| 1892 | Theodor Leutwein, who arrives in
Swakopmund on 01.01.1894, estimates that 15 000 to 20 000 Nama, 3 000 to 4 000 Basters, 70
000 to 80 000 Ovaherero, 90 000 to 100 000 Ovambo and 30 000 to 40 000 Dama and San live
in the territory (estimates for the year 1892). The Roman Catholic Church (" Propaganda Fide") separates the area of Cimbebasia into Lower and Upper Cimbebasia. Lower Cimbebasia extends from the Kunene River to 23° south and 22° east. The Dorsland Trekkers under the command of Jan Robberts from Humpata in Angola beat the Swartboois in their mountain hiding place near the Kunene River. |
| 18.02. | Hendrik Witbooi is defeated by the Ovambanderu in the battle of Otjihaenena. |
| 25.03. | The South West African Settlers Company is established, and the first settler land is the Klein Windhoek valley. During June the first settlers arrive: Oberamtmann Albert Nitze, Christia n Nissen-Lass and John Ludwig. The system of small holdings is, however, later abandoned in favour of bigger farms. |
| 05.07. | Ovaherero and Ovambanderu under the
leadership of Assa Riarua (son of Maharero’s former advisor Riarua), as well as
Nikodemus Kavikunua, Daniel, Barnabas and Justus Kavizeri, attack Hendrik Witbooi’s
stronghold Hornkranz but are defeated. On their way back to Windhoek, the unsuspecting Ovaherero are attacked by some German settlers under the command of Ludwig. Two Ovaherero are killed, some are wounded and cattle are driven off. This incident is not followed up by the German authorities, and Samuel Maharero’s faith in the Germans is shaken. |
| 08./09.07. |
Hendrik Witbooi refuses to
relinquish his independence when Curt von Francois visits him in Hornkranz to try to
persuade him to conclude a protection treaty with the Germans. Witbooi answers von Francois: "Africa belongs to us! Both through the hue of our skin and in our way of life do we belong together, and this Africa is in its entirety our own country. The fact that we possess a variety of chieftainships and diverse territories does not imply any secondary division of Africa and does not sever our solidarity ... The emperor of Germany has no business in Africa whatsoever." |
| August | In order to retain his independence, Hendrik Witbooi turns to the British colonial authorities in the Cape Colony. He reports to them that the Germans are oppressing his people and depriving them of their legitimate possessions. Furthermore they are enforcing laws alien to the country and its peoples, and preventing free trade. "We knew you - you never came to steal our country. You conducted trade with us - and did not deprive us of our freedom." Witbooi never receives an answer from Cape Town. |
| 01.08. | The sale of alcohol to indigenes is restricted. |
| 19.08. | Rhenish missionaries Wulfhorst and Meisenholl establish a second mission station in the Uukwanyama area, at Omupanda (in present-day Angola). |
| Aug./September | An attorney from Hamburg, Julius
Scharlach, obtains the "Damaraland Concession", thus breaking the monopoly of
the DKGSWA. Cecil Rhodes soon dominates the new South West Africa Company (SWAC), which
holds the sole right to operate railway lines between Sandwich Harbour and the Kunene
River mouth as well as to exploit the copper deposits of the Otavi Mountains. Matthew
Rogers investigates the mining potential of the Tsumeb Mine. The accompanying German
officials Duft and Von Bülow are stopped on order of the brother of the Ovaherero Chief
David Kambazembi of the Waterberg while the British may proceed. George Wilson is appointed chairman of the board of the new company. He is, however, replaced by George Cawston, a director of Rhodes’ British South Africa Company by the end of 1892. |
| 03.09. | The firm Wecke & Voigts is established in Okahandja. |
| 12.09. | The military station and port of
Swakopmund is founded by Curt von Francois in order to by-pass the British-controlled
Walvis Bay. Ships cannot land directly at the beach, but have to ride at anchor about a
mile off-shore due to the heavy surf pounding the shallow inshore waters. Passengers,
animals and cargo have to be unloaded onto lighters or rafts and brought to shore through
the surf with great discomfort and under sometimes hazardous conditions. Eugen von Brön becomes first port captain in Swakopmund, before landing facilities exist. |
| November | A peace treaty is agreed between
Hendrik Witbooi and the Ovaherero, because Witbooi perceives their conflict to be
secondary to the threat posed by German colonialism. This peace treaty leads to the employment of increased German troops in the colony. |
| 29.11. | Two mining engineers of the South West Africa Company (SWAC), Rogers and Copeland, describe a meeting with Manasse Tyiseseta from Omaruru: "Manasse and his Raad continually ask if we were involved with the Germans ... and I knew if he got in any way to understand that we were with the Germans, we would go no further. This is our country! We are owners of it. We do not want war. We are for peace. We have been cheated many times before; but now our eyes are opened, and when once you could buy land with a bottle of whisky or a suit of clothes, that time is all gone by." |
|
|