The term 'the Dark Continent' was used by Victorians to describe the large areas of Africa that were unexplored by white men and where the people were yet to be 'enlightened' by Christianity.

Roman Catholic missionaries first went to West Africa in the sixteenth century but missionary activity remained low-key until the nineteenth century with the arrival of the Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Mission Society and the Universities Mission. The abolition of the British slave trade gave an added impetus to the missionaries' campaign to end slavery within Africa and to convert freed slaves to Christianity.

Many missionaries risked their own lives and health in running their missions and were of long-lasting benefit to local people, not least in providing basic literacy skills (the missionaries wanted people to be able to read the Bible in their own language). They could also be valuable sources of information about the cruelties and corruption of colonialism, such as the use of slave labour within the Belgian Congo, which was exposed by Roger Casement and Edmund Morel. However, some did little to improve the quality of life of those they converted and were too closely linked with the speculators who followed in their wake. There was a widespread underestimation of the power and value of the African religions, with missionaries assuming they were just ill-disciplined 'mumbo jumbo'. They also failed to understand that individual Christian converts were likely to be excluded from their tribes and left destitute, and their well-intentioned assaults on traditional behaviour could lead to violence.

The following is an extract from a report of the Niger Mission written in 1872 by Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop. Crowther was born around 1806 in Yorubaland (now part of Nigeria). He had been kidnapped as a boy and sold to Portuguese slave traders but was rescued by the Royal Navy and taken to Sierra Leone, a state established for freed slaves. There he was taught English by the Anglican Church Missionary Society and converted to Christianity.

Jan. 16th.-- Left Ogbomosho early, and in the afternoon of the 17th, arrived at Iwo; this, town, like Ogbomosho is one of the Yoruba towns which had survived the ravages of slave wars; we were led to the open space in front of the palace, where we were soon surrounded by an immense gathering of people to see the travellers, in all amounting to twenty-one horsemen, a novel sight for Iwo; such a number of Europeans and educated natives never entered it before; the people congratulated their Bale (Chief) on this occasion, by an incongruous assembly of musicians: all kinds of drums, pipers, trumpeters, and dancers were performing their laborious antics, the bards singing out to the top of their voices the praises of their Chief and his ancestors; every one tried who could excel each other--in short the whole was a scene of confused merriment which defied description. My European friends could not understand what all these could mean, as we were still on horseback, impatient to dismount and rest; the only explanation I could give them was that it was a sign of our kind reception by their Chief. After a considerable delay--the Chief having dressed himself ready to receive us--we were requested to dismount and come to the entrance of the palace, where we had a short interview with some of the elders, and thence were invited into the spacious compound within, where we were received by the Chief himself, all his courtiers around him. At first we stood at a great distance, while the Ogbomosho messenger was going through the ceremony of salutation by prostration, rising to go outside to throw dust upon his head, at every repetition of which he was commanded to draw nearer, and we advanced after him; at the third time he was commanded to stop and deliver his message, which he did, still prostrating. After this the Chief invited us nearer, and me foremost, as the spokesman of the party. After a long repetition of salutation; he asked a variety of questions, which I answered in the name of the party.

He was very inquisitive to know which was my town in the Yoruba country? That being told him, I named my grandfather on the mother's side, who was Alawo, of the royal family, and the eldest councillor of the Chief of my town Oshôgùn. "Well; well," said he, "that is enough, you are one of us; I knew not that there was such a person among the party, or else you should not have been kept so long waiting." It was not long before the Bale opened his mind to us, in regard to his appreciation of Lagos Government and earnestly begged us to do all in our power to induce that Government, and if possible the Home Government, to open a trade intercourse between his country and Lagos, by opening the River Oshun, not far from his town, which he thought was navigable for Lagos canoes. I told him that there was no unwillingness on the part of the British Government to facilitate trade to any people who wish it, but that the people through whose countries the river runs might object to its being opened.
He said, "Tell your Government to beg them, it is they only who can do it." We promised to convey his message to Her Majesty's Government--a copy of which, No. 2, I enclosed to the Rev. H. Venn. The sun was setting, so he ordered his servants to lead us to our lodging, with a promise to give a messenger to go, with us to Ibadan, as soon as we were ready; after which he gave us supplies of cowries and goats for our entertainment.

Jan. 19.--Left Iwo early this morning; in about two hours we crossed the Obà, a tributary stream to the Oshun, the stream which the Chief is very anxious should be explored from the coast. The Obà is crossed on calabashes when full in the rainy season, but at this time of the year it is fordable, there being only about eighteen inches of water where we crossed it; the bed is very rocky, and the granite being smooth and slippery, it was difficult for the horses to cross, though without their riders; now and then they slipped and plunged into the water, and many foot passengers did not fare much better, to the great amusement of the spectators on the banks. Just before mounting we received a message from the Chief of Ibadan, to ask how flit we had come, and to assure us of our being welcomed thither. Halted for the night at Lalupon, an Ibadan village being between it and Iwo: next morning, the 20th, started early, and halted for refreshment at a firm market-place called Olodo; on leaving which, we were met by some of the mission agents, the elders of the church, and others from the chiefs who had come thus far on horseback to meet and escort us into the town, which we entered about noon....The agreeable sight of a neat church, the orderly-kept state of the green Bahamas grass which matted the mission-yard, and the warm reception of the Christians, showed plainly that we had now come within the influence of Christian civilization, and we felt that we were among friends.

The full report can be read on the Project Canterbury website.