Thursday, April 28, 2016

Missionaries in Lesotho

            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.

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