The Kuruman Moffat Mission at Seodin outside

Kuruman Kuruman is a small town with just over 53,000 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is known for its scenic beauty and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature that brings water from deep underground. The abundance of water ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, traces its establishment, by the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

, to 1816, although the first settlement was not where the mission now stands but at ‘New Lattakoo’. The move to the present site at Seodin was made in 1824. Missionaries

William Edwards William Edwards may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Edwards (architect) (1719–1789), Welsh architect of the Pontypridd bridge in south Wales *William Camden Edwards (1777–1855), Welsh engraver *William Augustus Edwards (1866–1939), ...

and Robert Hamilton founded the mission but it was Robert Moffat, who joined them in 1820, whose name became synonymous with the Kuruman Mission. He with his wife

Mary Moffat Mary Moffat born Mary Smith (1795 – 9 January 1871) was a British missionary who became a role model for women involved in missionary work. She was the wife of Robert Moffat, the mother of Mary Moffat Livingstone and David Livingstone was her s ...

remained there until 1870. Having learnt

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone ...

, Moffat produced a complete translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

by 1857, in which year it was printed on the mission press at Kuruman - the first time that the Bible had been printed in its entirety anywhere in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and the first time in a previously unwritten African language.Bradlow, F.R. 1987 ''Printing for Africa: the story of Robert Moffat and the Kuruman Press''. Kuruman: Kuruman Moffat Mission Trust.

References

{{reflist Christian missions in South Africa

See also

References