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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.