Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cross was erected by Bartolomeu Dias at Lüderitz, but it wasn't really until the early 17th
century that Dutch sailors from the Cape colonies began to explore the desert coastline, al-
though they refrained from setting up any permanent stations.
Soon after, however, growing European commercial and territorial interests were to
send ambitious men deeper into Namibia's interior, and in 1750 the Dutch elephant hunter
Jacobus Coetsee became the first European to cross the Orange River. In his wake came a
series of traders, hunters and missionaries, and by the early 19th century there were mis-
sion stations at Bethanie, Windhoek, Rehoboth, Keetmanshoop and various other sites. In
1844 the German Rhenish Missionary Society, under Dr Hugo Hahn, began working
among the Herero. More successful were the Finnish Lutherans, who arrived in the north
in 1870 and established missions among the Owambo.
By 1843 the rich coastal guano deposits of the southern Namib Desert were attracting
commercial attention. In 1867, the guano islands were annexed by the British, who then
proceeded to take over Walvis Bay in 1878. The British also mediated the largely incon-
clusive Khoisan-Herero wars during this period.
The Scramble for Africa
The Germans, under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, were late entering the European
scramble for Africa. Bismarck had always been against colonies; he considered them an
expensive illusion, famously stating, 'My map of Africa is here in Europe'. But he was to
be pushed into an ill-starred colonial venture by the actions of a Bremen merchant called
Adolf Lüderitz.
Having already set up a trading station in Lagos, Nigeria in 1881, Lüderitz convinced
the Nama chief, Joseph Fredericks, to sell Angra Pequena, where he established his
second station trading in guano (made from excrement, this manure was an effective fer-
tiliser and gunpowder ingredient). He then petitioned the German chancellor for protec-
tion. Bismarck, still trying to stay out of Africa, politely requested the British at Walvis
Bay to say whether they had any interest in the matter, but they never bothered to reply.
Subsequently, in 1884, Lüderitz was officially declared part of the German Empire.
Initially, German interests were minimal, and between 1885 and 1890 the colonial ad-
ministration amounted to three public administrators. Their interests were served largely
through a colonial company (along the lines of the British East India Company in India
prior to the Raj), but the organisation couldn't maintain law and order.
So in the 1880s, due to renewed fighting between the Nama and Herero, the German
government dispatched Curt von François and 23 soldiers to restrict the supply of arms
from British-administered Walvis Bay. This seemingly innocuous peacekeeping regiment
