When
looking at Lesotho, one can see that the country is predominately Christian. It
is this way because of some the early missionary work that started in between
the 1830’s to the 1850’s.[1] The first people to enter
Lesotho for specific evangelical reasons were the French.
In the
late 1820’s Lesotho was in battles with the Dutch who were trying to take over
the land of the Basotho. King Moshoeshoe, the leader of the Basotho, needed to
find a means to get horses and guns for his own people so they would have a
chance to fight. Moshoeshoe had heard of the advantages that other clans got
from having resident missionaries. Because of this, he invited three French missionaries from the
Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS) to come to his country in hopes of acquiring
guns through them to fight off the invaders. Thomas Arbousset,
Eugene Casalis, and Constant Gosselin came to Thaba Bosiu in 1833 to
share with these people the Catholic religion.[2] To this today, out of the
90% that are Christian, 45% are Catholic.[3]
 |
| Eugene Casalis (left) and Thomas Arbousset http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/about/missionaries.php |
The
effect that these men made was more than just an evangelical trip. They did end
organizing a way for Moshoeshoe to get his needed guns and horses. Along with
these things, items such as “potatoes, wheat, fruit trees and domestic cats and
pigs were introduced”.[4] After a while, these missionaries
had opened up schools and were able to give the Basotho printed books that were
written in their language. The French missionaries were not seen as white
colonist like many of the others in Southern Africa. These missionaries were
accepted as citizens into the kingdom. Even Eugene Casalis played a part as a Foreign
Minister during the period of 1837 to 1855.[5] His knowledge of the
European and outside world was very valuable to Moshoeshoe when more white
settlers threatened his kingdom. As one can see the work of missionaries played
an interesting role in the history and development of Lesotho.
[1] The Lesotho Embassy in the USA. “Arrival of Missionaries.”
http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/.
http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/about/missionaries.php (accessed April 28,
2016).
[2] Ibid., np.
[3] US Department of
State. “International Religious Freedom Report 2007.” State.gov.org. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2007/90104.htm (accessed April 28, 2016).
[4]The
Lesotho Embassy in the USA. “Arrival of Missionaries.” http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/.
http://www.lesothoemb-usa.gov.ls/about/missionaries.php (accessed April 28,
2016).
[5] Ibid., np.
No comments:
Post a Comment