Missionary Presence in Southern Africa The presence of European
missionaries in Southern Africa dates back to Portuguese Jesuit priest
Father Goncalo da Silveira arriving in the
Munhumutapa Empire in 1560. Father Goncalo da Silveira was allegedly received with great hospitality and was gifted gold, cattle and slaves by the
Shona Emperor Munhumutapa who sought political support from the Portuguese missionaries. Emperor Munhumutapa signed a treaty with Portugal, allowing missionaries free passage throughout Shona land. The second wave of European missionaries in Southern Africa began in 1855 with the
London Missionary Society in
Ndebele territory. Missionary
Robert Moffat established a mission station in
Matebeleland and made little progress
proselytizing the population, and instead the Ndebele king demanded payment from Moffat with western goods. In 1872, the Shona welcomed the
Dutch Reformed Church with similar aims of trading foreign goods such as guns and gun powder. Meanwhile, missionaries who refused to meet Shona demands were expelled from the region, such as in 1883, when the mission enterprise led by Gabriel and Petrus Buys abruptly ended when the missionary party clashed with the local Chief Zimuto. To the Shona people, land was the sacred property of
Mwari (God), and was not meant to be occupied by the European missionaries. However, in 1888 the
Rudd Concession was jointly signed by the London Missionary Society and
King Lobengula after it was falsely translated to the latter party. This treaty ultimately allowed Europeans to take gold and over 455,000 acres of land from Matebeleland over the following seventy years. After the Rudd Concession, missionaries assumed a more political role in Southern African society, creating rules that prevented Africans from participating in traditional practices like
polygamous marriages, paying and receiving
bride wealth, and drinking beer. The missionary church was also empowered to collect taxes and in 1917, was allowed to enforce compulsory measures to remove Africans' dependence on their livestock and the land. In 1923, self-government was granted to white settlers in
Southern Rhodesia under the
British Crown, stripping Africans of political power. The following
1930 Land Apportionment Act and 1934 Industrial Conciliation Act further restricted Africans from land ownership and some sectors of employment.
African Resistance From 1895 until 1898, Shona and Ndebele revolutionaries led
guerilla warfare in a conflict that came to be known as
Chimurenga I. Leaders such as
Sekuru Kagubi and Mkwati rejected missionary Christianity as a mechanism of control over Africans and instead promoted
African religion as a basis for revolution. In 1920, peaceful initiatives such as the
Rhodesian Bantu Voters Association and Rhodesia Native Association were founded. These organizations followed a liberal ideology that preferred a gradual introduction of Africans in politics rather than through militant and revolutionary means. Religious leaders also played a role, starting with the establishment of Ethiopianism by Reverend Micah Makgatho in South Africa and Rhodesia. Ethiopianism attempted to link African religions to a new form of Christianity rooted in a Biblical Ethiopia, and was the beginning of an ideological discourse to validate the new
African Initiated Churches and
African Christian movement.
The Shiri Chena Church In 1915, Reverend Matthew Chigaga Zvimba broke away from missionary Methodism and formed the Original Church of the White Bird, or Shiri Chena. Through the Shiri Chena Church, Zvimba supported African chiefs who defied white rule and likewise opposed European-appointed African leaders. == Theology and Political Ideology ==