Christian missionaries, Arabica coffee, and cocoa in Africa (Internet post)

In an H-World post on 11 July 2006 Roger B. Beck (Eastern Illinois University) pointed out that European missionaries played an important role in introducing cash crops to Africa. The (French Catholic) Holy Ghost Fathers developed Arabica coffee in what became Kenya during the second half of the nineteenth century, a coffee variety which resisted pests and disease. The (Swiss Protestant) Basel Mission introduced cocoa to the Gold Coast (later Ghana) during the nineteenth century. Its trading company made large profits in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.