European exploration of Africa
One of the ships under command of Diogo Dias arrived at a coast that was not in East Africa. Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name Madagascar. But only a century later, between 1613 and 1619, did the Portuguese explore the island in detail. They signed treaties with local chieftains and sent the first missionaries, who found it impossible to make locals believe in Hell, and were eventually expelled.
David Griffiths (missionary)
He married Mary Griffiths in May 1820. In June 1820, he was sent to Madagascar by the London Missionary Society, as colleague of the Reverend David Jones, who had gone out two years previously. On 27 July he was ordained at Gwynfe and on 25 October sailed with his wife from London. They reached Mauritius on 23 January 1821 and soon afterwards proceeded to Madagascar. Griffiths and Jones founded the first Protestant mission in Madagascar. They preached twice every Sunday and established day and night schools, his wife teaching the girls. In 1824, the schools in the capital numbered 300 scholars, and there were 32 other schools within the country, all of which he visited weekly. Griffiths and Jones devised a Roman-letter alphabet for Malagasy; in 1827 a printing press was obtained, and the following year a catechism, a hymnal, and some schoolbooks were published in Malagasy, and the printing of the Gospel of St. Luke was begun.