The missions in the world of today are faced with new challenges and problems as the former colonial empires are replaced by new nations whose leaders frequently regard Christianity as an alien faith. This book surveys the history of the missions from the time of the Apostles to 1914 when the problems peculiar to our own times were still largely in the future. The filrst part of the book traces the evangelization of the barharians who swept into the former territories of the Roman Empire and the later missions to the Slavs, Magyars, Scandinavians, ending with the medieval missions to the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his successors. Part II describes the great renaissance of missionary effort which accompanied the conquest of the New World and which extended with the work of St Francis Xavier, Fr Robert de Nobili and others to India, China and Japan. The establishment of the Congregation of Propaganda, the dispute over the Chinese rites and the decline of missionary activity during the eighteenth century are also described. Part III traces the revival of the missions and their growing vigour during the nineteenth century in Africa, Oceania and North America and the re-entry of missionaries into China and Japan.