Missions Data

The Project on Religion and Economic Change hosts a variety of data related to Protestant and Catholic missions dating from 1813 to the present for every non-Western society. These data were collected from statistical manuals, atlases, necrologies, and other records from missionary archives, libraries, rare bookstores, and church collections all over the world. Research assistants at the University of Texas (link to Staff) entered the data into electronic files and plotted the geographical information on digital maps in 2005. The centralization and computerization of these data make possible a variety of unprecedented analyses for researchers around the world interested in religion, economic development, and church history, among many others.

Currently, the Project is making public geographic data displays of missions activity and territorial changes from the 19th to the mid-20 th century.

Catholic Diocese Maps, 1885-1938

Protestant Mission Stations, 1839-1925

Catholic & Protestant Missions Activity, 19th & 20th Centuries

Eventually, all raw missions data will be made available through customizable, interactive maps and user-defined queries on this web site. Check back often for updates.