The article is devoted to the history of the activities of Christian missionaries in South and South-West Africa (the middle of the 17th up to the second half of the 19th centuries). The article reveals the role of the religious component in the history of the formation and development of a multinational South African society during the period mentioned. The missionary activity in South Africa began in 1658. The idea of Christianity was new to the Africans and alien to their worldview. There was nothing in common between the concept proposed by the Europeans and everyday life of the Africans. Missionaries mistakenly believed that Christianity could easily fill an imaginary void in the spiritual life of the local population. The doctrines promoted by the missionaries contradicted the traditional social order of the Africans and caused discontent among the local population. Understanding of justice, fairness, the concept of God and property in the European sense - which was historically formed on the basis of Christian dogmas, moral and ethical principles and historical and cultural heritage of Antiquity, sometimes radically diverged from the traditional systems of the world perception of the Africans. Missionaries launched their active phase of enlightenment process among the Africans only in the 19th century. The results of this activity, according to the missionaries themselves, were controversial. In the face of the clergy, the Africans welcomed, above all, the material benefits that they brought to their daily lives. The colonial leadership hoped to accelerate social processes in the societies of African peoples living in Southern Africa. Christian missions often took on the role of a mediator, ready to contribute to complex integration social processes at the historical stage under study.