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Mission stations and Genadendal

Mission stations: Genadendal, Georg Schmidt, what the missionaries did, and a fair judgement. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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Genadendal

  • Missionaries taught reading, trades and farming; knife-making and carpentry. The printing press produced books and school material in Dutch.
  • In 1838 Genadendal got the first teacher-training school. The pear tree where Schmidt taught is remembered.
  • Many Khoikhoi moved to mission stations: they had lost land and wanted safety and work. By the 1800s the community spoke Dutch, becoming Afrikaans.
  • Genadendal is a living town with a museum today, near Greyton in the Overberg. Nelson Mandela named the president’s Cape Town residence Genadendal.
The church and old pear tree at Genadendal.
The church and old pear tree at Genadendal.
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Missionaries and languages

Robert Moffat’s mission was at Kuruman. Missionaries wrote down African languages and printed books in them, which preserved words and stories. Mission stations were meeting points for colonists and African people on the frontier.

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Remember this: your summary
  • A mission station usually had a church, a school and workshops.
  • Genadendal (“Valley of Grace”, first Baviaanskloof) was the first, founded in 1738 by Georg Schmidt of the Moravian Church, among the Khoikhoi.
  • The Dutch Reformed Church and the VOC objected when he baptised Khoikhoi converts, because he was not an ordained minister; he had to leave in 1744. Moravian missionaries returned in 1792 and rebuilt the mission.
  • Vehettge Tikkuie (Magdalena) kept the faith and community alive on her own.
  • Put fairly: mission stations helped, but also pushed out local culture.

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Memory trick

Genadendal = Grace Valley: the first mission, in a valley, under a pear tree.

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Important words

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