author
Robert Hamill Nassau
1835–1921
Best known for spending four decades in West Africa, this American Presbyterian missionary also trained as a physician and wrote influential books about the cultures and religions he encountered. His work remains a window into 19th-century Gabon and surrounding regions.
2 Audiobooks
Fetichism in West Africa : forty years' observation of native customs and superstitions
by Robert Hamill Nassau
Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales
by Robert Hamill Nassau
About the author
Born in Pennsylvania in 1835, Robert Hamill Nassau became both an ordained Presbyterian minister and a medical doctor before leaving for West Africa in 1861. He served for many years in places including Corisco Island, the Gabon estuary, and the Ogowe region, and he was widely described as a pioneer missionary in that part of the world.
Alongside evangelistic and medical work, he became known as a careful observer of local languages, customs, and religious life. His writings, especially on West African beliefs and society, made him one of the best-known missionary authors working from that region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Nassau returned to the United States after roughly forty years of service in Africa and died in 1921. Today he is remembered both for his long missionary career and for the historical value of the books and records he left behind.