Early Capitalism in Colonial Missions

Drawing on unpublished archival material, this volume compares Moravian economic practice in three different mission-settings. It demonstrates how Moravian practices evolved during the 18th century as part of a globalising world and economy.

Delivering in-depth analysis of the far-reaching and deep-seated effects of missionary activity on indigenous communities and social relations, it explores how different economic contexts impacted the missionaries’ relations with Indigenous and slave populations in empire.

Petterson provides insight into how the missionaries worked, lived among various non-European peoples, and organised themselves and their surroundings during a time of changing identities and socio-economic change. Analysing how missionary practice developed over this period, it also demonstrates the Moravian leadership’s priorities and how these affected attitudes to non-European peoples on the ground.

Standing outside of national and imperial boundaries, and ambivalent about the political notion of imperialism as well as colonisation itself, Moravian missionaries nonetheless functioned in parallel with colonial structures. They were part of a broadly culturally colonial mission. Even on the outskirts of imperial organisation, they were often a crucial part of colonial practice and participated in normalising capitalist relations in many—but not all—settings, as Early Capitalism in Colonial Missions demonstrates.