Norwegian missionary correspondence from Natal and Zululand during the nineteenth century

Abstract

This documentary dissertation contributes to scholarly understanding of the history of missionary endeavours in Natal and Zululand by making accessible a carefully edited compilation of documents written by Norwegian missionaries in those areas between 1844 and 1899. From thousands of pertinent extant documents, the editor has selected a representative crosssection of the most revealing letters and reports that Lutheran and other missionaries sent to their sponsoring organisations and the related periodicals. Each document has been translated from Norwegian into English, suitably excised of superfluous material, and given a brief introduction. Annotations explain theological jargon and identify people, places, and phenomena to which the writers of these letters and reports referred. The documents are divided into four chapters, each of which begins with an introduction by the editor. An introductory chapter provides information about the Norwegian missionaries in question, the general history of their work, the nature of the correspondence, and the consequences of the failure of many other historians of foreign rnissions in Southern Africa to avail themselves of this invaluable historical source.