INTRODUCTION

East Africa was the last region of Africa in which Anglicans took an interest. But it has become one of the most distinctive regions of the worldwide Anglican communion. The statistics in Table 9.1 show something of the strength of Anglican churches in East Africa at the end of the twentieth century. Though such figures have to be viewed with caution, they do give an overall sense of the importance fof Anglicanism in the region. Noteworthy is the strength of Anglicanism in areas colonised by Belgium. One of the features of this region is the strength of local languages – Swahili and Luganda, in particular, have played the key role which English or Creole English assumed in the extension of Anglicanism in South and West Africa. From an early date, East African Anglicanism developed a vigorous ‘vernacular’ identity.

Anglicans were not the first missionaries in East Africa. At the end of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese had established alliances with Muslim rulers and established staging posts along the coast, strategically important for securing the sea route to Goa. Fort Jesus on Mombasa Island became a symbol of their military power. Some rulers were converted to Catholicism, but Portuguese interference caused resentment, and as Portugal's power faded, Christianity languished. In 1844, Ludwig Krapf and his pregnant wife, Rosina, landed at Mombasa to renew Christian evangelisation for the Church Missionary Society. One of Krapf's first acts was to dig the graves of his wife and child.