Page 179 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

Nineteenth-Century Challenges and Progress

established churches and also a seminary to train African priests. By the
early part of the twentieth century, several thousand had converted to
Roman Catholicism.

The mission efforts of the Roman Catholic Church met with success in
the Congo River basin. The Belgians,
under King Leopold, claimed this part
of Africa and favored Catholicism.
The mission efforts

Interestingly, the Catholic mission of the Roman
did not progress rapidly during the
nineteenth century. In fact, in some Catholic Church met
places it suffered serious setbacks. In with success in the
other places, the missionaries died or
left and the church eventually ceased Congo River basin.
to exist. I have already discussed the
failure of the Roman Catholic Church
in North Africa. There are places along the eastern coast where Catholics
were present at one time, but today, in many towns and villages, there
is only a mosque.

Successful New Testament Christianity in Africa came from the
Protestant Evangelicals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
especially with the arrival of Pentecostals in the twentieth century. We
will examine these points in the final unit.

Before we shift our focus from West Africa, I must comment about
Mali. Mali is a classic example of the way empires come and go and
of the struggle for the soul of Africa. Three empires existed along the
Niger River. The Ghana Empire arose in approximately the year 700 but
collapsed around 1075. Kawato discusses the subsequent rise of Mali’s
first empire:

Around A.D. 1200 the Malinke (Mali) Empire began its rto power,
made possible by the wise rule of Soundiata Kaeita, Mali’s first
emperor. The empire reached its height around A.D. 1300, when
it conquered the fabled city of Timbuktu. Under Malinke rule, the
city became a center of learning and trade. The emperors of Mali
built grand palaces and libraries in Timbuktu. (1)

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