Tanzania and Malawi in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1857-1965 - Key Data

The Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) was an Anglican missionary society established in the late 1850s. In 1965 the UMCA merged with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) to form the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG). The main aim of these missionary societies was to spread Christian values and to convert people to Christianity.

This collection contains documents relating to the UMCA’s activities in Tanzania and Malawi during the period 1857–1965. The papers provide insights into the spread of Christianity in Central Africa through the personal accounts of missionaries, details of their competition with Muslim missionaries, and the process of translating the holy word into Swahili. Personal journals of Bishops show how missionaries tried to form connections with people in Tanzania and Malawi and the records include the names of some individuals who converted to Christianity.

There is also evidence of the mistreatment of native peoples under both British and German rule and the resistance to missionaries, seen in accounts of the Masasi Disaster. Slavery was still prevalent and there are numerous examples of this in the collection, as well as suggestions for how to treat both wives and enslaved women.