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ABSTRACT
The nineteenth century marked a turning point in the way that European missionary endeavours were mapped. The expansion of missionary societies and their needs brought to the fore the issue of systematization and visualization of data related to missionization. The primary aim of maps was not to mark the geographical features of an unknown region but to quantify missionary activity and its distribution in various parts of the world, thus marking a shift in focus from exploration to statistics. This article analyses the production, reception and distribution of mission atlases during the nineteenth century, with a case study of Peter Grundemann’s Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas (1867–1871), published by Justus Perthes in Gotha, Germany—the first interdenominational missionary world atlas. The appearance of such an atlas illustrates how Protestant societies spread modern Western concepts of mapping and used professionals in the production and marketing of missionary maps.
Le XIXe siècle a marqué un tournant dans la manière dont les entreprises missionnaires européennes ont été cartographiées. L'expansion des sociétés missionnaires et la croissance de leurs besoins ont mis en exergue la question de la mise en forme systématique et la visualisation des données relatives aux missions. L'objectif principal des cartes n'était pas de rendre compte des caractéristiques géographiques d'une région inconnue, mais de quantifier l'activité missionnaire et sa répartition dans diverses parties du monde, marquant ainsi un changement d'orientation, de l'exploration vers les statistiques. Cet article analyse la production, la réception et la distribution des atlas missionnaires au cours du dix-neuvième siècle, avec une étude de cas de l'Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas (1867-1871) de Peter Grundemann, publié par Justus Perthes à Gotha, en Allemagne—le premier atlas missionnaire mondial interconfessionnel. L'apparition d'un tel atlas illustre la manière dont les sociétés protestantes ont diffusé les concepts occidentaux modernes de cartographie et ont fait appel à des professionnels pour la production et la commercialisation de cartes missionnaires.
Das 19. Jahrhundert markiert einen Wendepunkt in der Kartographie europäischer missionarischer Unternehmungen. Der Aufstieg von Missionsgesellschaften und ihrer Anforderungen beförderte die Systematisierung und Visualisierung von Daten aus und für Missionstätigkeiten. Das primäre Ziel der Karten lag nicht in der Darstellung geographischer Details bis dahin unbekannter Gebiete, sondern in der Visualisierung der Verteilung missionarischer Aktivitäten in der Welt und der dazugehörigen quantifizierten Daten. Sie markieren die Verlagerung des Fokus von der Erforschung zur Statistik. In dem Beitrag wird die Produktion, Rezeption und Verbreitung von Missionsatlanten im 19. Jahrhundert analysiert. Ein besonderes Beispiel stellt Peter Grundemanns Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas dar, der von 1867 bis 1871 bei Justus Perthes in Gotha (Deutschland) publiziert wurde – der erste überkonfessionelle Missions-Weltatlas. Das Erscheinen eines solchen Atlas illustriert, wie protestantische Gesellschaften moderne westliche kartographische Konzepte verbreiteten und Profis für die Produktion und das Marketing der Missionskarten einsetzten.
El siglo XIX marcó un punto de inflexión en la forma en que se cartografiaron los esfuerzos de los misioneros europeos. La expansión de las sociedades misioneras y sus necesidades trajo a primer plano el tema de la sistematización y visualización de datos relacionados con las misiones. El objetivo principal de estos mapas no era marcar las características geográficas de una región desconocida sino cuantificar la actividad misionera y su distribución en varias partes del mundo, cambiando el foco desde la exploración a las estadísticas. Este artículo analiza la producción, recepción y distribución de los atlas de misiones durante el siglo XIX, con un estudio del caso del Atlas General de Misiones (1867–1871) de Peter Grundemann, publicado por Justus Perthes en Gotha, Alemania, que fue el primer atlas del mundo misionero interconfesional. La aparición de tal atlas ilustra cómo las sociedades protestantes difundieron modernos conceptos occidentales de cartografía y utilizaron profesionales en la producción y comercialización de los mapas misioneros.
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Notes
1 Mirela Altić, Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Cartography of the Americas (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2022), 43–46.
2 J. Brian Harley, ‘The map as mission: Jesuit cartography as an art of persuasion’, in Jesuit Art in North American Collections, ed. Jane ten Brink Goldsmith (Milwaukee, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 1991), 28–30.
3 Atlas géographique renfermant les etablissemens des Jésuites: avec la maniere dont ils divisent le globe terrestre: il sert aussi d’introduction au géographiq. de l’arbre des Jésuites (Paris, Chez Denis rue S. Jacques, 1764). Copperplate; 41 hand-coloured maps (1 folded); 10 × 13 cm.
4 [Louis Denis,] Atlas universel indiquant les établissemens des Jésuites avec la manière dont ils divisent la terre, suivi des événements remarquables de leur histoire (Paris, Dupont, 1826). Engraving with hand colouring; 43 maps, 9 × 12 cm.
5 For general insight into the development of missionary activities worldwide see Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity (Grand Rapid, MI, Zondervan Publishing House, 1970).
6 Kenneth Scott Latourette, ‘The Christian missionary movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: some peculiar and general characteristics’, The Catholic Historical Review 23:2 (1937): 153–59.
7 The Church Missionary Society was founded in 1799, when the first two missionaries from the society left for Africa. By the turn of the nineteenth century it had sponsored some 1,300 missionaries, 375 local clergy, 1,000 local agents and teachers and had an annual income equivalent to 20 million pounds in today’s money.
8 The German Missionary Society, later known as the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society (Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft, or Basler Mission), was established in Basel, Switzerland, by Calvinists from Basel and Lutherans from Württemberg. In 1828, coordinating with the Danish Missionary Society, it sent its first missionaries to West Africa, later extending its activities to Asia and Latin America.
9 The Berlin Missionary Society (Berliner Missionsgesellschaft) was a German Protestant (Lutheran) missionary society established in 1824 by a group of Prussian nobility. In the field, they worked closely with the London Missionary Society (not to be confused with Church Missionary Society), and supported missions in South Africa, China, and East Africa.
10 The Rhenish Missionary Society (Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft), established in Barmen (now part of Wuppertal), was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. It was formally established in 1828 by the merger of smaller missions founded as far back as 1799. Its first missionaries were ordained and sent to South Africa by the end of 1828. Since the London Missionary Society was already active there, the two societies established a close working relationship.
11 There were, of course, exceptions to this observation. Without a doubt, the most famous nineteenth-century missionary mapmaker and explorer was David Livingstone (1813–1873), a pioneer missionary of the London Missionary Society, who distinguished himself in the exploration and mapping of central and southern Africa. Another example of such a cartographer was Carl Hugo Hahn (1818–1895), of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft. Maps from his explorations in southwest Africa were later edited and used by August Petermann.
12 For examples of cartographic production by missionary societies see ‘Missionskartographie’, a thematic volume of Cartographica Helvetica 58 (2019); Jean-Michel Vasquez, La cartographie missionnaire en Afrique: science, religion et conquête (1870–1930) (Paris, Khartala, 2011); Johanna Skurnik, ‘Encountering colonial worlds through missionary maps in the late nineteenth-century Grand Duchy of Finland’, in Finnish Colonial Encounters, ed. Raita Merivirta, Leila Koivunen and Timo Särkkä (Cham, Germany, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 199–222.
13 Ruth Kark, ‘The contribution of nineteenth century Protestant missionary societies to historical cartography’, Imago Mundi 45 (1993): 112–19.
14 This particular map is atypical, revealing deep political engagement. Besides promoting the spread of Protestantism, it advocated support for the nascent Republic of Texas, which had been proclaimed two years before the map was published in 1838. Moreover, the map shows the full territorial claims of the Republic, from the Rio Grande to the Rocky Mountains. Protestant missionary groups generally supported the establishment of the Republic of Texas and its settlement by Protestants to reduce the influence of Catholic Mexico.
15 See Andrew Porter, Religion versus Empire? British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700–1914 (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2004), 157.
16 Welt-Karte der Mission (Basel, Missionsgesellschaft, 1845). Lithography in colour; 50.5 × 34 cm. In 1857, the same society prepared the Atlas der evangelischen Missions-Gesellschaft in Basel nach den Angaben der Missionare Locher, Plessing, Kies, Albrecht, Weigle, Dr. Gundert, Lechler & Winnes, unter Mitwirkung des Ingenieur Topographen Rudolf Gross, ed. I. Iosenhans [Joseph Friedrich Josenhans], Inspector der evangelischen Missions-Anstalt (Basel, Comptoir der evangelischen Missions-Gesellschaft, 1857). 38 × 30 cm. See Guy Thomas, ‘Horizonte der “Missionskartographie” am Beispiel der Basler Mission’, Cartographica Helvetica 58 (2019): 6–8.
17 Johann Christian Wallmann, Atlas der Rheinischen Missions-Gesellschaft übersichtlich und speciell die Gebiete darstellend, auf welche die Gesellschaft thätig ist, 1st ed. (Barmen, Langewiesche, c.1853). Atlas with 9 maps. Perthes Collection, SPB 4 1010.00170, Gotha Research Library, University of Erfurt (hereafter Perthes Collection). Johann Christian Wallmann (1811–1865) was a German Protestant theologian of the revival movement. He is best known as a mission inspector of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft in Barmen (1847–1857) and of the Berliner Missionsgesellschaft (1857–1863). Apart from his involvement in the preparation of early editions of the Rheinische missionary atlases, he wrote (without ever having left Germany) a manual for learning the Nama language of today’s Namibia and produced reports on the activities of the missions, which saw several editions. For more on Wallmann see Karl Endemann, Johann Christian Wallmann, ein Mann nach Gottes Herzen. Zum Gedächtnis der hundertjährigen Wiederkehr seines Geburtstages (Leipzig, H.G. Wallmann, 1911).
18 Johann Christian Wallmann, Atlas der Rheinischen Missions-Gesellschaft übersichtlich und speciell die Gebiete darstellend, auf welche die Gesellschaft thätig ist, 2nd amended ed. (Barmen, Langewiesche, 1855). Atlas with 9 maps. Perthes Collection, SPB 4 1010.00170a. Two later, more elaborate, editions of this atlas appeared in 1878 and 1891; for the first edition see note 17.
19 Peter Reinhold Grundemann (Bärwalde (Neumark), 1836–Belzig, 1924) studied theology and philosophy in Tübingen, Berlin and Halle (Saale). After obtaining a doctorate in philosophy in Tübingen (1858), followed by a brief stay in Athens, he temporarily resided in Bernstein (Neumark) while preparing for the second theological examination (Berlin), which he took in 1860. He worked as a pastor from 1861 to 1865 but then resigned from that position to study missionary issues in England, North America and the Netherlands, especially focusing on their geographical side. In 1865, he moved to the Cartographic Institute of Perthes, in Gotha, to compile the first precise, general mission atlas. Before completing work on his atlas he was appointed pastor in Mörz (Brandenburg) in 1869, where he remained until his retirement in 1913. He founded the Brandenburg Mission Conference in 1879. See Hans Bardtke, ‘Grundemann, Reinhold’, in Neue Deutsche Biographie 7 (1966): 221–22 (https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd116894806.html#ndbcontent).
20 Reinhold Grundemann, Missions-Weltkarte zur Übersicht sämmtlicher evangelischen Missions Gebiete entworfen und gezeichnet (Leipzig, Geographische-Lithographische Instituts von H. Kunsch, 1862). Lithography in colour in six sheets; 101 × 195 cm. Perthes Collection, SPK10 IV C B 02.
21 Although focused on the presentation of evangelical missions (the map shows a network of almost 100 missionary societies of evangelical denominations around the world, including German, English, American, Dutch, Scandinavian, French and additional European societies), Grundermann also included information on the presence of other religions and non-evangelical missions. Moreover, to highlight the ongoing process of missionization, he included the tracks of several missionary ships, including The Morning Star, J. Knox, The Candace, Dahome, The Harmony and Allen Gardiner Missions.
22 For a more detailed (if semi-fictionalized) biography of Grundemann see René Smolarski, ‘Der Gothaer Missionskartograph—Ein historisches Beispiel für “Crowdsourcing” und “Citizen Science” im 19. Jahrhundert’, in Bürger Künste Wissenschaft Citizen Science in Kultur und Geisteswissenschaften, ed. Kristin Oswald and René Smolarski (Gutenberg, Computus Druck Satz & Verlag, 2016), 71–87.
23 For the history of Justus Perthes publishing house and their production see Petra Weigel, Die Sammlung Perthes Gotha (Berlin, Kulturstiftung der Länder, 2011); and Philipp Julius Meyer, Kartographie und Weltanschauung. Visuelle Wissensproduktion im Verlag Justus Perthes 1890–1945 (Wallstein, Göttingen, 2021).
24 This periodical started in 1855 as Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie and was later known as Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen. For more on the Mitteilungen and their significance see Jan Smits, Petermann's Maps: Carto-bibliography of the Maps in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen 1855–1945 (Amsterdam, Hes & De Graaf, 2004).
25 Reinold Grundemann to August Petermann, 16 August 1862, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/2, fols. 2–3. For a partial reading of the letter see also René Smolarski, ‘Die Bedeutung der Missionskartographie im Gothaer Verlagshaus Justus Perthes’, Cartographica Helvetica 58 (2019 ): 27.
26 Reinhold Grundemann to August Petermann, 20 August 1862, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/2, fols. 5–6.
27 August Petermann to Reinhold Grundemann, 12 September 1862, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/2, fol. 7.
28 Reinhold Grundemann to Justus Perthes, 30 October 1864, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/1, fols. 19–20.
29 ‘Plan zur Ausarbeitung eines Allgemeinen Missions-Atlasses: Frankfurt an der Oder’, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/1, fol. 26. The plan, containing a draft of the Toungoo missions, was sent to Perthes on 17 November 1864.
30 Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/1, fols. 49–50.
31 Smolarski, ‘Die Bedeutung der Missionskartographie’ (see note 25), 32.
32 Reinhold Grundemann to Justus Perthes, 17 November 1864, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MVF 144/1, fols. 29r–31r. The letter elaborates on his original concept.
33 See Prospectus [for the General Missionary Atlas], Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/017.
34 ‘To the Committees of all foreign missionary societies’: [General Missionary Atlas] , May 1864. Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fol. 4r–v.
35 ‘Circular to Foreign Missionaries’, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fols. 7r–8v; ‘An sämmtliche evangelischen Missionare’, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fols. 15r–16r.
36 For an extensive list of the missionary periodical publications that Grundemann ordered, see ‘Aufstellung von Missionszeitschriften’, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fols. 258–263.
37 Reinhold Grundemann, ‘Die Englische Kolonie Natal und das Zulu-Land Bemerkungen zu Tafel 8 von Dr. R. Grundemann’, Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt 13 (1867): 209–10 (with map).
38 Reinhold Grundemann, ‘Die östliche Hälfte von Melanesien’, Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt 16 (1870): 364–69 (with map).
39 Chromolithography required one lithographic stone for each colour and thus was expensive. Cheaper prints could be produced by simplifying the detail in the image and reducing the number of colours used.
40 Reinhold Grundemann, Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas, 4 vols. (Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1867–1871). Perthes Collection, SPA 4 000105.
41 See maps from Harlan P. Beach, A Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions (New York, Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1901), in which missions are marked without territorial limits.
42 David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1998), 240–90. For more on maps as a tool in building the German national identity in general, see Zef M. Segal, The Political Fragmentation of Germany: Formation of German States by Infrastructures, Maps, and Movement, 1815–1866 (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
43 See, for example, ‘Zum Missions-Atlas von Reinhold Grundemann bei Justus Perthes in Gotha’, Allgemeine Kirchen-Zeitung, Year 44 (1867), No. 47, 12 June 1867, 267 (Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fol. 141r).
44 Reinhold Grundemann, ‘Ein neuer Missions-Atlas über alle christlichen Missions-Gebiete der Erde’, Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt 13 (1867): 22–24.
45 ‘Subskriptionsliste zum Mission-Atlas’, Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fol. 117r.
46 Perthes Collection, SPA ARCH MFV 144/1, fol. 252.
47 The Church Missionary Atlas (London, 1857, 1859, 1862, 1865, 1873, 1879, 1887); Foreign Mission Atlas (Edinburgh, 1902); Little Atlas of Catholic Missions (Bergamo, 1926). See Peter H. Meurer, ‘Kurzbibliographie der älteren Missionsatlanten’, Cartographica Helvetica 58 (2019): 70.
48 The separation of church and state became a prominent issue even before the unification of Germany, when most German states took their first steps towards secularization, although the Catholic Church strongly opposed the process. In the Austro–Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco–Prussian War of 1870, the Catholic Church sided against Prussia and was an outspoken opponent of German unification under Prussia. As a result of numerous tensions between the state and the Catholic Church, Prussia had issued decrees against the Jesuits in 1852. The Jesuits were banned or heavily restricted in many other German states, for example, in Saxony (1831), and even in the Catholic ones such as Bavaria (1851), Baden (1860) and Württemberg (1862). See Róisín Healy, The Jesuit Spectre in Imperial Germany (Boston, Brill Academic, 2003), 52.
49 See, for example, Rheinischer Missions-Atlas (Barmen, 1853, 1855, 1878, 1891); Missions-Atlas der Brüdergemeine (Herrnhut, 1895, 1907); Katholischer Missionsatlas (Freiburg, 1884; Steyl, 1906); Missions-Atlas über die Arbeitsgebiete der Berliner evangelischen Missionsgesellschaft (Berlin, 1900).
50 Missions-Atlas: Acht Karten nebst Text (Barmen, 1878). Gotha Research Library, University of Erfurt, SPA 4 00117.
51 Reinhold Grundemann, Kleiner Missions-Atlas zur Darstellung des evangelischen Missionswerkes: nach seinem gegenwärtigen Bestande (Calw and Stuttgart, Verlag der Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1884); with later editions in 1886 (with twelve maps) and 1905 (with ten maps). Perthes Collection, SPB 4 1010.00278.
52 Grundemann refers to the shortcomings of Kleiner Missions-Atlas in the forward to his Neuer Missions-Atlas. Reinhold Grundemann, Neuer Missions-Atlas: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen Missionen (Calw and Stuttgart, Verlag der Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1896). Perthes Collection, SPB 4 1010.00206.
53 In the foreword to the 1896 edition Grundemann stated, ‘I hope that there is no need to apologize for granting the German mission areas a larger scale than what the space on average would have allowed’ (Grundemann, Neuer Missions-Atlas (see note 52), III.
54 Reinhold Grundemann, Neuer Missions-Atlas aller evangelischen Missions-gebiete mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Deutschen Missionen, 2nd ed. (Calw and Stuttgart, Verlag der Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1903). Perthes Collection, SPB 4 1010.00206a.
55 See Grundemann’s foreword to the second edition of Neuer Missions-Atlas (note 54).
56 Ryan Dunch, ‘Beyond cultural imperialism: cultural theory, Christian missions, and global modernity’, History and Theory 41:3 (2002): 318.
57 Harlan P. Beach and Charles H. Fahs, eds., The World Missionary Atlas (New York, Institute of Social and Religious Research, 1925). For more on this volume see Charles H. Fahs, ‘On making a missionary atlas’, International Review of Missions 14 (1925): 260–73.
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Mirela Altić
▸Professor Mirela Altić is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail: [email protected].