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Missions to Asia and Africa

Following the Christian revivals in the mid-19th century, Friends in Great Britain sought also to start missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent to Benares (Varanasi), in India, in 1866. The Friends Foreign Mission Association was formed in 1868 and sent missionaries to Madhya Pradesh, India, forming what is now the Mid-India Yearly Meeting. Later it spread to Madagascar from 1867, China from 1896, Sri Lanka from 1896, and Pemba Island from 1897.

After the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus between Christians and Druze, many missionaries flocked to Ottoman Syria. These missionaries included Friends from several nations. The Friends Syrian Mission was established in 1874, which among other institutions ran the Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank, which still exist today and is affiliated with the Friends United Meeting. The Swiss missionary Theophilus Waldmeier founded Brummana High School in Lebanon in 1873.

Evangelical Friends Churches from Ohio Yearly Meeting sent missionaries to India in 1896, forming what is now Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting.

Cleveland Friends went to Mombasa, Kenya, and started what became the most successful Friends' mission. Their Quakerism spread within Kenya and to Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.