The Mission

            Britain’s focus for Africa shifted in the 18^th century, “Their goal was not so much colonization as ‘civilization’; introducing a way of life that was first and foremost Christian, but was also distinctly Northern European in its reverence for industry and abstinence” (Empire, 94). David Livingston and thousands of missionaries led this volunteer Empire building project and though their intentions were good bloodshed was extremely prevalent. The British goal of civilizing Africa was a recent revolution in the 18^th century led by missionaries, the goal of exploiting African resources had finally after almost three centuries faded and drifted away. The question is, why? And what did this evolution entail?

            Sierre Leone had been one of the largest slave trade ports in Africa during the Slave Trade era. That all changed in the 18^th century, the British began to send the slaves out of bondage not further into it. Sierre Leone became known as ‘The Province of Freedom’ and the capital was renamed Freetown. All slaves sent there in the late 18^th century were not sent to a plantation but they were giving land and their freedom, sent off to pursue a life of freedom and happiness. This drastic change could have only stemmed from revival which began in only one place in Britain.

            Indeed, it might be said that the moral transformation of the British Empire began in Holy Trinity church, on the north side of Clapham Common. The revival was led by successful Jamaican plantation owner Zachary Macaulay who had quit the slavery business due to his convictions with his faith. The ‘Clapham Sect’ had been convinced that Macaulay, their current governor, that abolition was the only way to please God after they had enslaved his people for so long. Macaulay and his followers did not stop until their task was complete, “The memorial to the Clapham Sect on Holy Trinity Church’s east wall salutes Macaulay and his friends who ‘rested not until the curse of slavery was swept away from all parts of the British dominions” (Empire: 98).

            Macaulay and Clapham led the beginning of the mission but the job was not done, David Livingstone is the father of the missionary movement in Africa. As a preacher and doctor he was the perfect man to go to South Africa and spread Christianity and civilization. This was a difficult task; though the Africans were drawn to him he soon found that it was not due to their new found hunger for Christianity but because of his abilities as a doctor. He then knew he had to truly open up the heart of darkness. Though the people of Southern Africa never really responded to his works, they respected him and his feelings towards them soon changed. He came to the realization that many of them were wiser than his white counterparts and was completely secure in their faith life and culture. It was not until his movement with the more economically developed East African coast that he began to have a true affect on the salvation of the African people. Revival in Britain that brought a change of mindset and the persistence of Livingstone is what truly drove the civilizing mission.