Lank Jan has its roots in the late 1670s and 1680s, when
francophone Catholic missionaries settled in Se’asho, hoping to
convert the local Wymgani population. The missionaries’ aim was
to “civilise and christianise”. They attempted to convince
Wymgani to adopt Western agricultural practices, and also set up
a school. This was before linguist Yves Noël had carried out his
famous study of the Wymgani language, and it took time for
Wymgani and missionaries to adopt an efficient way to
communicate. The school’s education system was in French, and
some Wymgani parents sent their children there – essentially, it
seems, out of curiosity. Indigenous Ariddians also expressed
some interest in Western agricultural techniques. Efforts to
convert Wymgani to Christianity, however, were a failure. Since
few Wymgani resided with the missionaries or attended their
school on a truly regular basis, they picked up only rudimentary
French. Gradually, however, a pidgin language began to evolve,
one that the missionaries learnt to