Mission Education in the Eastern Caprivi Stripi during the Colonial Times, c1920s – ca1964

Abstract

The historiography of the nineteenth century Christian mission in Southern Africa focused mainly on South Africa and then spread to Southern Rhodesia. The above assessment by (Oermanns, 1999, p.19) resulted in the cases of Mozambique and Namibia to be less known in the English-speaking world, and barely integrated in the overall debate. While there is ‘veritable renaissance’ (in Ranger’s words) of Namibian historical studies, the historiography of Christian mission in Namibia neglects, mildly put, the role of missionaries in the conquest and subsequent colonial administration of the Caprivi Strip. Focus is put on south, central and north-central Namibia, examining the role of the Rhenish Missionary Society (RMS), the Finnish Missionary Society (FMS), the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Roman Catholic Orders, and still in the case of the latter, their involvement in the Eastern Caprivi Strip (now Zambezi Region) is often not discussed in any major significant detail.