BIBLICAL TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY MISSIONARIES IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA. I. TRANSLATIONS INTO SWAHILI

Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German Lutheran in the service of the Anglican Church Missionary Society, was not only the first modern missionary in East Africa, he was a pioneer in the linguistic field and biblical translation work especially with regard to Swahili. A little later Bishop Edward Steere in Zanzibar translated into Swahili and published the New Testament and in 1891 the entire Bible. The prioneering linguistics of early missionaries, Ludwig Krapf, Bishop Steere and Father Sacleux set a high standard for a succession of Swahili experts and Steere's Swahili Bible provided a basis for Biblical translations into other East African vernaculars.