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1. General Situation The Republic of Mali, in the interior of western Africa, is one of the largest countries of Africa. It stretches 1,500 km. (930 mi.) from the central Sahara (the traditional salt mines of Taoudenni) to the Sahel area southwest of the Niger River. Between Tombouctou (traditionally spelled “Timbuktu”) and Ségou, in the Macina region, the river branches into a large inland delta, an area of lakes and swamps, once a single lake, that the ever-encroaching desert threatens. Astride important north-south trans-Saharan caravan routes and the west-east routes …

1. General Situation Cape Verde is a volcanic archipelago of 15 islands, lying 620 km. (385 mi.) from the West African mainland. The first Portuguese discoverers (ca. 1460) found the islands uninhabited. The present mestizo, Creole-speaking population is descended from Portuguese settlers and African slaves, the first of whom were brought to Cape Verde about 1500. Climatically, Cape Verde is almost continuously under the influence of the northeast trade winds and thus belongs to the Sahel zone. Repeated periods of catastrophic drought can be docum…

[German Version] (Sep 7, 1773, Ludwigsburg – May 20, 1858, London) played a key role in the transnational Protestant awakening in the first decades of the 19th century. In 1790 he went to Tübingen to study theology. From 1795 to 1801 he served as full-time secretary of the German Christianity Society in Basel. From 1801 until his death, he was pastor of the German Lutheran congregation of the Savoy Chapel in London. He had close relations with the Religious Tract Society and both the London Missio…

[German Version] I. Overseas Work – II. Organization and Work up to 1914 – III. Twentieth Century – IV. Ecumenical Relations and their Significance The Basel Mission (Evangelical Missionary Society in Basel) was founded in 1815, initially to train missionaries, though it soon began its own missionary work. I. Overseas Work After a brief attempt to conduct missionary work in the Caucasus in 1820, the Basel Mission mainly operated in the following areas: southeastern Ghana from 1828 (language…

[English Version] . Mit ihrer dreisprachigen Bevölkerung – sie orientiert sich traditionell an den maßgeblichen Kulturzentren Deutschland, Frankreich und Italien – und traditionellen Aufspaltung in prot. und kath. Kantone besitzt die Schweiz eine komplexe Identität. Das gilt auch für die Missionsgesch. Die Basler Mission (BM), weitestgehend deutschsprachig, war eine Gründung der urbanen Elite in Basel, die junge Männer aus ländlichen pietistischen Familien rekrutierte, sie einer Sonderausbildung unterzog und als Missionare ins Ausland …

[English Version] Steinkopf, Karl Friedrich Adolf (7.9.1773 Ludwigsburg – 20.5.1859 London). S. kommt eine Schlüsselstellung in dem länderübergreifenden prot. Aufbruch in den ersten Jahrzehnten des 19.Jh. zu. Nach dem Theologiestudium ab 1790 in Tübingen war er von 1795–1801 hauptamtlicher Sekretär der Dt. Christentumsgesellschaft in Basel. Ab 1801 bis zu seinem Tod Pfarrer an der dt. luth. Gemeinde an der Savoy Chapel in London, war er der Religious Tract Society und sowohl der London Missionary Soc…

[German Version] Switzerland has a complex identity, with its trilingual population and its traditional separation into Protestant and Catholic cantons. All three language areas have tended to orientate themselves to the main metropolitan cultural centers: Germany, France, and Italy. Mission history is no exception. The Basel Mission (BM), largely though not exclusively Germanophone, was founded by the urban elite in Basel, who recruited young men from rural Pietist families, gave them special training and sent them abroad as missionaries. The Mission Suisse en Afrique du Sud (M…

The West African Republic of Gambia was a British colony until 1965, when it gained its independence (Colonialism). As a country, it is one of the smallest in population, one of the most artificial colonial creations, and among the least developed countries in Africa. It consists of a strip of land on both sides of the Gambia River, 320 km. (200 mi.) long but never more than 45 km. (30 mi.) wide. As a political entity, Gambia has roots going back to the medieval empire of Mali, of which it formed the extreme western point. Records attesting to its history reach …

1. General Situation The Republic of Senegal is the westernmost country on the African continent. It is home to over 50 ethnic groups in three main linguistic families. Two-thirds of the population live in coastal areas, with more than one-quarter of the population in the capital, Dakar. The major ethnic groups are the Wolof (43 percent of the total population), Pular (24 percent), Serer (15 percent), and Jola (4 percent). The seminomadic Soninke and the Tukulor live in the Senegal valley. The Fulb…

[German Version] 1. Christian Gottlieb (Apr 29, 1779, Stuttgart – Dec 19, 1838, Basel). As a pastor in the Württemberg regional church, Blumhardt played a central role in the ¶ intensive exchange between the capital Basel and Pietist basic groups in his native Württemberg that arose in the early 19th century. From 1803 to 1807 he was assistant secretary of the German Society of Christianity (Deutsche Christentumsge…

¶ 1. General Situation 1.1. The Republic of Sierra Leone is an extremely poor West African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Over 60 percent of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing is minimal, consisting mainly of processing raw ma…