Western Cultural Stormtroopers?

• Missionaries often went to dangerous parts of the Continent at great personal risk.

• Despite their good intentions, missionaries could and did undermine traditional power structures and often fragmented tribal responses to the Europeans.

• It could be seen as a kind of ‘cultural imperialism’ and they provided information that was useful for people following them:

• Local languages, maps, descriptions of Flora and Fauna

• Missionaries were often the first Europeans that Africans saw, but they were often followed by less saintly soldiers, traders or administrators.