[1] The first issue was published in Basel on 1 March 1883 under the editorship of the German missionary and philologist, Johann Gottlieb Christaller who had then retired from the mission.

[6][7] A few months before, in a letter to the editor from Christiansborg dated 13 October 1882, the first Basel missionary-trader Hermann Ludwig Rottman inferred that "the primary aim of the journal was to encourage people who were not proficient in English to write in Twi or Ga"[6][7] A similar news publication, the Christian Messenger and Examiner had earlier been founded in 1859 by Wesleyan missionaries, Thomas Birch Freeman and Henry Wharton as a medium to translate foreign literature and classical works into native African languages.

[3] The newspaper has opinion pieces, news bulletins, advertisements, banns of marriage and obituaries and funeral announcements of notable individuals associated with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

[4][5][1] The Basel Missionaries originally established the newspaper as a way “to inform, educate, evangelize and entertain its readers... to the north, east, west and south” corners of the Church.

[1][2] Today, the newspaper also covers socioeconomic issues, political trends, military history and contemporary changes in global society.