Bridgeheads of Empire? Liberated African Missionaries in West Africa

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bridgeheads of Empire? Liberated African Missionaries in West Africa

AU - Everill, Bronwen

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Sierra Leone's ‘New Christian Evangelists’ have sometimes been seen as a ‘bridgehead’ of imperial expansion in Nigeria, tying into the literature that sees missionaries as natural agents of empire. However, the expansion of a similar group into the Cameroons did not result in the expansion of the British Empire. This article argues that the ability to tie missionary and commercial interests to a perceived humanitarian cause—ending the slave trade—was crucial in creating the differences between Liberated African experiences of expansion in Nigeria and Cameroon.

AB - Sierra Leone's ‘New Christian Evangelists’ have sometimes been seen as a ‘bridgehead’ of imperial expansion in Nigeria, tying into the literature that sees missionaries as natural agents of empire. However, the expansion of a similar group into the Cameroons did not result in the expansion of the British Empire. This article argues that the ability to tie missionary and commercial interests to a perceived humanitarian cause—ending the slave trade—was crucial in creating the differences between Liberated African experiences of expansion in Nigeria and Cameroon.

U2 - 10.1080/03086534.2012.730833

DO - 10.1080/03086534.2012.730833

M3 - Article

SN - 0308-6534

VL - 41

SP - 789

EP - 805

JO - JOURNAL OF IMPERIAL AND COMMONWEALTH HISTORY

JF - JOURNAL OF IMPERIAL AND COMMONWEALTH HISTORY

IS - 5

M1 - N/A

ER -