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Name: HYLANDER, Nils Johanesson
Birth Date: 21 Feb 1861 Strovelstorp
Death Date: 29 Feb 1929 Spanga
Nationality: Swedish
First Date: 1893
Profession: Swedish missionary. Fatherland Assoc. - arr. Lamu with wife Dec 1893, to set up mission to Boran Gallas with K. Cederqvist; country disturbed, still at Lamu July 1894. Wife arr. Zanzibar from Lamu 29/4/1895, dep. for Europe 4/5/1895
Area: Lamu
Married: Edla Hedberg b. 14 May 1860 Gasborn, d. 19 Jan 1948 Sodertaije
Children: Nils Olof Johannes (21 May 1896); Frida Bothild (2 Feb 1898-21 Dec 1988)
Book Reference: North
General Information:
Worked among the Galla
Ernst Bauerochse, Ihr Ziel war das Oromoland: Anfänge der Hermannsburger Missionsarbeit in ...Mission among the Oromo: After a dangerous caravan journey they came to the border of the Kingdom of Shewa, but now Menelik suddenly didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore. He only allowed the members of the expedition, all of whom were sick and exhausted, to recover at the Aliu Amba trading post. In February 1886 they had to leave the country, and not just them, but also all the other missionaries who were in Shewa. The reason was Emperor Yohannes' expulsion order. The third expedition did not lead the Swedish missionaries to their destination either.
Still, they didn't give up. They now reached out even further. Following Krapf's example, they wanted to try to advance into the Oromo region from the East African coast. The leader of this expedition was the young missionary Karl Cederqvist (1854-1919). He was joined by the missionaries Nils Hylander (1861-1928) with his wife and Karl Nyström (1866-1946), as well as Stephanos Bonaya, a fourteen-year-old boy who came from the island of Lamu on the East African coast, and a Heinrich Riggers had studied in the Hermannsburg mission seminary and then went to North America. He made himself available to the Swedish Evangelical Mission, but left after a few months. This group reached Lamu Island in December 1893. Cederqvist did not find the possibilities of getting from there to Oromoland encouraging. He noted that Ethiopian influence extended far to the south, and they had to assume that this would not allow them to do missionary work. In addition, the route along the Tana River or the Juba was blocked by Somali Muslims.
Cederqvist suggested to the Swedish homeland authorities that Hylander with his wife and Stephanos should try to get to Harrar via Zeila to see if there was a possibility from there to take the route to Jimma. The suggestion came from Gäbru Dästa, who was in Harrar in 1892. The Swedish mission leadership agreed. The governor of Harrar, Ras Mäkonnen, refused and the missionaries went back