The Reverend Charles New Nineteenth Century Missionary and Explorer in Eastern Equatori... - 1 views
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Charles New is little-mentioned in exploration literature, yet during his short life (1840–75), this self-educated Methodist evangelist became, in August 1871, the first European to reach the snow line of Mount Kilimanjaro.
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He was a vocal opponent of the slave trade in Britain, and for his geographical exploits was honored by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in April 1874.
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During his years as Revd Thomas Wakefield’s equal partner at their coastal Kenya mission, they made an excursion to Southern Oromo (also known as Galla) country in eastern Kenya in 1866–67.
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Despite his short life, New provided geographical insights about eastern Kenya and the region around Mount Kilimanjaro
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Hildegard Binder Johnson in her seminal article on missionaries as explorers cogently provided a useful overview of the role they played in helping western society understand new and unknown places in Africa
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The word “Galla” actually is the name one sees for the Southern Oromo in much of the literature as well as on maps, and will be used throughout this article.
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New arrived in Kenya on 1 May 1863, and when he first met Thomas Wakefield, his initial, whimsical words were “Mr Wakefield, I presume.” 9 Within a short time, Krapf saw that the two young missionaries were settled at Ribe, a short distance inland from Mombasa, and long-term plans were made to travel to eastern Kenya to visit the Galla.
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treacherous,
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Finally, in October 1866, New and Wakefield, with church sanction, began their reconnaissance of Galla country, a journey that lasted little more than three months.
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Their itinerary took them by boat northwards from Mombasa to Malindi and Mambria. After wandering inland to places in the Tana River region called Mana Mvoko, Gubisu, and Golbanti near Lake Ashaka, they journeyed east to Lamu island, from where they then sailed by dhow to Malindi (see Figure 2). They returned to Mombasa in February 1867. New and Wakefield were fortunate to survive.
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On occasion, they almost starved.
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eir shoes disintegrated, they were constantly plagued by mosquitoes, and they were endangered by flooded rivers
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To add insult to injury, they found that the Galla had no interest in the gospel once they learned that the young missionaries could not protect them from the ever-raiding Masai. Because the evangelical results of their journey were quite disappointing, R. Elliott Kendall concluded that this visit to Galla country by the two young missionaries was “an objective which turned out to be a chimera.” 13
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Charles New, Map of Equatorial Africa. Detail of route followed by Charles New and Thomas Wakefi eld from Mombasa to Galla Country in coastal Kenya in 1866–67. Ribe is located on this map just north of Mombasa. From Charles New, Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa, 3rd edn (London, 1971).
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Another important result of this short exploration was that New came to dislike the Galla and he was convinced that they were a “forlorn hope”; thus, they would never be converted to Christianity.
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Wakefield and Krapf did not agree with him; Wakefield attempted without success to convert the Galla right up to the time he left Africa in 1887.
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His last effort to establish a mission at Golbanti on the Tana River ended in tragic disaster when Masai warriors (not Galla tribesmen) attacked the compound and murdered all of the European occupants.
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New was convinced that the Galla were too recalcitrant to be converted by Christian missionaries, and, in addition, he was not at all enamored with the mission site at Ribe. He called it the “hapless Mombas mission.” He believed it was too unhealthy a place for Europeans to survive.
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New’s first trip to the land of the Chagga was a notable success. He established good relations with the Chagga, and he gained permission to travel almost everywhere. Clearly, this was a good place to relocate.
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out, New had no better success with the Chagga than he did with the Mijikenda at Ribe or with the Galla. 19
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While at Kilimanjaro, New had some difficulties with Mangi Rindi, also known as Mandara, the powerful Chagga ruler at Moshi. New focused on Moshi because Mandara had close relations with Swahili traders from the coast. These problems with Mandara were to continue when New returned to Kilimanjaro in 1875. 2
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On his way back to England to commence his leave in July 1872, New first sailed to the town of Victoria in the Seychelles to wait for a mail boat to take him to England. While there, he stayed at a hotel that also housed Henry Stanley as a patron. It is presumed that during their stay in the Seychelles New and Stanley discussed their dispute.
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he was seriously ill throughout this journey, which lasted only from early December 1874 to 14 February 1875, the day he died from exhaustion and dysentery while returning to Ribe from Kilimanjaro.
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He did not go to East Africa to be an explorer, but when he once was asked whether he wanted to be respected only for his geographical accomplishments he emphatically responded that “Let me never think of merging the missionary into the traveler.
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Charles New was convinced that he helped alleviate human misery during his limited years of evangelizing in East Africa, even though he admitted that he preached to people whom he said “would not listen.” He was fervently opposed to slavery, yet, like most Europeans of his day, he was a benevolent racist who disparaged Africans, especially the Mijikenda tribesmen who resided in the Ribe area and whom he knew well. 31
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Charles New’s missionary work in Kenya should not be minimized. Success as an evangelist was limited mainly because he admitted that his words fell on deaf ears; nonetheless, his activities were vital to the survival of the Methodist mission in Ribe (he is touted as being the founder of the first formal school in East Africa), and he continually worked to gain support in Britain.