I. Introduction

The Finnish Missionary Society (Finska missionssällskapet/Suomen lähetysseura) was founded during 1859. Missionary activity started in Owamboland in Northern Namibia during 1870 when it looked as if Finnish missionaries had reached their promised land.¹ However, within two years missionary activity threatened to come to an end when the Finns were expelled, or had to withdraw, from all but one Owambo kingdom, that of Ondonga where missionaries were able to continue their work.

In retrospect, the Finnish Missionary Society was to have a tremendous impact on society in Owamboland. But this was in no way clear after the experience of 1872. Finnish missionaries thought that Owamboland was an untouched paradise but found a society that was under constant change and pressures from both within and outside. Yet, instead of withdrawing from their mission, the Finns managed to turn the tide and eventually became one of the backbones in Ovambo society.

The history of Finnish missionary activity in Northern Namibia is already well known. Missionaries have published accounts of their work among the "heathens".² A basic academic study on the history of the Finnish Missionary Society, and its activities in Africa, was written by Martti Peltola during 1959.³ The impact of the missions, as well as social and economic change in Owamboland during the nineteenth century, has been studied by Harri Siiskonen.⁴ Frida-Nela Williams and Märta Salokoski have studied pre-colonial kingship and society in Owamboland.⁵ Some MA-theses on various aspects of Finnish missionary history have also been written.⁶ However, from a perspective of mental history, the story of the rise and fall of early Finnish missionary activity is by far not told, although Tuula Varis has provided an analysis of the use of power by the Finnish missionaries in Owamboland.⁷

The purpose of this paper is to examine in the question of conflict between the European missionaries and Africans in Owamboland. While military conflict and political violence were viewed by the missionaries as being one of the main obstacles against their work, they also used force. There was a deep affection among the missionaries for the 'good' Africans, in defending their use of force and violence against "bad" people. Missionaries assured. that the spread of the Gospel, their only task, could not be done in a hostile environment. Therefore, the use of 'pastoral' and even 'spiritual' force, if needed, was used by the missionaries, leading to a clash with the Ovambo kings.⁸ For the two key players during the first years of Finnish missionary action in Owamboland, the Finnish missionary Pietari Kurvinen and the Ovambo king Nuujoma, the root cause of their conflict was that between Christian and non-Christian world views. The Ovambo kings considered that the missionaries were creating social and spiritual disorder, thus endangering the whole base of Ovambo society and, especially, the basis of kingdom.

The threat of a possible conflict was clearly felt by the kings but often not understood by the missionaries. Here, the position of Kurvinen and other "idealists" among the Finnish missionaries was problematic. They could not, in a sense, open themselves towards Ovambo society due to their own spiritual and religious background, arising out of the religious revival in Finland during the first half of the nineteenth century. For the Finns, their African counterparts were always seen as "children", who were in the end not responsible for their actions: whereas "good" Africans could open themselves for the message of the missionaries, "bad" Africans would do everything to disrupt and demolish their achievements.

The Finnish Missionary Society was not the first to send missionaries to Namibia. The Wesleyan Mission had started its activities in 1834 but had given up their activities due to financial reasons. In 1842, the German Rhenish Mission Society had started its work, first among the Nama and soon thereafter among the Herero. One of the key persons among the German missionaries was Hugo Hahn, who had travelled to Owamboland during the 1850s and 1860s.⁹ After his return from his second trip, Hahn painted a glowing picture of Ovambo society, giving the impression that Owamboland was more or less a land of 'milk and honey' were the kings and their people were urging the Missions to start work in Owamboland. With this message, Hahn had also approached the Finnish Missionary Society during 1867.¹⁰

After the foundation of the Finnish Missionary Society (FMS) in 1859, there was a prolonged discussion about which region should be chosen for mission work . For almost a decade, Africa had not even been discussed. There were plans to start missionary work among the Fenno-Ugrian tribes in Russia, but the Russian emperor rejected the application. Then, there were plans to get engaged in India and some preparations were even undertaken for this during the 1860's. But before any plans in India could be realised, Hahn's message reached the board of the FMS. During the summer of 1867 the FMS board discussed the possibilities of starting missionary work in Owamboland. On September 18 1867, the board made its formal decision and an extraordinary annual meeting of the FMS approved the plan to work in Owamboland the same day.¹¹

The FMS decision rested only on the letters and the travel diary of Hahn as well as reports from the Rhenish Missionary Society about general conditions in Namibia. Virtually nobody from Finland had ever been to Africa and knowledge about the Sub-Saharan Africa was rudimentary. What was known about Africa was read in various travel accounts, especially that of David Livingstone.¹² Thus, for example, although it was believed that the African climate was torrid and even dangerous for Europeans, conditions in Owamboland were thought to be almost perfect. In their declaration of September 18 1867, the FMS Board was full of enthusiasm:

Pietari Kurvinen and August Weikkolin, who were among the first Finnish missionaries to be sent to Owamboland, reflected that they became missionaries because of the religious revival that swept through Finnish society during the first half of the nineteenth century and the opening of the Missionary School in Helsinki in 1862.¹⁴ As Kurvinen many years later remembered:

Religious revival within and on the margins of the Finnish evangelical-Lutheran church started during the first decades of the nineteenth century. This revival was generally that of a pietistic movement, but the revival itself was not homogenous. At least four major pietistic groups emerged with their basis in different regions of Finland. Eastern Finland was the main centre for the pietistic movements, the 'awoken' (heränneet) of Jaakko Högman and Paavo Ruotsalainen whereas the 'prayers' (rukoilevaiset) of Henrik Renqvist was mainly located in Carelia. Ostrobothnia was the stronghold of another pietistic movement, the 'körttiläiset', whereas Fredrik Gabriel Hedman's 'evangelical movement' found most of its followers in the Southwest of Finland.¹⁶

The heyday of the religious revival was during the 1820s and 1830s, although their impact was still very strong, especially in the countryside during the rest of the nineteenth century. Pietistic movements were generally characterised by the concentration upon one's own personal religious life at the expense of worldly enjoyment. Some of the movements laid much stress upon uplifting the self from its own wretchedness and the miserableness of life. Most movements had a very negative attitude towards alcohol and any kind of 'immoral living'. The role of the preacher as well as his sermon was central to all of the pietistic movements. Faith had to be experienced and lived by oneself, when seen as a continuous struggle between the forces of darkness and light. In a sense, the religious revival in Finland, as elsewhere, was based upon the individualization of faith combined with the personal struggle within a collective of true believers.¹⁷

The state and the Lutheran church in Finland perceived the pietistic movements in the beginning with great suspicion and skepticism. Lay preachers and priests, who joined the movements, were persecuted and put on trial by church and state.¹⁸ While the peak of the struggle between orthodoxy and pietism was reached during the 1830s and 1840s, there was never a break between the Lutheran Church and the pietistic movements. Contrary to the experience of Sweden and other Nordic countries, the church adopted a catholic approach to these movements because they were not grounded in social protest. Their main focus was on the individual believer during times of rapid social, economic, political, moral and intellectual change within Finnish society.¹⁹

The FMS was founded by members of the Lutheran Church. Its aim was to counteract the pietistic movements by channelling the efforts of the believers towards missionary work. Thus, when a plan was proposed to establish a society for an interior mission within Finland but the plans were rejected by the authorities, missionary work among heathens and pagans was seen as a second best course of action. Although FMS board members belonged to the "high church", active missionary work was undertaken by those who had experienced pietistic revivalism and were, at the very least, members of pietist movement. Such was the case of Pietari Kurvinen, who, after he had to quit missionary work in Owamboland in 1874 (due to medical reasons), joined the evangelical (pietistic) movement which, by that time, had become integrated within the Lutheran church.²⁰

Kurvinen's religious experience had a deep impact on his general world view. As the carrier of 'the truth', revealed through the words of the Gospel, he saw himself living amidst pagans. Thus, Kurvinen wrote in 1879, when describing his feelings in Owamboland:

Kurvinen's call as a missionary and his way to Owamboland was a pilgrimage, "a wayfarer on his way to Zion (Jerusalem)".²²

Unfortunately, it is not possible to clearly reconstruct the spiritual-religious background for the other missionaries. One can, however, put forward a hypothesis which is based on a study of the background of the various persons who were among the first missionaries to leave for Africa. All of the nine preachers had been born during the 1840s;²³ the three artisans were born at the end of the 1830s.²⁴ Second, the majority of the Finnish speaking missionaries came from Eastern Finland; the four Swedish speaking missionaries, Björklund, Jurvelin, Malmström and Skoglund came from Coastal Finland. There were some antagonisms between the missionaries during their staying in Namibia.²⁵ One reason for this might have been their different spiritual and religious backgrounds. Most of the Finns probably underwent their religious revival during the 1850s or early 1860s, whereas this might not have been the case for the Swedish speaking missionaries. The difference between the two language groups is striking when reading the letters of the missionaries to the Director of the FMS, K.G.Sirelius. Whereas the Finns, especially Kurvinen and Rautanen, used to describe their religious experiences,²⁶ Björklund took upon himself the role of a "chronicler", as he described himself to Sirelius.²⁷ Another rift among the missionaries was between the artisans and the preachers. This rift was mainly due to the attitude of the preachers towards the artisans. The artisans were not encouraged to learn foreign languages. They were supposed to work both for themselves and the benefit of the whole community of missionaries. The rift, and schism, between the priests and artisans was articulated in a religious medium, further pointing to the fact that all of the priets engaged had a pietistic background.

As the Finns knew, Namibia, by the late 1860s, was no more an untouched paradise. News about the turbulent political situation in central Namibia, especially the rising tension between the Nama and the Herero had reached the board of the FMS during 1867. In fact, the main concern for both the FMS as well as the Rhenish Missionary Society, who informed the Finns about the situation in Namibia, were the unfavourable conditions for missionary work. Conflicts and violence, both intertribal and against the missionaries, were seen as the main obstacles for spreading the Gospel.

Namibia was populated at the beginning of the nineteenth century by several ethnic groups. The Ovambo, whose territory extended into what was to become Portuguese territory (Southern Angola) and who combined fairly permanent settled agriculture with cattle-herding, lived in the North. South of the Ovambo were the Herero, nomadic cattle-rising groups who had been pressing for centuries southwards in search of pasture. While the Herero were slowly moving southwards, the Nama, also pastoralists, had entered Namibia during the course of a northwards migration. Due to these migrations, other people, such as the San and Khoikhoi as well as the Berg-Damara, were displaced from their former areas of settlement.

By the 1830s the balance of power was shaken by the immigration of new population groups into Namibia from the South. The Orlam-groups, of which the Boois and Afrikander were to become the most well-known, had crossed the Oranje River, then the new frontier between the British Cape Province and the "no-man's-land" north of it. These Orlam-groups moved into Namaland where they changed the political and economic situation. Before the 1830s, the Herero, in their search for new cattle pastures had been encroaching into the grazing lands of the Nama, thereby leading to rising tension and a continuing conflict over grazing lands and cattle possession. By the 1840s the Herero had been defeated by the Nama with the help of the newly immigrated Afrikander group. The uniting figure of the Nama was the chief of the Afrikander group, Jonker Afrikaner, who, through his victory over the Herero, was able to dominate political and economic life in Namibia. However, after Jonker Afrikaner's death in 1863, conflict was renewed between the Herero and the Nama. Seven years of indecisive war followed, exhausting both parties.²⁸

The key element of the Orlam-groups was their possession of firearms which could be used to subdue the more numerous Herero and Nama. Thus, Jonker Afrikaner tried his utmost to prevent the spread of firearms to the other groups, while establishing a trading network to maintain his technological advantage. The trade network was directed towards the Cape, where they exchanged cattle, ivory and ostrich feathers for firearms, ammunition, wagons and horses. As the Afrikanders' themselves did not own very much cattle, they forcuibly obtained the necessary export commodities by raiding their neighbours, especially the Hereros. At the same time as the immigration of the Orlam-groups, European and Cape hunters, traders and missionaries started to enter Nama- and later Hereroland from the coast. By the 1840's, this non-African presence was seen by the Afrikander as a potential threat, especially since the European and Cape traders and hunters could sell firearms to the Herero and Nama.²⁹

The loss of cattle in Nama- and Hereroland due to lung sickness, and the escape of some Herero chiefs to the North, made Jonker Afrikaner to try to invade Owamboland during 1846 but a severe drought compelled him to abort the invasion. A second raiding expedition to Owamboland was raised in 1858, returning with a formidable booty of cattle. A third expedition during 1860, as Siiskonen has poined out, was motivated by more than economic reasons, although Jonker returned with some 20,000 head of cattle. According to Siiskonen, Jonker Afrikaner's policy towards Owamboland was not trading but raiding and directed at bringing the Ovambo under his rule. Although he did not succeed in his last goal, Jonker was able, by involving the Herero as supplementary forces in his invasions, to undermine the former good relations between the Ovambo and the Herero.³⁰

The interests of European and Cape traders in Namibia were strictly commercial. Due to cattle diseases, especially an epizootic of lung sickness during the 1850s and the uncontrolled hunting of wildlife, their interests shifted from Namaland to the North during the 1850s.³¹ A third reason for this shift was the control policy of Jonker Afrikaner in Nama- and Hereroland.

The Orlam also tried to use the missionaries as tools of their policy. But as with their attempt to control the European traders and hunters, the Orlams failed to control the activites of the missionaries. One reason for this was that Jonker Afrikaner had requested the services of a Wesleyan missionary with whom he was acquainted. Therefore, the Rhenish Missionary Society across to Herero country, a move which was to cause troubles between the missionaries and the Nama. Due to the involvement of the missionaries in intertribal conflicts, they were accused by the Orlam-groups of favouring the Herero.³²

However, the missions were to have an important role in commercial transactions. In Nama- and Hereroland, trade and missionary work were closely bound together. The missionary stations promoted the creation of fixed settlements, which then became centres of trade and military bases. From the local people point of view, the missionary stations secured access to the new technology of firearms and Western education. From the traders' point of view, the stations secured access to the region's natural resources and ensured their security.³³

By the 1850s the situation in central Namibia was described by the missionaries as being "everyone's war against everyone". According to the missionaries, the main reason for this was Jonker Afrikaner's policy. The political situation was considered to be so unstable and insecure that missionary work was almost impossible in Nama- and Hereroland. Instead, the eyes of both the missionaries as well as the European and Cape traders, turned to Owamboland, which was then thought of still being a stable country with an abundance of cattle and ivory.

However, Owamboland, by the 1850s, had been integrated into the various networks and influences of the modern world. Portuguese and Cape traders from Mossamedes and Walvis Bay had reached the Ovambo societies during the middle of the nineteenth century. The Portuguese traders were more numerous until the mid 1860s, when the Cape traders, who were more highly capitalised and equipped with horses and ox-wagons, started to supplant them. The outcome was increasing rivalry between the Portuguese and Cape traders. In both cases it was the search for ivory and, to a somewhat lesser degree, cattle which were the main causes for their push into Owamboland. Besides these two commodities, slaves in the North, within the Portuguese trading sphere, and cattle in the South, the Cape trading sphere, were of importance. The white traders brought beads and other forms of ornaments as well as clothes, alcohol, horses and firearms.³⁴

The ability of Ovambo societies to obtain firearms was to have an important impact. Before the mid nineteenth century, firearms were not used by the Ovambo. This turned the Ovambo societies defenceless towards outside incursions and they had to suffer severely as a result. The invasion of Jonker Afrikaner in 1858 had clearly showed to the Ovambo kings that the only way for them to remain independent was to adapt to the new political and technological situation. Firearms were seen as the key element through which political independence and economic survival could be guaranteed. Since local technology was incapable of producing firearms, external trade with Europeans became essential for their survival. Thus, traders and hunters were well received by the Ovambo kings, who controlled all transactions with the whites. The example of the positive interaction between the missionary stations and the local people in Hereroland was seen by the Ovambo kings as a further possible step in strengthening both the political and economic situation since the missionary stations were known as centres of innovation and knowledge. As an outcome of these events, some of the Ovambo kings asked Hugo Hahn in 1866 for missionaries to be sent to their kingdoms. Among those who made this invitation were King Shikongo of Ondonga and King Nuujoma of Uukwambi.³⁵

The Finnish Missionary Society made their decision to start missionary work in Owamboland without the knowledge of the then state of affairs in Namibia. Soon, however, the board of the FMS started to hear about the unstable and unfavourable conditions for missionary work in Hereroland. News about the ongoing conflict between the Herero and Nama reached Helsinki during 1868. Hugo Hahn told the Mission Director Sirelius that his station at Otyimbingue had been attacked during 1867. In another letter, Friedrich Fabri, the Mission Director of the Rhenish Missionary Society, was very worried about the turmoil and disorder caused by raiding Nama and Orlom groups.³⁶

Peaceful conditions were seen by the FMS - as by any other missionary society - as the precondition for successful fieldwork. However, the dilemma of the missionary societies was whether their workers could, and should, engage themselves in the conflict by using arms. Even self defence was problematic for the Christian missionaries. Ultemately, the German mission stations were built as fortified strongholds, capable fighting back attacks.³⁷

Since the missionary societies could not officially engage themselves in any peace enforcement, other means to end the continuing conflicts had to be found. Fabri had informed Sirelius about the possibility of a British occupation of Walvis Bay. The occupation of Walvis Bay, and the possible presence of British troops, made Fabri hope that any future invasions by Nama and Orlom raiders into Hereroland would be impossible. The Rhenish Missionary Society had even sent a deputation to the Foreign Office in London to present their case and to urge the British to take action. The main point of their proposal to the British Foreign Minister Lord Stanley was that Great Britain should occupy Walvisbay and to restore peace in central Namibia. Fabri, together with Sirelius, who was visiting Germany, had also approached the Prussian government during 1868. Fabri and Sirelius were promised that the Prussian king would do his utmost to promote the proposal in London.³⁸

a. From Helsinki via Barmen to Otyimbingue

While the board of the Finnish Missionary Society was getting worried about the situation in Namibia, the Finnish missionaries were on their way to Africa. The first stop of the Finns was in Germany. During their three months in Germany, the Finns attended classes at the missionary schools in Hermannsburg and in Barmen, where they were given language courses in English, Dutch and German. Thereafter, they went to London and on to Cape Town, where the Finns arrived by the end of 1868. Here, the news from Hereroland was more promising and the way to Owamboland was said to be open. The board of the FMS was relieved.³⁹

The Finns stayed for two months in Cape, before sailing to Walvis Bay, where they arrived on February 14 1869. By mid-April the missionaries had established themselves at the missionary station of Hugo Hahn in Otyimbigue. Here, the preachers started to study the Herero language, whereas the artisans were put to work under the supervision of the Germans. Soon, however, their image of a peaceful existence started to crumble and the letters of the missionaries became filled with descriptions of both internal and external violence and conflict.

First, there was a latent conflict between the preachers and the artisans. While the preachers were supposed to work hard to learn the languages of the Africans and to preach the Gospel, the artisans were supposed to work and by their action motivate the local people to open themselves for (Western) civilisation. The plan of the FMS was that the missionaries would live in a community, sharing everything. The income to the community was supposed to come through the work of the artisans. In the internal hierarchy of the community, however, the preachers were seen as standing above the artisans. Thus, the artisans were not urged to learn any language properly, even though at several meetings they had urged both the priests as well as the board of the FMS that they be allowed to do so. Further problems arose between the Finnish and German artisans. The Finns were regarded by the Germans as well as the Finnish preachers as being lazy, and not very good in their craftmanship. This led to an open schism between some of the brothers and eventually led to decision of the Brother Conference to expel Erkki Juntunen and send him back to Finland.⁴⁰

Although Juntunen has been described by Peltola as not being able to accomodate to the difficulties and challenges of field work, there is also another explanation for Juntunen's "rebellion". In one of his letters to Sirelius, he was very critical about the actions of Germans, especially towards their African workers:

For Juntunen, as well as the other Finns, such behaviour was unthinkable. If not forbidden, then it was not common in Finland to apply the rod to someone, whereas the use of stick was commonplace in Germany, especially when dealing with social inferiors. For the Finns, with their religious background, the use of violence against Africans was also unthinkable as it would contradict all their evangelical efforts. In fact, the Finns were horrified by treatment of the Hereros by the Germans:

Not surprisingly, the relations between the German and Finnish missionaries soon became inflamed, resulting in a strong criticism by the Finns of the German mission:

Much ink was spilled during the first year in Otyimbigue over the internal conflicts within the missionary community. Even more was spilled about the continuous insecurity and threat of external violence which was posed by the continuing war between the Herero and Nama. Piirainen felt that,

and, further,

Kurvinen, again, expressed his negative feelings about the Nama unambiguously: "They are cunning people, who are only capable to do evil things."⁴⁶

One event shocked the newly arrived Finns. During a Nama raid against a Herero village, a son of the village head was killed. The village head collected his followers and attacked the Berg-Damara who had participated in the Nama raid. After he had found the Berg-Damara, the village head killed ten and enslaved five of them. For the Finns, this was a shocking experience of the vicious circle of revenge which they felt had marked the deteriorating state of conditions.⁴⁷

Much fear was also caused by Jan Jonker, Jonker Afrikaner's son. He had written a letter to Hahn in May 1869, claiming that he cut all relations with the whites, whom he would drive out of Otyimbigue. Jan Jonker also strongly forbade any missionary to go to Owamboland without his permission and threatened to kill anyone who dared to do so.⁴⁸ Some months later, however, Jan Jonker sent a new letter to Hahn, with the opposite message. He now claimed that he was willing to start peace negotiations with the Herero and reopen his contacts with "the whites". Negotiations dragged on for the rest of the period of the Finns visit to Otyimbigue, where the atmosphere had become more relaxed by the end of 1869. The Finns even mistakenly reported to Helsinki that peace had returned to Hereroland.⁴⁹

The peace treaty was signed in June 1870 but it periodically looked as if there would be a new upsurge of fighting. According to Piirainen, the question of whether or not there would be a lasting peace was dependent on the position and influence of Hugo Hahn. Hahn's influence over the Herero and Nama chiefs, for Piirainen, was the the key factor that led to the end of the fighting.⁵⁰ Tolonen had another interpretation. He feared that peace would not last for very long since the treaty had not been signed by many of the chiefs while Jan Jonker and Kamaherero, a Herero chief, had drawn up new plans for expelling all white (Cape) traders and colonialists.⁵¹

It seems as if only a few of the Finns reflected upon the background to the conflict between the Herero and the Nama. Some of them, such as Björklund and Tolonen, gave explanations that were other than the "evil character" of the people involved. Tolonen reported in February 1870 that Otyimbigue had had no rain for three years,⁵² thus pointing to the coincidence between the Finns' arrival and a continuing drought in Namibia that had caused by 1869 severe problems for all of the pastoral societies.⁵³ Björklund had earlier referred to deterionating conditions, concluding that Jan Jonker, who would have liked to continue his fight, had to enter into peace negotiations as a result of

By the end of 1869 people and their cattle were dying due to drought and the famine.⁵⁵ Tolonen even realised that one reason for Jan Jonker's negative attitude towards the missionaries was his poverty. Since he could not offer anything to them, that is, he felt ashamed.⁵⁶

The Finns stayed in Hereroland until spring 1870. Finally, at the end of May 1870, the group was able to continue its journey to Owamboland, where they arrived in early July. The Finns had reached their promised land, where it was persumed that everyone was waiting for them with open arms and hearts, eager to learn the Gospel.

Weikkolin had written to Sirelius about a discussion he had had with Hahn, when Hahn had repeated his vision of the whites being regarded as the messengers of God.⁵⁷ However, the news from Owamboland that had reached Otyimbigue were then conflicting and caused much anxiety among the missionaries. Instead of an untouched paradise they heard "bad" news and rumours about intertribal raids and wars. Shikongo had attacked Nuujoma four times but during every time, he was beaten back and suffered heavy losses. Nuujoma was buying weapons and ammunition and building a stone house, and all of the white traders had fled to Hereroland due to the war.⁵⁸ Even worse, a daughter of King Shikongo from Ondonga had fled to Otyimbigue because she had not obeyed her father's will by rejecting his choice of a husband for her. Instead, she had run away with a white hunter and had become pregnant. She therefore feared being killed by Shikongo for her disobedience,⁵⁹ thereby providing a horrifying example for the Finns about indigenous authority in Owamboland. But instead of turning their back on Owamboland, the Finns became even more convinced about the need for their existence:

The Finns were equally convinced that such was also the belief among the Ovambo people: "The desire to have the missionaries is getting even stronger. We will come with the Gospel of Peace. Perhaps this will light the fire of peace in their hearts."⁶¹ It was therefore of no surprise for the missionaries that events seemed immediately to change for the better on their arrival in Owamboland. They felt that it was due to their arrival that the fighting stopped and the Ovambo kings had rejoiced: "Now we want no war anymore as these men of God have arrived. Instead we want to build houses for them."⁶²

As mentioned above however, Owamboland was not an untouched paradise in 1870. Owamboland had been divided into several kingdoms, with the kings assuming far more power than elsewhere in Namibia. Society itself was structured on a kinship basis, with dispersed matrilineal clans. The royal clan was not structurally different in any respect from the other clans and was only the first among equals. Royal power was partly based on coordinating and arbitrating functions. The king raised a regular military levy for raiding but could not act as a military leader since he was personally forbidden to leave the home territory. He exercised supreme administrative and judicial power but was under the supervision of a powerful council of commoners. He could appoint, and remove, district headmen by his will but he was unable to influence their daily lives. Ideologically, the king's greatest power was his magical power of making the rains fall, thus expressing the vital connection between political power and ecological conditions. It was he who organised corvée labour to dig water reservoirs and to make the decision about when the planting season would begin.⁶³

Owamboland had also been hit by a drought and there was a lack of cattle and grain. Intertribal raiding and warfare had not come to an end with the arrival of the missionaries but continued. As shown by Björklund's letter, the Finns faced disillusion:

Tolonen, who had stayed behind in Otyimbigue, when the rest of the Finns had left for Owamboland, was even more skeptical about the possibilities for missionary activity:

The Finnish missionaries in Otyimbigue had decided that they would split in two groups. One group under would stay in Ondonga, the other would establish a mission station in Uukwambi. After the arrival of two more Finnish preachers, Tobias Reijonen and Gustaf Mauritz Skoglund, who arrived in Owamboland during 1871, the FMS was able to extend its activities. A station was established in Olukonda by Jurvelin, while Rautanen moved to Ongandjera and Tolonen to Uukwanyama. Thus, by the end of 1871, the Finns had established five mission stations.⁶⁶

At the beginning, it looked as if all the earlier hopes would be fulfilled. King Shikongo of Ondonga, among those who had originally invited the missionaries, gave the Finns a warm welcome. However, it seemed that the intention of Shikongo, as well as of the other kings, was not focussed upon a religious message and teachings of the missionaries, but on more worldly things. Disappointedly, Kurvinen had remarked that Shikongo was much more interested in artisans and gunsmiths than in preachers.⁶⁷

Ondonga, the central area for the Finns, had been the first kingdom, where they had established themselves. They were of the opinion that King Shikongo was a key figure for their success. Life, however, was not easy. The missionaries were short of everything and had few means to earn their living. There was little preaching and teaching during the first year because time had to be spent on building a house for the missionaries. Cattle and grain were difficult to obtain during 1870 due to the high prices and bad harvests in the previous years due to the drought.⁶⁸ Last but not least, the relations between the missionaries and Shikongo were problematic. The first quarrel arose in October 1870 when Shikongo accused the Finns for wanting to kill him, of undermining his influence upon his "children" (subjects) and for maintaining contacts with his archenemy, Nuujoma. Björklund countered by arguing that those of the king's people who had fled did so because of their fear of enslavement by Shikongo.⁶⁹

Björklund seemed to have been able to convince Shikongo that the Finns were no threat to him. By November 1870, Björklund was able to report that the relations between Shikongo and the Finns had become better and that Shikongo had started to send workers to the building site of the mission.⁷⁰ A further quarrel arose when Shikongo and Tolonen argued about rainmaking and the reason for the drought. Shikongo referred to the belief of his people that the arrival of the missionaries was the reason why there had been no rain and asked Tolonen whether they are praying for rain and why God had let the cattle die and people go thirsty? Tolonen's reply was that the missionaries were praying for rain but that God does what he sees as best for the world. Often, God delays the rain while sometimes even denying it as a punishment for the evil conduct of human beings. Shikongo asked, whether the Ovambo people were evil, but Tolonen did not answer, merely saying that humans generally were evil. Then Shikongo replied: "We are not anymore looking for evilness and we will leave warfare. If people will come to steal things then let them do so, because we will always have our cattle."⁷¹

During 1871 actual missionary work started in Ondonga, but with little success. Shikongo had compelled his people to listen to the sermons, but people fell asleep and were not at all interested. Some even requested the king that they should not be obliged to attend the Sunday preachings. Even worse, Shikongo officially announced that he was not interested in learning the Gospel. Tolonen had tried to open a school for children in January, but by June the effort had to be given up due to a lack of pupils. If missionary work was more or less a failure, the "worldly" work of Heinonen was not.⁷² He started to successfully practice as a gunsmith. However, there was a problem in so far as people, and especially the king, were not paying him for his work. By the end of 1871, Heinonen was more or less in despair.⁷³

A new conflict arose in Ondonga during November 1871. All of the Finns had come together at the mission station in early November for their annual meeting. This was interpreted by Shikongo as an attempt by the Finns to plan a take over of the kingdom. According to the Finns, Shikongo had been told of this 'plan' by white traders, who were the enemies of the missionaries. In turn, the missionaries had told Shikongo and the other kings that the traders were cheating them. The traders had therefore spread the rumour that the Finns were about to take over the land from the king(s). Therefore, Shikongo forbade any of his subjects to come near the missionary station. Effectively, missionary work lay dormant.⁷⁴

Events developed similarly in Uukwambi where King Nuujoma had welcomed the missionaries with open arms and even promised to start a new life with no more slave raiding and trading and warfare.⁷⁵ Contrary to Shikongo, he sent people to the working site of the mission station. For a while it looked as if Uukwambi and King Nuujoma would become the centre for the mission. Unlike Ondonga, Uukwambi did not seem to have been hit as severely by the drought and, due the ability of Nuujoma to repel the attacks of Shikongo, the kingdom was not facing political and economic turmoil. Soon, however, Nuujoma had to break his promises. Since trade was vital for maintaining his position, and the cattle trade was the key element, he received cattle as a form of tribute from his subjects, and sometimes he had to use force to obtain "his rightful share". What he did not knew was that his actions were to be strongly condemned by the missionaries. During September 1870, Weikkolin complained after Nuujoma killed eight people who had denied to give him cattle: "The life of a human being is of so little value that the kings might kill without any reason anyone for the only reason as to feed the wild birds. The Lord of Death is ruling here in the land of darkness."⁷⁶

In retrospect, one could argue that the relationship between Nuujoma and the Finns had started to deteriorate during September 1870. At that time, Nuujoma came for the first, but not the last, time to the Sunday preaching while drunk. He also restarted selling slaves to the Portuguese in return for his most "needed" item, liquor.⁷⁷ The reopening of slave trade led to a new vicious spiral of warfare, slave and cattle raiding. Initially, Nuujoma did not inform the Finns about the restarting of raiding but since when he wanted to send a bull to the Finns after one attack, they denied to take it and told Nuujoma that they would not take any booty and could not agree with his actions. Nuujoma, again, did not attend the Sunday preachings for a long time afterwards.⁷⁸

The Finns represented people whom Nuujoma had not experienced before. Although the missionaries were white, they did not touch alcohol, tried to ban its consumption and criticised the white traders and hunters for their drinking habits. Such behaviour for Nuujoma, must have been strange, if not suspect.

The prohibition of warfare would in the long term have undermined Nuujoma's position. He would not have been able to control trading and would have lost his ability to secure the lion's share from it. Above all, if the Finns would have been allowed to teach all the king's subjects, a social revolution might also have threatened the king who grasped at an relatively early stage that the message of equality in the world hereafter, and in the eyes of God, was a threat to his position.

Despite the quarrel about warfare and slave trade, Nuujoma and the missionaries were able, by January 1871, to work out a new relationship after the drought broke. The good rains during January seemed to prove the missionaries' case for staying. Even Nuujoma was convinced once again of the fruitfulness and disastrous impact of the raids and promised to stop his activities.⁷⁹

But the joy of the missionaries proved to be short-lived. Although the Portuguese traders had to leave Uukwambi for a while, they had returned during Spring 1871 and had been able to rebuild their former influence over Nuujoma. By May 1871, Nuujoma had again turned his back on the missionaries. Nuujoma was reported to have started warfare and slave raiding again. He refused again to come to church and started to publically criticise the missionaries.⁸⁰ Even worse for the mission, Nuujoma had forbidden his subjects to attend the Sunday preachings, thus causing Rautanen's and Tolonen's attempt to open a school a complete failure.⁸¹

The relationship deteriorated even more during July. Nuujoma forbade his subjects under the threat of death to have anything to do with the Finns. Kurvinen and Reijonen tried at the same time to spread their preaching activity to the countryside, but due to Nuujoma's prohibition no one dared to come and listen to the preachers. Also, Weikkolin's attempt to reopen the school was a total failure.⁸² The situation reached a new ebb during November 1871 when Nuujoma publicly announced that anyone who had anything to do with the missionaries was to be killed.⁸³ He rejected any invitations of the Finns to discuss this state of affairs and had shut out the missionaries.⁸⁴ During December 1871 it looked as if the circle of the deteriorating relations between the Finns and Nuujoma was closed and as if nothing had happened during the previous year. When Nuujoma offered the Finns some cattle and guns of the booty that his soldiers had taken on a previous raid, the Finns refused the offer by telling Nuujoma that they would never touch 'stolen property'.⁸⁵

According to the Finns, Nuujoma's change of mood during Spring 1871 was due to the manoeuvering of the Portuguese traders.⁸⁶ They had told Nuujoma that the Finns were coming to his country in huge numbers to take away all of his land.⁸⁷ Since more missionars appeared during the spring, when Skoglund and Reijonen arrived in Owamboland and were stationed at Elim, Nuujoma must have been convinced by the warnings of the Portuguese traders. Nuujoma, however, could not know that the intention of gathering of the Finns was nothing more to celebrate their annual missionary jubilee. To the disappointment of the Finns, Nuujoma rejected their invitation to participate in the festivities. Kurvinen was perplexed by Nuujoma's accusation: "We are afraid as there are so many white men."⁸⁸

In retrospect, however, one far-reaching if not breaking point in the relationship between Nuujoma and the Finns was the massacre in Ombandyan during April 1870. Nuujoma's soldiers, together with some other Ovambo groups, had attacked the compound of King Tyipandeka of Ombandyan, killed the old king and taken all his cattle.⁸⁹

Another problem, which was to start the final count-down of the end of missionary activities in Uukwambi, was the strained relations between Piirainen and Nuujoma. Piirainen, who had been sent to Owamboland as an artisan and settler, was the only Finn which Nuujoma had really wanted. Piirainen's skills as a gunsmith were demanded by Nuujoma, but Piirainen felt that he had to work without renumeration. Throughout 1871, Piirainen had felt the pressure of being the only Finn who actually did make a living. As the Finns were supposed to share incomes and expenses, problems were bound to a rise.⁹¹ The situation was judged, by Kurvinen and the other preachers, to be manageable as long as Piirainen received some payment by Nuujoma and the others but, by the end of 1871, Nuujoma had stopped paying for Piirainen's work.⁹² Finally, by the end of March 1972, the quarrel between Piirainen and Nuujoma resulted in an open rift. On top of not paying for Piirainen's work, Nuujoma started to demand that Piirainen should move inside his compound to become his personal gunsmith. Piirainen rejected this demand and Kurvinen tried to mediate without avail.⁹³ On April 11 1872, the brothers in Elim decided that Piirainen and his wife had to leave Uukwambi for the sake of their safety.⁹⁴ This decision proved to be the opening of the final act of the Finns in Elim.

Despite the animosities and problems in Uukwambi, Kurvinen been able to rebuild a working relationship with Nuujoma during January 1872. Kurvinen had been asked by Nuujoma during the height of a drought to pray for rain. Due to the late start of the rains, people were very anxious but not even Nuujoma could offer any solution or relief. Kurvinen used this opportunity to first remind Nuujoma about the sinfulness of life, the worthiness of human beings and the omnipotence of God. Then, Kurvinen emphasised that the drought was a punishment of God, but said that he would pray to God for forgiveness and for the Ovambo people. By coincidence, it then rained to the benefit of the missionaries. Kurvinen started to give private lectures to Nuujoma, who regarded the preachers, like the artisan, as his own personal servants, refusing to allow anyone else to be taught.⁹⁵

The actions of Kurvinen and Weikkolin made things even worse. When Nuujoma approached the preachers in hope of receiving help, for example during a prolonged drought during the end of 1871, their only reaction was to point at the 'bad' habits and way of life of the people. The missionaries rejected any idea that they had some kind of spiritual power or direct links to the Supreme Being. They had to beg Nuujoma for their provisions but were always eager to criticise him for his way of life. The Finns became, in a sense, the antithesis of Nuujoma. Whereas he represented both spiritual and political power, they did not; whereas he was capable of providing food for his people, they were not. Furthermore, their message would be understood as telling everybody that the king had no spiritual power at all. Indeed, Kurvinen had even told Nuujoma that the missionaries were not magicians or wizards and had nothing to do with soothsaying.⁹⁶

The solution to Nuujoma's problem was to expel the messenger. It was a risky decision, as Nuujoma might have lost also the benefits of the Finns, namely Piirainen's knowhow. But after Piirainen had left Elim in April 1872 there was, in fact, no alternative for either Nuujoma or the preachers. Nuujoma, like the other Ovambo kings, had not invited the missionaries in hope of becoming Christianised. When the Portuguese traders promised Nuujoma to give him what he wanted, without any reciprocal demand that he and his subjects should change their ways of life, there was no reason to keep the missionaries within his kingdom.

For the Finns, the breakdown in relations and their expulsion were due to both Nuujoma's 'weak character' and the 'evil' impact of the white traders. According to Kurvinen, both the Portuguese and the Cape traders started to agitate against the Finns. Kurvinen admitted that he could not handle the situation after he once again started to quarrel with Nuujoma over the question of slave trading. The unstable conditions in Uukwambi seemed to have a negative impact on trade and one English trader even urged the Finns to withdraw from Uukwambi for a while so that the situation would calm down. Kurvinen rejected this suggestion, after which the trader turned to Nuujoma. According to Kurvinen , Nuujoma publically began to demand the departure of the Finns after the arrival of the English trader, but stressed that the main reason for Nuujoma's negative attitude was due to the Portuguese slave traders. After Piirainen's departure, the position of the remaining Finns became impossible. Their servants had been beaten and had fled. Since the Finns now had to keep their cattle close to their houses, the livestock started to starve and the situation became untenable. Finally, the Finns realised that they had reached a cul-de-sac. By the middle of May, they had no more provisions left and there was no more hope of receiving anything from Nuujoma. Eventually, the Finns left Uukwambi on May 21 1872 to take refuge in Ondonga.⁹⁷

Kurvinen's and Weikkolin's final expulsion and flight was a hard disappointment for all of the Finns. Life had been hard in Owamboland from the very beginning.⁹⁸ All of the Finns had been constantly short of provisions, the first two years had been a struggle against a hostile climate and recalcitrant people. At times they had to starve and, often, they had to beg for food. Almost all had been sick and suffered from malaria and other diseases. But all of them had a remarkable spiritual strength and unshakable belief in their mission. It looked as if they would, after all, have been able to move mountains. Therefore the setbacks in Uukwambi and in Ongandjera, from where Rautanen and Reijonen were expelled during August 1872, shook the grounds of the self-esteem of the Finns.⁹⁹ It was as if everything had been in vain: "What do you say about the fact that we have had to leave Elim? Our strength has faded away, our will is broken".¹⁰⁰

None of the Finnish missionaries had ever seen an African when they left Finland during the summer of 1869. One can assume that they must have read about Africa and African peoples during their instruction at the Missionary School in Helsinki. However, the available sources give no clue about their ideas of the continent and its inhabitants while they were in Finland. In any case, neither Africa nor Africans were of much interest to this peripheral nothern part of the world.

For the Finns, to meet an African was a novel experience. However, not every African was regarded as a 'true and real African'. For example, none of the missionaries regarded the African population in the Cape Province as being 'real' Africans. 'Real' Africans were heathens and not converted Christians. Björklund, for example, described, in a letter to Sirelius, his first meeting with an African:

It seems as if the misionaries had their first acquaintance with an African during their visit to Germany. Some Africans, presumably Herero or Nama, were living in the Missionary School of the Hermmannsburg Missionary Society in Hermannsburg. These Africans were, at least for Weikkolin, 'the first Negro' he ever saw. Weikkolin was more than amazed.¹⁰² Kurvinen, again, seemed not to have been impressed by the Africans in Hermmannsburg. Instead, the sight of a couple of stuffed Africans in Crystal Palace had a profound impact upon him:

It was in the Cape that the Finns next met Africans. Although the missionaries were not initially exited by the sight of the 'Hottentots', in their later writings the fate of the African population in the Cape Province was found to be problematic. As 'black heathens', 'pagans' and 'animal-like savages', the fate of the 'Hottentots' was damned unless they were baptised: "The children of the desert with their noble souls."¹⁰⁴ Many years later, Kurvinen made an critical evaluation about the situation of the "Hottentots" in Cape Town and Stellenbosh.

But neither the "Hottentots" nor the Nama or Herero were seen by Kurvinen and the others as "real" Africans. In their imagination, only the Ovambo were 'real' Africans.¹⁰⁶ This distinction was due to the missionaries' dualistic concept of 'black' and 'white', 'good' and 'bad'. The 'Hottentots' (Khoikhoi) were no longer 'real' Africans. Because of their conversion to Chritianity, the 'Hottentots' had become more than mere black Africans. As Christians they had become "children of the desert", who were travelling on the right path. 'Real' Africans were not Christians. But there were 'good' and 'bad' Africans, with the good ones as those who would be capable of opening themselves to the only truth, whereas the bad ones would do everything to counteract the message of the Gospel. Before reaching Owamboland, the continuing conflict between the Nama and the Herero was interpretated by the missionaries as being part of Satan's work on earth, whereas Owamboland was to be the promised land. After all, the history of the Africans was seen by the missionaries as being the trail of the wretched ones, their blackness being a clear sign of their sinfulness.¹⁰⁷

Such thinking about the origin of Africans had influenced the missionaries in Finland and were a common explanation of both science and religion in Western civilisation during the nineteenth century. The Finnish missionaries were not untypical in their perception of Africans and non-Christians. The same stereotype can be found among other missionaries and Missionary Societies.¹⁰⁸

b. The bad African

In general, there was no archetype of the bad African for the Finns. Between 1869 and 1872 the missionaries changed their views many times. Their opinion was largely influenced by their "ultra-Christian" background, especially a pietistic world view as the basis of their concepts and interpretations. Kurvinen, who often expressed his views is a good example of both their changing mood and pietistic background. He was very critical about Nuujoma in his immediate letters. But as he condemned Nuujoma in one sentence, he had a Christian interpretation "from above" in the following one when he regarded Nuujoma as a child, and not responsible for his actions.¹⁰⁹

However, a close reading of the letters of the missionaries very clearly reveals an unshaken image of "the bad African".¹¹⁰ One such 'bad' African was Jan Jonker, although the opinions of the missionaries changed over time. The general tone of their letters, however, was that the Nama, and especially the Orlom leaders Jan Jonker and Jan Boois, were the evil ones who attacked the innocent Hereros.¹¹¹ The picture was more than biased, since both the Finnish and German missionaries were working among the Hereors. However, one could never be too sure about the Hereros either. When Kamaherero, the chief of the Herero, was denied by Tolonen and Weikkolin from receiving guns and ammunition, he was furious, ordering the missionaries to get out of his sight and said: "Yes, I am bad, but the teachers and their word and so on are even worse."¹¹²

The missionaries had contradictory views about the Ovambo kings, especially Nuujoma and Shikongo. Initially, Shikongo was regarded as a 'bad' king, whereas Nuujoma was seen as the 'good' one; whereas Shikongo created violence and war, Nuujoma rightfully protected the lives of his people.¹¹³ Tolonen's evaluation of Shikongo proved to be reasonable in many respects. Shikongo's main interest had been in Western knowledge and innovations and not the Christian message which he regarded useless for him. This was also the insight of the other Ovambo kings and, as such, created the conditions for continuing conflict between the missionaries and the kings.¹¹⁴ Tolonen reported:

The definition of a 'good' African was even more difficult than that of for a 'bad' one. A 'good' African was someone who had become a Christian. But he/she was not supposed to take the fate of his life in his own hands. Instead, a 'good' African was someone who listened to the Gospel of the missionaries and obeyed them. Missionaries always tried to do the best for their 'children'. A good African was always a child, neither mature nor possessing a free will.¹¹⁶

Even an "evil" African could become a good one. Such was the transformation of King Shikongo of Ondonga, although the missionaries differred in their opinions about him.¹¹⁷ Whereas Tolonen initially had a positive opinion about Shikongo, Malmström was still critical in 1872 . Tolonen, who belonged to the "realists" among the Finnish missionaries, had a political interpretation of Shikongo's behaviour. According to Tolonen, it was understandable that Shikongo was interested more in 'worldly' things than in the message of the preachers since his wordly interest was a duty as a political leader¹¹⁸ Kurvinen, in his later texts, was full of praise for Shikongo, perhaps mainly because it was Shikongo who opened his kingdom for him and the others who had been expelled from Uukwambi and Okyandyira. But although Kurvinen's description is of a man with a majestic and noble character, Kurvinen was not slow in reminding his readers about the two faces of Shikongo, since he could also abruptly decide to do the most 'disgraceful' and 'evil' things.¹¹⁹

King Nuujoma of Uukwambi became the "bad man" in Owamboland after the open clash between the Finns and Nuujoma during the autumn of 1870. At the beginning of Finnish missionary activity Nuujoma had been seen as the rock of Finnish missionary activities. Kurvinen wrote: "He was very glad with our arrival and hoped that the invasions and slave raids from Ondonga into his territory would come to an end. He was also very eager to learn and to send his people on Sundays to listen to the preachings."¹²⁰ Nuujoma was reported by Kurvinen as being a kind, warm and affective person, helping the missionaries during the first difficult period with provisions and sending men to the building site of the mission station. Nuujoma, at least, was initially more of a good patriarch and sovereign.¹²¹

However, Nuujoma was also regarded as being a weak ruler. He was said to be under substantive influence of the Portuguese traders, who represented for Kurvinen three evil things, liquor, slave trade and Catholicism, and were seen by Kurvinen as the root cause for all the troubles in Owamboland.¹²²

Two impressions arise out of Nuujoma's actions and the development of conflict between him and Kurvinen. One is of a doubtful king trapped in the twilight zone between pre-modernity and modernity. The other one is of a realistically thinking despot, whose actions were constantly misinterpreted by Kurvinen and the other Finns. Nuujoma, for Kurvinen, was something as the archtype of a drunken despot, who shot his subjects without any reason.¹²³ In Nuujoma's eyes, Kurvinen, again, was probably seen as a young boy who exited the king's subjects and might cause trouble. Kurvinen did not understand Nuujoma's point when Nuujoma told Kurvinen that he should not teach his "children" but only him:

Kurvinen did not understand Nuujoma's need to kill a screaming wild bird, because a spirit was embodied in it. Kurvinen and Weikkolin did not understand anything about rainmaking and the danger of threatening the spirits.¹²⁵ Since they even dug a well without making an offering to the spirits, the missionaries openly undermined one of the main sources of power of a Ovambo king, namely his central position in spiritual matters. Even worse, Nuujoma's own people started to question his capability of rainmaking.

In fact, Kurvinen constantly, but unconsciously, made use of spiritual violence. In all his discussions with Nuujoma, Kurvinen accused the king and his subjects of being sinners in the eyes of God and thus were subject to punishment. During a dispute of March 1872, Kurvinen told Nuujoma that the continuing drought was not due to the capability of a king to withhold the rains, nor the possession of any witch's power. Kurvinen told Nuujoma that

As the outcome of an other regotiated resolution of conflict between Kurvinen and Nuujoma, Nuujoma had forbidden anyone to touch the preachers. The reason for this was that Kurvinen constantly had criticised Nuujoma's war- and raiding missions, which, during the latter half of 1871, had not been successful. Kurvinen's criticism was turned by Nuujoma against the Finns in arguing that the reason for why so many soldiers had died was the presense of the white preachers.¹²⁷

Nuujoma was never convinced by the message of the Finns. He rejected the Christian teachings as needless and irrational "because it is much more pleasant to die among our five ancestors" and "what madness is it, when they tell people that some of them will go to joy and others to eternal fire. They will go after death to ovakurui, the elders."¹²⁸

Tolonen was among the first who warned about the deteriorating relations between the Finns and Nuujoma. In one of his reports of late 1871 to Sirelius, Tolonen feared that the conflict between the Finns and the Portuguese traders might escalate. The Portuguese traders had turned themselves against the Finns in Uukwambi while some English traders had started to agitate against Kurvinen and the others. Tolonen also warned that Nuujoma might have misunderstood the good intentions of the missionaries when they tried to stop warfare and the slave trade. According to Tolonen, Nuujoma was very bitter about the interference of the missionaries in the internal and external politics of Uukwambi. Tolonen was even critical about the extremely rash actions of the missionaries and was of the opinion that Nuujoma might have started to consider that the presence of the Finns at Elim was a burden for his kingship. "As the missionaries were not meeting his expectations, namely to repair his guns for free, there was no more use for them."¹²⁹

Later reports on the collapse of missionary work in Uukwambi emphasised all the points which Tolonen had presented six months before the final breakdown. Kurvinen and those, who were expelled, put the main blame upon the agitation of the Portuguese traders and the difficult, if not decadent temper of Nuujoma.¹³⁰ Others, such as Björklund, also criticised the undiplomatic skills of the Finns in Uukwambi, blaming them for being as guilty as Nuujoma for the conflict. Some of the Finns presented very critical self-reflection upon the prospects of missionary work in Owamboland. Jurvelin, especially, questioned the whole enterprise and stressed the fact that the missionaries had not been wanted from the very beginning.

The Finnish missionaries arrived in Owamboland during a period, when the area was already contested by traders coming from the Cape and Angola. Clarence-Smith and Moorsom, as well as Siiskonen, have shown that there was intense rivalry between the Portuguese and Cape trading and hunting communities.¹³¹ As long as cattle, ostrich feathers, ivory and slaves were easy obtainable at a relatively low price, the situation remained relatively stable. However, the arrival of the missionaries brought a new element to the shaky relationship between the traders and the Owambo kings. The most important change, before the arrival of the misioanrs, was that the kings had been able to monopolise gains from the new form of trade in an unprecedented way. When indebtedness to traders lead to economic difficulties, making the kings feel worse off than before, they turned against their own subjects by grabbing cattle with which they tried to pay off debt. Internal raiding had accompanied external trading, thereby undermining the earlier economy of reciprocity.¹³²

The Finnish missionaries ultimately understood some elements of the complexity of the political economy of Owambo society. However, they were not able to interpret and draw any functioning conclusions out of their observations. Kurvinen had written:

One reason for these conditions in Uukwambi was Nuujoma's open-handed policy towards the traders:

The Portuguese traders from Mossamedes had established long-trade connections with the various Owambo societies during the 1840s. By the end of the 1860s, the Portuguese monopoly had been challenged by traders coming from Walvis Bay. Some of the Walvis Bay traders had initially allied themselves with the Finns, and had promised to give protection to the Finns. A key figure was one trader, Green, who was to become the protector of the Finns and who had lead the first column of the missionaries to Owamboland. In fact, Green was one of the most influencial traders in Southern Owamboland and had a strong position in Ondonga as well as Uukwambi. The alliance between the Finns and the 'English' traders proved to be both a blessing as well as a cursed cause of future frictions.

The Portuguese traders, especially, must have considered the Finns to be a problematic factor in the economic configurations of Owamboland. From the beginning to the end of missionary work in Uukwambi, the Finns complained about the Portuguese traders, accusing them of selling liquor and arms to the king and buying slaves and cattle.¹³⁵ Whenever Portuguese traders appeared, the missionaries faced problems. As messengers of the Gospel from their pietistic setting, enslavement and the slave trade were 'evils' to counteracted and abolished by all possible means. The Finns in Uukwambi could never support the actions of the Portuguese traders. Kurvinen wrote that "during the first week of our staying in Uukwambi these feared Portuguese arrived with their alluring liquor," and then continued to criticise the drinking habit of the king as well as the wicked way of life of the traders and their concubines.¹³⁶ These traders were portayed by the Finns as "the dead members of Christianity without any peace in their soul". All they did was to cheat people and rob them.¹³⁷ They were Nuujoma's "helpers in the darkness, these catholic Portuguese traders,"¹³⁸ who had only brought destruction, with their liquor, to all Owambo societies.¹³⁹

Worst of all, according to the missionaries the Portuguese were slave dealers and to get slaves, the kings had to use force and violence to supply their demands. Although slave trading was outlawed in the Portuguese colonies and the slave trade to Brazil and Cuba had ceased, there still was a rising demand for slaves in Angola. Since prohibition was ineffectual, the Portuguese authorities did not do much to counteract the import of slaves from Owamboland. The Finns could have used a political argument against the slave traders but they did not do so. Since they probably did not know anything about the actual situation in Angola, the missionaries did not urge the board of the FMS to take any action. Instead, the issue of slavery was interpreted as a crime against humanity and Christian values. The Finns thus put themselves in a dilemma. They could condemn but not act. Their condemnation, however, led to counteractions of the slave traders, with which they were not capable of confronting.

Later, Kurvinen was to get a further insight into the complex relationship between Nuujoma and the Portuguese traders. Nuujoma was said to have been 'raised' by the Portuguese and was thus in debt to them. Kurvinen was convinced that the influence and the message of the Finns was viewed by both Nuujoma, as well as the Portuguese, as a threat to their respective positions: Nuujoma would loose his kingdom and the Portuguese their best sponsor.¹⁴⁰ In fact, the Finns, from the start had caused some turmoil in the trade relations between the traders and Nuujoma. Since the missionaries told him that he was selling cattle at too low a price and was getting cheated, Nuujoma had briefly stopped trading. Although the Finns tried to justify themselves by stressing that their impact was marginal, the traders were more certain about the consequences of the Finnish accusations.¹⁴¹ For Kurvinen, the root cause of all conflict was due to the demands of the traders and especially those of the Portuguese.¹⁴² His conclusion was that when a trader came to buy cattle or slaves, a habitual response was for the raiding party to be sent to cause havoc among the king's neighbours and his own people.¹⁴³

Björklund reported on the actions of the missionaries who were living in Elim. He was very critical about the the written statement of Kurvinen when he wrote "that man has a very good gift of self-defence." Björklund counter-argued against Kurvinen about the reasons for the failure of the Finns in Uukwambi. First, was Kurvinen's undiplomatic skills and his constant interference in local politics. According to Björklund, Kurvinen had not realised that the political and social life in the kingdom was different to that in an 'organised' state. The king was at the centre of life and everything and everybody circulated around him. Kurvinen's attempts to forbade warfare was interpreted as a direct attempt to weaken the king's power and, as such, was equivalent to treason. Although Björklund stressed that he did not agree with the violent actions of the kings, the missionaries should not to be engaged in attacking their political order. Second, the missionaries, according to Björklund, should not openly interfere with the slave trade. Again, while Björklund admitted that one should do anything to counteract the trade in slaves, he argued that actions against slavery and slave trading should have been carried out with much more diplomatic skill than what Kurvinen had used. Third, the same applied to the cattle trade. Relations between the cattle traders and the missionaries had deteriorated because the Finns had told the king that the traders were cheating him by paying him much too little for cattle. The Portuguese traders, especially, were not slow to slander the missionaries.¹⁴⁴

Thirdly, and most problematically, according to Björklund, was the fact that the Finns were not able to sustain themselves by trade and farming. Instead, the Finns had constantly to beg from the king for cattle and grain to survive, in Uukwambi as well as in Ongandyira, where Rautanen and Reijonen also had to beg from the king. Not surprising, both kings ceased sending provisions to the missionaries, accusing them of being 'criminals', who had to flee their home country for want of food and, instead, come to Owamboland for cattle and grain. Björklund stressed that perpetual begging must have been a root cause for the negative attitude of the kings towards the Finns, except for Ondonga, where Björklund had not begged at all.¹⁴⁵ As a matter of fact, Kurvinen, in his 1871 annual report, had admitted that the harvest had been a failure. The Finns in Elim constantly had to beg from Nuujoma who had mocked Kurvinen by saying that he had come to his country "poor and hungry, begging to get food."¹⁴⁶

Kurvinen must have known of Björklund's accusations, because he wrote a lengthy report on "The reasons for Nuujoma's aversion". He rejected all of Björklund's points by instead putting all the blame on the Portuguese traders and their negative influence on Nuujoma. Kurvinen must have been criticised by the other Finns for the tone of his preachings, because the main argument in his report was to contest the possibility of that his preachings had caused the rift between him and Nuujoma.¹⁴⁷ However, Kurvinen's report indirectly revealed in an indirect way the main causes for his and Weikkolin's expulsion, the inability of the Finns to adapt to the local political and social situation.

The most bitter self-criticism was presented to the FMS board by Jurvelin, who concentrated on the overall circumstances in Owamboland, the clash with the Portuguese traders and the lack of insight of the Finns. But most of all, his report was a fierce criticism of the FMS decision to start missionary work in Owamboland. According to Jurvelin, Hugo Hahn had not told the FMS the whole truth about conditions in Owamboland when he had invited the Finns to work there. In Jurvelin's eyes, it was folly for a poor missionary society, such as the FMS, to start work in a country such as Owamboland, where there were few if any possibilities for the missionaries to survive on their resources and also had to import everything from the Cape. Even worse, Hahn should have known that the Ovambo kings were only interested in guns and ammunition, the 'worldly aspects of Western civilisation'. With no worldly goods to trade, the Finns were of no interest to the Ovambo.¹⁴⁸

Kurvinen came to a similar conclusion in his evaluation. Hahn had exaggerated the king's will for teachers: "What they meant by 'teachers' was gun and wagon smiths."¹⁴⁹ In his later writings, Kurvinen bitterly attacked the FMS decision to send their first missionaries to Owamboland. Kurvinen asked why the FMS had mistakenly sent unexperienced missionaries to Africa.¹⁵⁰

After their expulsion from Uukwambi and Ongandjera during 1872 all the Finns were relocated to Ondonga where they built new stations and concentrated all their efforts. Although some of the missionaries travelled to the other Owambo societies, no mission stations were established outside Ondonga before 1883. Everyday life was as harsh as earlier. Although Shikongo and his successor, Kambonde I (1874-83), tolerated the Finns in their kingdom, they did not do much more to assist them. But, in Ondonga, under the leadership of Björklund, the missionars had chosen a non-confrontation policy that by 1872 had proven to be more fruitful than Kurvinen's policy of intervention. Another reason for Shikongo's more neutral attitude towards the Finns must have been his interest in allying himself with white men to secure his position. Due to his disastrous warfares against Uukwambi during the late 1860's, Shikongo had been reduced to a minor king, fearing that Nuujoma might attack him. The Finns were thus used by Shikongo as a political shield. Kambonde continued Shikongo's policy.¹⁵¹

Jurvelin and Malmström left Owamboland during 1873 and returned to Finland, whereas Piirainen and his wife left Ondonga and settled at Omaruru in Hereroland during the same year. Kurvinen and his family had to leave Ondonga due to his wifes illness and returned to Finland during 1875. Tolonen also then returned to Finland while, during 1878, Heinonen and his family had to leave Owamboland due to their illness under the escort of Weikkolin. Of all those who had left Ondonga during the 1870's only Weikkolin returned together with his wife. On April 22 1880, Skoglund died in Ondonga due to an attack of malaria. Those left were the Rautanen, Björklund, Weikkolin and Reijonen families.¹⁵²

The failure of Finnish missionary activity in Owamboland during the early 1870's is a case of culture clash in Africa. The Finns had arrived in Owamboland unexperienced and without any knowledge about the land and its people. They were driven by an apostolic spirit, seeking to succeed in their mission. However, they were also "children of their age". Their conception of Africa and the Africans was typical for the nineteenth century. The Owambo were seen as children, thus not ultimately responsible for their own actions. Their kings were regarded as superstitious despots. Since Owambo society was perceived as a world of disorder and violence, the Finns took it upon themselves had the duty to spread the message of the Gospel. The world of the missionaries was black and white: Paganism was condemned and Christianity offered as the only truth.

It took time, including much trial and error, for the Finns to reorientate their concepts and images. Kurvinen's interventionist approach proved to be a failure, whereas Björklund's non-interventionalist one was to become a realistic alternative.

One problem which the Finns did not realise at the beginning was the unstable conditions prevailing in Owambo society. Due to the opening of long-distance trade, and the integration of the region into an emerging modern world, Owambo society was going through a period of rapid change, among the most profound of which was the strengthening of royal power. The new power base of the kings and their councils was dependent on trade connections as well as their spiritual position involved, among other functions, in rainmaking. The activities of the missionaries, and especially the interventionalist approach, was perceived by both the kings and the traders as a direct threat to their respective positions.

Another failure was a rigorous attitude towards non-Christian beliefs and traditions. The Finnish missionaries were not exceptional in condemning 'pagan' practices and 'superstitions'. However, the negative attitude of all Christian missionary activity widened the gap, in this case, between the kings and the missionaries. The Finnish missionaries were not able to convince the kings about the truth of their message.

Most important for their difficulties was the mistaken premise of Finnish missionary activity. The Owambo kings had not actually invited the missionaries to do missionary work but hoped to receive Western know how and colonists who could create trade stations such as those in Herero- and Namaland. In this sense, the Finns were uninvited guests, who tried to force their conviction upon people who did not want to adopt the Christian message.

1Throughout the paper, I will use the term Namibia when referring to the geographical area that is covered by the present Namibia. By 'Owamboland', I refer to the area which covers most of the northern parts of Namibia. Originally, the Owambo people lived on both sides of the borders of Namibia and Angola. Finnsih missionary activity was first concentrated in the southern parts of precolonial Owamboland, or that region which was part of German South West Africa.
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²Kurvinen 1877-1880, Kurvinen 1903, Kurvinen 1913; Panu 1908-1909.
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74FNA/FMSA, Eac 3, Skoglund to Sirelius, 29.11.1871.
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Ylikangas, Heikki, Körttiläiset tuomiolla. Massaoikeudenkäynnit heränneitä vastaan Etelä-
Pohjanmaalla 1830- ja 1840-lukujen taitteessa, Helsinki: Otava 1979