German South West Africa Deutsch-Südwestafrika | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884–1915 | |||||||||||||
 Service flag of the Colonial Office  Coat of arms of the German Empire | |||||||||||||
 Green: German South West Africa Dark gray: OtherGerman colonial possessions Darkest gray:German Empire (1911 borders) | |||||||||||||
| Status | Colony ofGermany | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Windhuk | ||||||||||||
| Official languages | German | ||||||||||||
| Recognised regional languages | Afrikaans Khoekhoegowab Oshiwambo Otjiherero Setswana | ||||||||||||
| Ethnic groups | 99% Black African 0.8% White 0.2% other | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Christianity Indigenous beliefs | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||
• 1894–1905 | Theodor von Leutwein | ||||||||||||
• 1905–1907 | Friedrich von Lindequist | ||||||||||||
• 1907–1910 | Bruno von Schuckmann | ||||||||||||
• 1910–1919 | Theodor Seitz | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Scramble for Africa | ||||||||||||
• Start of colonial occupation by the German Empire | 7 August 1884 | ||||||||||||
| 1904–1908 | |||||||||||||
• Union of South Africaoccupies German South West Africa | 9 July 1915 | ||||||||||||
| 28 June 1919 | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
| 1912 | 835,100 km2 (322,400 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1912 | 250,000 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | German South West African Mark | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Namibia | ||||||||||||
German South West Africa (German:Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of theGerman Empire from 1884[1] until 1915,[2] when it was captured by the Western Allies duringWorld War I. However, Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919Treaty of Versailles.
German rule over this territory was punctuated by numerous rebellions by its native African peoples, which culminated in acampaign of German reprisals from 1904 to 1908 known as theHerero and Nama genocide.
In 1915, duringWorld War I, German South West Africa wasinvaded by the Western Allies in the form of South African and British forces. After the war its administration was taken over by theUnion of South Africa (part of theBritish Empire) and the territory was administered asSouth West Africa under aLeague of Nationsmandate. It became independent asNamibia on 21 March 1990.
Initial European contact with the areas which would become German South West Africa came from traders and sailors, starting in January 1486 whenPortuguese explorerDiogo Cão, possibly accompanied byMartin Behaim, landed atCape Cross. However, for several centuries, European settlement would remain limited and temporary. In February 1805, theLondon Missionary Society established a small mission in Blydeverwacht, but the efforts of this group met with little success. In 1840, the London Missionary Society transferred all of its activities to the GermanRhenish Missionary Society. Some of the first representatives of this organisation wereFranz Heinrich Kleinschmidt (who arrived in October 1842) andCarl Hugo Hahn (who arrived in December 1842). They began founding churches throughout the territory. The Rhenish missionaries had a significant impact initially on culture and dress, and then later on politics. During the same time that the Rhenish missionaries were active, merchants and farmers were establishing outposts.
On 16 November 1882, a German merchant fromBremen,Adolf Lüderitz, requested protection for a station that he planned to build in South West Africa, from ChancellorOtto von Bismarck. Once this was granted, his employee, Heinrich Vogelsang, purchased land from a native chief and established a settlement atAngra Pequena which was renamedLüderitz.[1] On 24 April 1884, he placed the area under the protection ofImperial Germany to deter possible encroachment by other European powers. In early 1884, thegunboatSMS Nautilus visited to review the situation. A favourable report from the government, andacquiescence from the British, resulted in a visit from thecorvetteLeipzig and thefrigateElisabeth. The German flag was finally raised in South West Africa on 7 August 1884. The German claims on this land were confirmed during theConference of Berlin. In October, the newly appointedCommissioner for West Africa,Gustav Nachtigal, arrived on the gunboatMöwe.[3]
In April 1885, theDeutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwest-Afrika (German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa, known as DKGSWA) was founded with the support of German bankers (Gerson von Bleichröder,Adolph von Hansemann), industrialists (Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck) and politicians (Frankfurt mayorJohannes von Miquel).[4] DKGSWA was granted monopoly rights to exploit mineral deposits, following Bismarck's policy that private rather than public money should be used to develop the colonies.[5] The new Society soon bought the assets of Lüderitz's failing enterprises, land and mineral rights.[4] Lüderitz drowned the next year while on an expedition to the mouth of theOrange River.[1] Later, in 1908, diamonds were discovered. Thus, along withgold, copper,platinum, and other minerals, diamonds became a major investment.[5]
In May,Heinrich Ernst Göring was appointed Commissioner and established his administration atOtjimbingwe. Then, on 17 April 1886, a law creating the legal system of the colony was passed, creating a dual system with laws for Europeans and different laws for natives.[6]
Over the following years, relations between the German settlers and the indigenous peoples continued to worsen. Additionally, the British settlement atWalvis Bay, a coastal enclave within South West Africa, continued to develop, and many small farmers and missionaries moved into the region. A complex web of treaties, agreements, and vendettas increased the unrest. In 1888 the first group ofSchutztruppen—colonial protectorate troops—arrived, sent to protect the military base atOtjimbingwe.
In 1890, the colony was declared a GermanCrown Colony, and more troops were sent.[7] In July of the same year, as part of theHeligoland–Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany, the colony grew in size through the acquisition of theCaprivi Strip in the northeast, promising new trade routes into the interior.[8]
Almost simultaneously, between August and September 1892, the South West Africa Company Ltd (SWAC) was established by the German, British, and Cape Colony governments, aided by financiers to raise the capital required to enlarge mineral exploitation (specifically, the Damaraland concession's copper deposit interests).
A veterinary cordon fence was introduced in 1896 to controlrinderpest by restricting population and livestock movement. Later known as theRed Line, it became a political boundary with police protection concentrated south of the line, while northern areas were controlled though indirect colonial rule using traditional authorities. This led to different political and economic outcomes for example between the northernOvambo people compared to the more centrally locatedHerero people.[9]
Through 1893 and 1894, the first "Hottentot Uprising" of the Nama and their leaderHendrik Witbooi occurred. The following years saw many further local uprisings against German rule. Before theHerero and Nama genocide of 1904–1907, the Herero and Nama had good reasons to distrust the Germans, culminating in theKhaua-Mbandjeru rebellion. This rebellion, in which the Germans tried to control the Khaua by seizing their property under cover of European legal views of property ownership, was criticised at home for being no real reform of the notion of collective tribal ownership. This led to the largest of the rebellions, known as the Herero Wars (or Herero genocide) of 1904.
Remote farms were attacked, and approximately 150 German settlers were killed. TheSchutztruppe of only 766 troops and native auxiliary forces was, at first, no match for the Herero. The Herero went on the offensive, sometimes surroundingOkahandja andWindhoek and destroying the railway bridge toOsona. An additional 14,000 troops, hastened from Germany underLieutenant GeneralLothar von Trotha, crushed the rebellion in theBattle of Waterberg.
Earlier von Trotha issued an ultimatum to the Herero people, denying them the right of being German subjects and ordering them to leave the country or be killed. To escape, the Herero retreated into the waterlessOmaheke region, a western arm of theKalahari Desert, where many of them died of thirst. The German forces guarded every water source and were given orders to shoot any adult male Herero on sight. Only a few Herero managed to escape into neighbouring BritishBechuanaland.[10]
The German official military report on the campaign lauded the tactics:
This bold enterprise shows up in the most brilliant light the ruthless energy of the German command in pursuing their beaten enemy. No pains, no sacrifices were spared in eliminating the last remnants of enemy resistance. Like a wounded beast the enemy was tracked down from one water-hole to the next until finally, he became the victim of his own environment. The arid Omaheke [desert] was to complete what the German army had begun: the extermination of the Herero nation.
— Bley, 1971: 162
In late 1904, theNama entered the struggles against the colonial power under their leadersHendrik Witbooi andJakobus Morenga, the latter often referred to as "the blackNapoleon", despite losing most of his battles. This uprising was finally quashed during 1907–1908. In total, between 25,000 and 100,000 Herero, more than 10,000 Nama and 1,749 Germans died in the conflict.
After the official end of the conflict, the remaining natives, when finally released from detention, were subject to a policy of dispossession, deportation, forced labour, and racial segregation and discrimination in a system that in many ways anticipatedapartheid. The genocide remains relevant to ethnic identity in independent Namibia and to relations with Germany.[11]
The neighbouring British objected to what they regarded as the inhumane German policy. This involved maintaining a number of concentration camps in the colony during their war against the Herero and Nama peoples. Besides these camps, the indigenous people were interned in other places. These included private businesses and government projects,[12] ships offshore,[13][14][15]Etappenkommando in charge of supplies of prisoners to companies, private persons, etc., as well as any other materials. Concentration camps implies poor sanitation and a population density that would imply disease.[16] Prisoners were used as slave labourers in mines and railways, for use by the military or settlers.[17][18][19]
The Herero and Nama genocide has been recognised by the United Nations and by theFederal Republic of Germany.[20] On the 100th anniversary of the camp's foundation,German Minister for Economic Development and CooperationHeidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul commemorated the dead on-site and apologised for the camp on behalf of Germany.[21][22] In May 2021, after five years of negotiations, the German government—recognising the Hottentot Rebellion as a colonial genocide—set up a $1.3 billion compensation fund.[23]
The news about the start ofWorld War I reached German South West Africa on 2 August 1914 via radio telegraphy. The information was transmitted from theNauen transmitter station via a relay station inKamina andLomé inTogoland to theradio station in Windhoek.
After the start of the war,South African troops opened hostilities with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station on 13 September 1914. German settlers were transported to concentration camps nearPretoria and later inPietermaritzburg. Because of the overwhelming numerical superiority of the South African troops, theGerman Schutztruppe, along with groups ofAfrikaner volunteers fighting in theMaritz rebellion on the German side, offered opposition only as a delaying tactic. On 9 July 1915,Victor Franke, the last commander of theSchutztruppe, capitulated nearKhorab.
Two members of the Schutztruppe, geography professors Fritz Jaeger and Leo Waibel, are remembered for their explorations of the northern part of German South West Africa, which became the bookContributions to the Geography of South West Africa (Beiträge zur Landeskunde von Südwestafrika).[24]
After the war, the territory came under the control of Britain which was then formalized through a South AfricanLeague of Nations mandate which madeUnion of South Africa responsible for administration.[25] The territory eventually became subject to apartheid under South African rule, as well as becoming involved in the Angolan civil war in 1975.[26] In 1990, the former colony became independent asNamibia, governed by the former liberation movementSWAPO.
Many German names, buildings, and businesses still exist in the country, and about 30,000 people of German descent still live there.German is still widely used in Namibia, with theNamibian Broadcasting Corporation operating a German-language radio station and broadcasting television news bulletins in German, while the daily newspaperAllgemeine Zeitung, founded in 1916, remains in publication.[27]Deukom, asatellite television service, offers television and radio channels from Germany.[28]
In addition,Lutheranism is the predominantChristian denomination in present-dayNamibia.
German South West Africa was the only German colony in which Germans settled in large numbers.[29] German settlers were drawn to the colony by economic possibilities in mining, and especially farming.[30] In 1884 German South West Africa had a population of 200,000 people of which 3,643 were white and 84% of the white colonists were German (there was 3,048 Germans in 1884). By 1913 there was 213,000 people in total in the colony of which 14,830 were white and most of the white colonists (12,292 or 83% of the white colonists) were German.[31] Most of the white colonists were white males.[32]
Many of the Bantu and Herero which lived in the colony fled after theHerero Wars to neighboring areas outside the control of the Germans or died during it. With many natives fleeing the territory because of the Herero War, a labor source for the Germans was lost leading to labor shortages with subsequent attempts to import labor failing. Although the Herero Wars were costly to the Germans, a number of soldiers would stay in the colony and ended up becoming settlers.[33]
Afrikaners would move to the colony which initially the colonial government was welcomed by the colonial government but the national government was less open to this idea but both would eventually be welcome to this idea. The Germans sought to integrate the Afrikaners into the German population of the territory.[34]
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 498 |
| 1892 | 622 |
| 1893 | 558 |
| 1894 | 969 |
| 1895 | 1,732 |
| 1896 | 1,992 |
| 1897 | 2,628 |
| 1898 | 2,499 |
| 1899 | 2,827 |
| 1900 | 3,339 |
| 1901 | 3,607 |
| 1902 | 4,635 |
| 1903 | 4,640 |
| 1904 | NA |
| 1905 | NA |
| 1906 | 6,366 |
| 1907 | 7,110 |
| 1908 | 8,213 |
| 1909 | 11,791 |
| 1910 | 12,935 |
| 1911 | 13,962 |
| 1912 | 14,816 |
| 1913 | 14,830 |
In German South West Africa racial segregation was practiced in a variety of means. Bans were practiced on mixed-race marriages starting in 1905 along with revoking citizenship to mixed-race people in the colony also in 1905. Racial segregation was also practiced in the form of "native reservations" which were meant exclusively for natives in the territory and native Africans were not allowed to live in areas designated for white people and services were also segregated as well.[35] Natives were forced to carry identity documents and passports along with being expected to work; not working was a punishable offense.[36]
A network of schools were created in the territory to serve the population which were taught all in German Africans were allowed to attend just mission schools. Education was seen as a way to not only educate the population but integrate them and teach them desired values. All instruction was given in German.[32]
The first government-ran school was established in 1894 in Windhoek for white children only and was a primary school which lasted until 1898 due to a lack of students. It was reopened in 1900 but this time it was free to attend. After the school was reopened in 1900 a number of government primary schools were opened throughout the colony in the following years. In 1909 the first secondary school was opened in Windhoek. Compulsory education was introduced in 1906 for all white children between 6 and 14 years old who lived within 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of any town to attend a public school.[32]
In German South West Africa, attempts were made to establish farming in the territory. The arid climate hindered farming in the area and the Germans planned on building canals to counteract this.[37] The number of farms tripled following the war.[38]
Germany would build a railroad network in the colony using forced labor from Herero and Nama. The railroad allowed for the German colonial presence to expand with protection being guaranteed to those who lived within 100 kilometers of the railroad[38] and allowed for the journey to reach other places much easier instead of using oxen.[37] The first railroad built in the colony went from Windhoek to Swakopmund and opened in 1902.[39] Over 2,100 kilometers of railways were built by the Germans; with stations being built alongside them whether it be for towns or simple refueling purposes.[38] One of the major means of transport in the colony was with mules and in 1913 there were 5,000 of them.[40]
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Most place names in German South West Africa continued to bear German spellings of the local names, as well as German translations of some local phrases. The few exceptions to the rule included places founded by theRhenish Missionary Society, generally biblical names, as well as:
In 1914, a series of drafts were made for proposed Coat of Arms and Flags for theGerman Colonies. However,World War I broke out before the designs were finished and implemented and the symbols were never actually taken into use. Following the defeat in the war, Germany lost all its colonies and the prepared coat of arms and flags were therefore never used.
Germany's share of South Africa......in July 1890, the British and German governments came to an agreement as to the limits of their respective spheres of influence in various parts of Africa, the boundaries of German South-West Africa were fixed in their present position.
Germany established German Southwest Africa in 1884, its first and only settler colony.
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