Map of Burma during Judson's lifetime

The Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a Congregationalist mission society, sent Adoniram Judson to India in 1812. On the way he studied the issue of infant vs. adult baptism and decided to receive adult baptism. This inspired American Baptists to send and support more missionaries. India was controlled by the British in this era of colonialism, and Judson was not allowed to stay. He therefore moved to Burma where he engaged in street preaching in the city of Rangoon. He made few converts, but he translated the Bible into Burmese and compiled materials for a Burmese-English dictionary. A war broke out between the English and the Burmese and Judson, as an English-speaking foreigner, was jailed for 17 months under horrible conditions. His wife Ann was allowed to visit him and her help kept him alive; she died shortly after her husband was freed. At great personal cost, Judson's 37 years of work in Burma laid the foundations for a Christian community.