the native people about
136
Christianity, and serve the European traders, missionaries, and colonialists in the Gold
Coast. Later, they also began farming, established trading companies, and provided
medical health care to enhance the socio-economic situation of their new native coverts
and possibly to also serve as a social stimulus that will attract new converts to the
Ghana Coast. Furthermore, In the post-colonial era, in general terms, we found out
how the British missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast (Ghana) continuously impact
the religious, political, educational medical heath, and socio-economy systems in
Ghana. We used the historical Analytical method to conceptualize and interpret some
aspects of these changes in the region. As products of British missionary initiatives,
native Ghanaian converts acquired new, economic, political, educational, medical, and
religious norms, skills and habits, etc. These were transplanted into post-colonial
political, economic, health, educational, and religious systems from which the modern
structure of the Ghanaian society is organized. Though the British missionary
enterprise, the British missionary societies consciously or unconsciously impacted the
modern Ghanaian state. Nevertheless, these British missionary initiatives in Ghana
might have had a positive impact on human capital formation but failed to translate
into the socio-economic development of the country. However, the Ghanaian Christian
religious landscape is changing, featuring the growth and institutionalization of
numerous indigenous initiated Christian denominations (Pentecostal–charismatic
churches) which tend to blend the missionary Christianity and traditional African
religious world view thereby attracting a greater number of followers mostly from the
missionary oriented churches as well as other native Ghanaians including Muslims.
From the above, the holistic impact of Christian missionary initiatives led by the British
missionary enterprise on the Gold Coast is very clear. But still, the historical and
contemporary resilience of both Islam and the indigenous traditional religious beliefs
and practices among the people of Ghana during the colonial and post-colonial periods
is also too clear to be denied. In other words, Islam and traditional religion were and
are still part and parcel of the religious, historical, political, socio-economic
development in the region. therefore, this research recommends that the state must do
well to ensure fair representation of Islamic and traditional religious traditions as
accorded to Christianity during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
Another important finding in this research is in the field of education in Ghana.
Though the increasing expenditure on education for the establishment of new schools,
137
colleges, and universities by various post-independence governments is very
encouraging, the rate of its developmental impact is nowhere near the educational
investment. There is still over dominance of English as the language of instruction in
the educational system as well as a lack of technology transfer all of which tends to
promote more western than indigenous educational interest. The educational system
constantly still serves the interests of the metropolitan capitalists and local exploiting
elites, and its shortcomings can be justified by the dependent nature of the Ghanaian
economy. This research, therefore, recommends that there is also the need to
restructure the education system to take into account the practical importance of
modern science and technology. Science and technology should not be transferred or
imported but manufactured locally. Importing from the western world when it is
necessary, but develop locally within an overall autonomous educational system
capable of generating growth and development.
There is also the need for adequate attention to be given to the Islamic as well as
the African traditional religious aspects of educational systems to develop a holistic
system of education compatible with the role of the state in ensuring religious freedom
and development in Ghana. Moreover, the constitution of Ghana also expects all,
including educational institutions owned by religious organizations, to respect the right
to religious liberty as enshrined in Article 21(1) of the constitution. But in most cases,
Christian institutions attempt to compel Muslim students and students who belong to
other religions to attend Christian Church services or worships. Even in the case of
such unconstitutional behaviour, the intolerance on the part of many Christian
institutions is often more visible to the successive governments than the official
persecution of the individual or institution involved in interference in the religious
liberty of fellow citizens. Therefore, even though religious liberty is constitutionally
guaranteed in modern Ghana and the state recognizes the need for mutual respect
between the state and the religious organizations, state interference in the religious
affairs of citizens is too minimal. As result, concerning the relations between various
Christian institutions and Muslim students, the issue of religious intolerance is often
manifested in the name of satisfying the rules of Christian missionary schools. In this
direction, I humbly recommend that both the state and the Christian churches must do
much to guarantee constitutional respect for the religious liberty of Muslims and other
religions in Ghana.
138
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