Curtin Chapter 7

Curtin Chapter 7
Curtin asks the question in Chapter 7, why did other culture switch to other forms of belief. He states how modern religions have a doctrinal basis meant to convert non-believers. But he admits that there had to be something else in play because so many countries did not convert. Curtin believes that religious change came from a response by the converted peoples. In this chapter Curtin explorers the reaction to missionaries by East Africa and more specifically Buganda. East Africa cannot be considered typical and Buganda can be considered unique. Before 1800 the main outsiders to come to East Africa were Arabs. The Arabs created trade diasporas and fortified towns. They never attempted to rule over East African territory. In the 1800s two economic situations happened: the price of ivory shot up which created an increase in exports, and cloves of spices were found to grow extremely well in Zazibar and Pemba which created a need for labor which would be satisfied by an increase in the slave trade. In the early 1800s the Sultan of Muscat in Oman wanted to increase his commercial advantage. Soon after the Afro-Arab trading diaspora turned into an Omani trading empire. In the mid 1800s, Zanzibar and Swahili began moving into the interior of East Africa and created a secondary empire. By the 1890s Britain had officially made Zanzibar a protectorate (before that it had a lot of influence on Zanzibar). Christian missionaries began to appear in the 1840s. In some regions missionaries created small secondary empires. In general though, missionaries liked entering big kingdoms like Buganda which had already begun creating secondary empires. This gave the missionaries security.
The ruler with the title of Kubaka (the King) was called Mutesa I. He had modernized the army to include muskets as its primary weapon. Buganda also had administrative organization with its political constitution. The system in Buganda led there to be many clan leaders who the King had to rule over and through. By the 1700s the Kabaka were putting in Bakungu or Client-Chiefs, who could be removed by the Kabaka (this got rid of the lineage aspect to the constitution). The Kabaka also sent a multitude of semiprofessional warriors all around the country who were only loyal to the Kabaka. The client-chiefs controlled the allocation of land on a provincial level and therefore controlled the wealth of the country which was largely based on the peasantry. Buganda had no substantial opponents after it modernized to firearms. Swahili caravans had come to Buganda with shipments of guns, but also with the first attempts to convert Buganda to Islam. By the 1870s, European employees for the Egyptian government had come down to extend Egypt's secondary empire. In 1875, Henry Morton Stanley had passed through Buganda and had talked politics with Mutesa. In a famous message to the daily telegraph he stated that Mutas was interested in Christianity. To be sure, Mutesa did want Christian missionaries in his court to balance the influence of Islamic missionaries. There were two Christian groups in Buganda, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the White Fathers. Both made strong attempts to convert Mutesa to their version of Christianity. To Mutesa the Christians offered technical knowledge and strategic insight about the threatening world beyond the African Lake district. By 1879 the Islamic influence had passed and left Mutesa's court. Though not useful to Mutesa anymore, he kept the Christin missionaries in case they might become useful again. When Mutesa died a crisis between different factions began. Mwanga, Mutesa's son, took power. He increased his power as the despot, and simultaneously increased the power of the military. In 1888, a revolt led to the exile of Mawnga and a four sided civil war. In 1893, Britain annexed Buganda with the help of the protestant factions which established themselves in Mutesa's court. This is one of the examples when missionaries came before colonization. The missionaries entered hoping to use the favorable political conditions in the country. However, the existence of all these different religions in Buganda has led to some resentment by the Muslims who aren't in power.