American Educational and Missionary Efforts in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

In 1810 the American Board Mission was founded. Nine years later two missionaries were sent to the Middle East. They were followed by many men and women who devoted themselves to evangelism in the Ottoman Empire and later in Iran. Because the Ottoman government did not permit them to proselytize Muslims, and the Catholics objected to any form of interference, their work was principally with the Greek Orthodox, Armenians, and Nestorians. In 1850 the Ottoman government authorized the establishment of an evan gelical "millet," or sect; so Protestant churches were built and congregations organized. During the middle of the nineteenth century, the mission aries also established many high schools, as well as ten or a dozen colleges. Because of the war and political disturbances, some of the colleges have been obliged to transfer to new localities, or else to close down. Robert College and the Constantinople Woman's College at Istanbul, the American University of Beirut, and the American University in Cairo have grown to be large institutions, still active and useful. These schools, colleges, and universities have been influential in creating constructive contacts between the peoples of the Middle East and of America.