2. THE PRECOLONIAL HISTORY OF NAMIBIAN
ROADS
2.1 THE PREHISTORIC ERA circa 1250 - circa 1770
Nothing is known about roads in the early days of Namibia. In pre-historical times the
Namibian indigenes used tracks made by e lephants proceeding from
one water hole to the other. The original hunter and gatherer society as well as the early
pastoral communities in Namibia did not have a need for systematic transport links. This
pattern apparently changed in the 13th century when a re-arrangement of economic scale
took place from the early stock-farming enterprises to much larger pastoral structures.
During this period people began to leave the mountains and move to the plains with the
consequent first developments of some form of trade patterns [2]. Somewhere during this
period the first human initiated road links must have come into existence in Namibia. This
has been established by archaeological research whose results can be dated to
approximately 700 years ago [3].
Nomadic people in the central Namib Desert built these first pathways. For many
centuries this pastoral, nomadic way of life, which created the basis for these roads,
dominated the economy in the western parts of Namibia. These early roads are not mentioned
in recorded history, which began only in the 18th century. It was the archaeologist and
not the historian who found proof of these first transport links in Namibia.
A unique site of these pathways was discovered by John Kinahan during 1983 and is
situated in the south-western parts of the Brandberg mountains in the Hungorob River
valley, which dewaters into the Messum River. From the entrance of the Hungorob valley
into the interior of the Brandberg massif there is only one practicable route within the
ravine itself. In the higher regions of the Brandberg the terrain is relatively open. This
also holds true below the 1.000 m contour where there is easy access from the plains to
the waterholes within the mountains. It was the most difficult part on this access route
to the waterholes between 1.000 m and 1.200 m which required improvements by means of an
artificial pathway. Kinahan (1986) reported as follows:
"The pathway leaves the course of the ravine just above the 1.000 m contour
by way of an erosion gully. Its route is marked by two distinctive kinds of features.
Small cairns of cleared rubble occur on the sides of the pathway, which is rendered more
navigable still by filled ground where fissures and sudden drops occur. In some places,
vertical gaps between boulders have been tightly packed with rubble and near the top of
the pathway, rough walling delineates the route and deflects it from steep slopes. Several
reliable waterholes are situated within reach of the pathway and a series of camp sites
marked by the remains of huts and stock enclosures lie along its route. Beyond the 1.200 m
contour, no further sign of the pathway was found in this part of the ravine. The pathway
appears to have been repaired and to have occasionally altered its course during use. If
this was the route used by all the herders who exploited the upper Hungorob pastures, the
pathway represents their combined labour beyond the residential sites."
PATHWAYS IN THE HUNGOROB GORGE: BRANDBERG: ca 1250
A.D.
Although the Hungorob pathway site is the only indication of any road making activity
in the early days of Namibia, it can be assumed that more such sites may exist. The
recorded history of roads and road transportation begins, however, only around 1750 when,
due to the arrival of European settlers, the pastoral economy of the early Namibian times
was already in a stage of collapse. A similar pathway has recently been established at the
old Nama fortress ||Khauxa!nas or Schans Vlakte, the oldest systematic urban structure in
Namibia which has been discovered by the author of this paper, and which will be dealt
with at a later stage.
||Khauxa!nas or Schans Vlakte
The very limited data of the prehistoric era of Namibian transport routes reflects the
available historic source material. However, it has to be mentioned that it is possible
that many more pathways than the two identified ones existed in the early days.
2.2 THE ERA OF THE ORLAMS circa 1770 - circa 1840
As from the second half of the 18th century Orlam communities of Nama descent escaping
from the growing colonialising efforts of European settlers in the Cape Colony in South
Africa as well as European adventures, explorers and traders began to penetrate Namibia.
Before the Orlam migrations the different original Nama groups in the southern parts of
Namibia lived in well-structured, independent and resourceful African societies, as
reported by the first missionaries of the London and Wesleyan Societies [4]. This
favourable socio-economic pattern was not only drastically disturbed by an increasing
European influence but also by the Orlam immigrations. The first few European explorers
who arrived in the second half of the 18th century and the first missionaries who arrived
shortly after 1800 did not mention any Nama or Orlam road-making activities.
The Orlams and the first European travellers all came from the south because the barren
Namib Desert prohibited any access into the Namibian interior from the Atlantic coast.
Most of them came from the Copper Mountains in the Cape Colony of South Africa, where the
town of Springbok is now situated. The ox-wagon route to the Orange River contained
difficult sandy stretches and rugged mountainous terrain, and water was scarce, but it
must have been well-known to some of the local inhabitants, because three grants to
graziers of loan-places on the south bank of the Orange had actually been made as early as
1776-77 [5]. The first explorers on record who entered Namibia from the Orange River were
Jacobus Coetzee and Hendrik Hop as well as the surveyor Carel Frederik Brink, who drew up
the first map of the Namibian south [6]. Pieter de Bruyn, Willem van Wyk and others
reached and probably crossed the Orange River during 1738. Many more were to follow, such
as Wikar, Paterson, Gordon, Le Vaillant, Willem van Reenen and Pieter Brand [7]. They all
more or less followed the same direction to the Orange River. It is not surprising that in
this arid region successive travellers adhered to the same well-proven route [8]. They
reached the Orange most probably at the drift of Goodhouse, whose name has been derived
from the Nama name "Gudaos" (Sheep Ford), the closest and most accessible point
to a traveller coming from the Copper Mountains. Because of deficient pasturage at
Goodhouse many travellers preferred to cross the Orange at Ramans Drift (also:
"Compagnies Wagedrift", near ||Haraxas Drift (Knorhaan Ford)).
Jacobus Coetzee proceeded during 1760 to Dabi#gabis (Dabegabis 122 (present-day farm
numbers)) at the western bank of the ||Houm River (Hom River), a point north of the hot
springs of Warmbad, while the expedition of Hendrik Hop reached the Chamob River
(Löwenfluß) north of the Great Karas Mountains on 22 November 1761. During the Hop
expedition Jacobus Coetzee and Pieter Marais proceeded to the Fish River on 25 November
1761. Hendrik Jacob Wikar visited the areas south and north of the Orange in 1778/79.
During the years 1778 and 1779, William Paterson undertook two journeys to areas in the
vicinity of the Orange River, which was named by Robert Jacob Gordon in honour of the
Dutch Royal dynasty in 1777 [9]. Before this it was called Garieb (!Garib) or Great River.
François Le Vaillant reached the Orange in 1783. The long journey that Le Vaillant claims
to have made into what is now Namibia can only be regarded as imaginary. During 1791/92
Willem van Reenen and Pieter Brand proceeded as far as to the area of Rehoboth and
probably to the Auas Mountains. They did not, however, reach Hereroland in northern
Namibia. Two brothers of Willem van Reenen, Dirk Gijsberg and Sebastiaan Valentijn van
Reenen, and Pieter Pienaar sailed with the ship "Meermin" to Walvis Bay in 1793
and were the first travellers on record who entered the Namibian interior through the
Swakop valley [10].
All these explorers, fortune seekers, game hunters and adventurers used rugged
ox-wagons to cross Namibia's natural terrain without having any constructed, man-made
roads at their disposal. They followed the easiest way which they were able to find, here
and there improving some difficult stretches in order to be able to surmount the most
impossible obstacles on their way into the unknown interior of Namibia.
The first "White" to settle in Namibia was most probably Guilliam Visagie,
who around 1785 established himself in #Nu#goaes (Swartmodder), the subsequent
Keetmanshoop. The brothers, Abraham and Christian Albrecht, from the London Missionary
Society in Warmbad initiated the first brick house in Namibia on 3 February 1806. But
it took many more years before any roads in a modern sense came into existence. Heinrich
Vedder writes the following about the period of circa 1810 [11]:
"When the ox-wagon made its appearance in South West Africa, the old footpath
were no longer of any use, it was not only that they were too narrow, but they often went
over lofty mountain ranges and so compelled the wagon driver to make a new road somewhere
else. The next wagon generally followed the spoors of the previous one, for wagon spoors
remain visible in Africa for a long time. There is every justification for doing this, for
if the first wagon reached its destination the one that follows it has a very good
prospect of reaching it too. It was thus that the first roads came into existence and
these were the roads to Warmbad and from Warmbad to the north, and the road to Sendlings
Drift over the Orange River and from there along Schmelen's roads, which Alexander took,
also to the Kuiseb River and Walvis Bay. Schmelen laid down, too, the first part of the
road to the sea at Lüderitzbucht."
With the increasing activities of European missionaries in Namibia and with more
travellers entering "Great Namaland" north of the Orange River, the first
permanent ox-wagon roads were established. However, it has to be said that these so-called
"roads" did not deserve this term, because until far into the 20th century they
were nothing more than slightly improved natural rough African terrain. The Bushmen,
however, respected Johann Heinrich Schmelen's ox-wagon as a special kind of animal when
they encountered the missionary travelled in a northwards direction via Büllspoort to the
Kuiseb River. When one of the wheels of the wagon broke, the vehicle was duly abandoned in
the desert, and Schmelen decided to replace the ox-wagon with the more reliable method of
riding the ox. The Bushmen, in any case, did not attempt to touch the wagon tracks but
jumped over them in large steps [12].
It also has to be mentioned that nothing constructive is known to-date about the
establishment of roads in the Warmbad region in the early 1800s, although Schmelen was in
Warmbad once in September/October 1812. In spite of this, it is generally accepted that
the first road builder so far on record in the history of Namibia was Johann Heinrich
Schmelen, who came to Namibia on the invitation of the "Kaptein" (Captain) of
the Orlams ( Booi People) in Bethany in 1814. The decisive motive
for any road building activity was not to have a road link to the Cape Colony but rather
to open a road to the coast to Angra Pequeña in order to achieve contact with occasional
ships there. Especially the trade with weapons and ammunition was important for the Orlams
of Bethany. This first "Bay Road" to Angra Pequeña was initiated during
Schmelen's stay at Bethany from 1814 to 1822. The missionary James Kitchingman visited
Schmelen in 1820. His diary from 29 May 1820 reads as follows [13]:
"Brother Schmelen's people had been employed for some time in mending the road
in hopes of in some future period obtaining some necessary articles from there" (from
Angra Pequeña).
It is also on record in the journals of the London Missionary Society that the
"Kaptein" and his "Raad" (Council), during the late 1810s, were
involved in road construction activities, especially to the Bay of Angra Pequeña [14]. It
is not yet too clear how far these activities of the Orlam group in Bethany were
influenced by the efforts of Heinrich Schmelen. One fact is certain, and that is that both
Schmelen and the Orlams of Bethany were interested in such road links, albeit they acted
from different motives.
James Archbell, the first Methodist missionary in Namibia, described in 1823 the
location, whaling and harbour activities, and water supply of Walvis Bay, and the ecology
of the interior [15]. In 1821 he travelled from Bosfontein, during the Orlam conflicts
halting work at this missionary station, to Bethany and Angra Pequeña. He wrote, "On
my first setting out to Angra Pequeña I had no idea of its lying so far from us (from
Bosfontein) but the distance by experience is immense."It took the party twelve days from Bosfontein to Bethany,
travelling "at most night and day" and another 10 days on the southern Bay Road
to Angra Pequeña [16]. Bosfontein must have been situated in the vicinity of modern-day
Rehoboth area, halfway between Naosanabis (modern-day Leonardville) and Tsebris (south
west of modern-day Windhoek) [17] and not as suggested by Vigne [18] on the Fish River
(modern-day Grootfontein South) [19]. Otherwise the travel speeds from Bosfontein to
Schmelen's London Missionary Society station at Bethany and from there to Angra Pequeña,
pointed out by Archbell, would not have made sense.
By order of the "Royal Geographic Society" in London,
Sir James Edward Alexander undertook an expedition during 1836/37 from Cape Town to Walvis
Bay via Warmbad, Bethany and back via Glenelg Bath, which is modern-day Rehoboth. He took
the usual route to the Orange River and crossed it in November 1836 at Karahas Ford near
Ramans Drift. On 27 November 1836, Alexander reached Warmbad. From there he undertook an
excursion to the Afrikaner's Kraal at Blydeverwacht. In January 1837, Alexander left
Warmbad to undertake an excursion to "Robber Henrick's Place" (or "Räuber
Heinrichs Platz" on Richter's Map of 1845), situated east of the Great Karas
Mountains at a tributary of the Gaiab River (Kainab River). He left his wagons at Kanus
and reached the fountains of Kama Kams near Henrick's place. My recent investigations
(March 1988) have revealed that "Robber Henrick's Place", which could be
synonymous with Ridsdale's Klip Fontein, in all probability is situated on the farm
Narudas 268. The old stone ruins at the southern entrance to the Narudas Gorge are most
probably of pre-German origin and fit into Alexander's and Ridsdale's descriptions of the
main settlement of the ||Hawoben in the 1830s and 1840s [20].
From there he returned to Kanus on 28 January 1837 in order
to proceed to Bethany. Alexander passed the deserted missionary station in March 1837. Jan
and Hendrik Booi from the Bethany-Orlams assisted and guided him on his further travels to
the north. From Bethany he travelled through the Konkiep and Haseweb valleys to the
Naukluft Mountains, which he entered through the "Bull's Mouth Pass". From there
he set a course via Abbabis to the Kuiseb River. Alexander arrived at Walvis Bay on 19
April 1837 [21].
From Walvis Bay he travelled in an eastward direction to
Ni-ais and Glenelg Bath, modern-day Rehoboth. From Rehoboth Alexander took a route to the
Great Fish River and travelled further in a south-western direction back to Bethany. From
there he travelled via Huns and Haris to the Sendlings Drift at the Orange River.
Alexander's route through the countries of the "Great Namaquas, the Boschman's and
the Damara's of the Hills" which led to the first usable route map in the history of
Namibia, can be described with modern place names in [] where such have been established
as follows:
Karahas or Korhan Ford [near Ramans
Drift]- Nabis or Nisbett's Bath [Warmbad] - (with
excursions from there to Elliot Hill and Twanos Hills [Goanus or Kinderzitt 132])- Naros
[Naros 76] -Africaner's Kraal [Blydeverwacht 72] - Nisbett's Bath - Dubbeeknabies
[Dabegabis 122] - Kanus [Kanus 94] - Aribanies [Bismarckaue 23?] - Keikab River [Gaiab
River] - Kama Kams (also called Kamopkams by Alexander)[Groen Rivier 265] - "Robber
Henrick's Place" [Narudas 268] - Kanus - Chubeechees
[Howobees 51] - Oup or Fish River (Sonuwap Hill [Schlangkopf 124]) - Habunap
[Feldschuhhorn 81 and 88] - Bethany - Nanees [Chamis 49] - Uchakarieb River [north of
Helmeringhausen] - Keiis [Grootfontein 91] - Kopumnaas or "Bull's Mouth Pass"
[Büllspoort 72] - Ababies [Abbabis 3] - Kuisip River [Kuiseb River] - Aban|huas
[Rooibank] - Walvisch Bay - Hou|tous [Hudaob at the Kuiseb River] - Humaris River - Keree
Kama [south-west of Gamsberg] - Naraes [Narais 245] - Ni-ais (Jan Jonker's village at Kei
Kurup River [Haris River]) - Glenelg Bath [Rehoboth] - Kuis [Kuis 5] - Kaikum River
[Packriem River] - Nubapis - Chup River [north-west of Gibeon] - Kei-su River [Kaitsub
River] - Kutip [Kuteb 65] - Kunakams [Kumakams 68] - Bethany - Hudap [Hudab 160] -
Hoons [Huns 106] - Heris [Witzpütz 31] - Kunarusip Ford [Sendlings Drift]
Many of the ox-wagon tracks, entering Namibia from the Cape
Colony, made use of suitable drifts and river crossings along the Orange River. At the
western section of the Orange River, during its course through the Namib Desert, two
crossings existed: Daberas Drift in the west and the somewhat eastward situated Sendlings
Drift, approximately on the same longitude as the modern-day Rosh Pinah.
From these drifts two wagon roads developed. The one went in a north-eastern direction
via Haris and Huns to Bethany and from there through the Konkiep Valley further to the
north. The other went in a northern direction to Aus. From there it went through the
Neisip Poort into the Konkiep Valley where it joined the Bethany road and ran further
north into the Haseweb valley to Nomtsas at the upper Fish River, where the road branched
into different directions. The more important branch took a direction towards the Auas
Mountains and the other branch went via Büllspoort, through the Naukluft Mountains and
further through the Namib Desert to Walvis Bay [22].
At the upstream section of the Orange River more river
crossings existed, such as Vioolsdrift, and further east the crossings of Goodhouse and
Ramans Drift, both previously mentioned, and ||Houms Drift as well
as Pella Drift, which was used by the Orlams at the beginning of the 19th century and the
Baster people in 1868 to cross into Namibia. The main transport direction of the roads
coming from these Orange River crossings was directed to the hot water springs of Warmbad
or Nisbett's Bath, as it was named by the Wesleyan missionaries. From Warmbad one road
followed a natural direction to the gap between the Klein and the Great Karas Mountains
and another one to the north-south running Fish River Valley. From there it was not too
difficult to reach the area of Rehoboth and to travel further north to Damaraland. A third
road ran in a north-eastern direction from Warmbad into the valleys of the Auob and Nossob
rivers. This road opened an access to the settlement of Elephant's Fountain, the Wesleyan
missionaries' name for Gobabis [23]. From there a road branched off to Tunabis, the
modern-day Rietfontein, and to Ghanzi in Ngamiland, which later became part of Botswana.
North of the main water edge of the Auas Mountains there are very
few natural road building obstacles which could have influenced the alignment of roads
north of modern-day Windhoek, except for the northern parts of the Kalahari, where the
roads in many cases have been forced to follow the courses of omurambas (wide sand
rivers). A reference to a road to the coast, from Bethany to Walvis Bay, can be found in
Windhoek's State Archives [24]. Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, founder of the town of
Rehoboth, lived there between 1845 and 1864. His diary from 13 September 1858 reads
as follows [25]:
"On 13 September I travelled to the Booi's people at Büllspoort. The Jan's
compound is situated between huge rocks and is surrounded by a chain of high mountains.
From here a road is winding through the so-called "Büllspoort" to a plain
looking in the direction of Bethanien, which has been touched and created by the late
Schmelen when he made his journey to Walvis Bay."
Schmelen undertook the journey from Bethany to Walvis Bay during the year 1825.
Heinrich Vedder reported that roads are only worthwhile at places
where established human settlements already exist. Cultural progress can be measured
exactly by the number, length and quality of usable roads. Roads were needed by the early
missionaries in order to bring in by ox-wagon what the still undeveloped country could not
supply. Also the Orlams, who had known roads and wagon traffic from the Cape Colony, where
they originated from, started to build and use roads as the first traders had done. These
began arriving once the till then unknown country was made more accessible [26].
The "Charte des Rheinischen Missionsgebietes in Süd-Afrika" (Richter's Map
of 1845) [27] gives an indication of all existing ox-wagon roads at the beginning of the
1840s in the Great Nama qualand and Kamacha-Daman, the southern and
central parts of Namibia. This was before Jonker Afrikaner started to build the "
Bay Road" from Windhoek to Walvis Bay and before the roads from
Elberfeld (Windhoek) to Schmelen's Hope (Okahandja) and to Ot jikango
came into existence. Place names are spelt as indicated on Richter's Map with modern names
in [] brackets where such have been established:
1. Aris (Klein Namaqualand in the Cape Colony) - Sendlings Drift - *Haris - [Witzpütz
31] - ||Huns [Huns 106] - Kai!goab [Geigoab 95] - Bethany - #Ausis - !Osis [Osis 73] - #Am!hub
[Amhub 78] - !Nomas [!Nomas on Hahn-Map, 1879] - !Gui#haus - Bulls Pforte [Büllspoort
172]
2. Steinkopf (Klein Namaqualand in the Cape Colony) - Vioolsdrift - Warmbad (or
Nisbett's Bath) -(south of) Gulbrandsdalen - Bethany
3. Bethany - Zebris [Tsebris 48] (following a course west of the Oub [Fish River])(see
last section of Alexander's route to Bethany)
4. Bulls Pforte - Kham [Kam River] - Zebris - |Kai#Gurub [Haris 367] - Elberfeld
[Windhoek]
5. Bulls Pforte - #Gou#hoas [Kanaus 335/336] - |Kai#Gurub - Elberfeld
6. Zebris - [Rooibank] - [Walvis Bay] (following a course of the Kuiseb River, parallel
to modern-day district road 1982)
7. Bulls Pforte - Chuntob
[Tsondab] River - [Abbabis 3] -
Kuisib River - [Walvis Bay]
2.3 THE ERA OF JONKER AFRIKANER circa 1840 - circa 1860
After the "Kaptein of Bethanien" and Heinrich Schmelen the next documented
road builder in Namibia's roads history was Jonker Afrikaner. Heinrich Vedder reported as
follows [28]:
"Jonker at Windhoek was likewise amongst the road makers. When he was expecting
the missionaries, Hahn and Kleinschmidt, in 1842, he made a road through the Auas
Mountains. Even if it fell far short of the perfection of a European highroad, it was a
great help to travellers."
It is interesting to note that Vedder omitted to mention that the Wesleyan missionary,
Joseph Tindall, visited Windhoek before the two German missionaries. Tindall reported on
15 June 1842 [29]:
"Jonker is a most active and interesting little man. .. . He has made a good
road, with great labour, over an exceeding high mountain, which we were two hours and a
half in ascending and descending."
Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt wrote on 6 October 1842 [30]:
"We enjoyed to our delight the results of the praiseworthy activities of Jonker
Afrikaner who constructed over these inaccessible mountains a well built road. During the
construction period the road builders consumed two oxen and seven sheep. The
"Kaptein" from Bethanien did the same on several sections of the road to this
place."
These have been the first "road construction expenses" on record in the
history of transportation in Namibia. The above mentioned roads, adequate for the rugged
ox-wagon, have been built to a surprisingly high standard with primitive tools and very
labour-intensive means. During 1843 Jonker Afrikaner continued to build the "Bay
Road" from Windhoek in a western direction. The Nama and Damara communities who lived
in the vicinity of the "Bay Road" were appointed by Jonker in order to help
complete this major task. The road was finished during 1844. Carl Hugo Hahn used this road
to travel from Windhoek to Walvis Bay. On 19 February 1844 he wrote the following
about this Namibian major arterial road [31]:
" Jonker built a road in a part of the country
which was so far inaccessible. I must admit that even in the Colony (Cape) I have
never seen such "a marvellous piece of road construction". It is incredible to
imagine how it was possible to complete such a job with minimum or even without tools.
Huge rocky outcrops have been removed or crushed. Trees and shrubs have been cleared. This
road is 25 to 30 feet wide and creates the major link to Walvis Bay."
Jonker's "Bay Road" was leading from Windhoek in a western direction via
Heusis and Abochaibis to the southern bank of the Swakop River without crossing this
river. From there the road was aligned in a south-western direction via Tsaobis, Onanis
and Texasgeis (Great Tinkas) and Texas#kharis (Little Tinkas) to the Kuiseb River. From
there it went parallel to the Kuiseb to Rooibank and Walvis Bay.
Heinrich Vedder who, as in many identical cases neglected to supply his sources,
mentioned that Jonker planned a road from Windhoek to the Waterberg in Hereroland. This
plan was shelved by the outbreak of the war between the Herero and the Nama in the middle
of the last century. It is doubtful, however, whether Jonker ever planned to build a road
to the Namibian north. No primary historical evidence to support this claim could be
traced. On the contrary, it was most probably not in the interest of Jonker to open a road
into Hereroland but rather to keep traffic away from it. The first section of an arterial
road to the north, to Okahandja and to Otjikango, west of Okahandja, was built by Hahn and
Kleinschmidt and improved by Friedrich Wilhelm Kolbe in 1849.
This was the beginning of the development of a road infrastructure in Namibia during
the 19th century. In 1845, the till then known parts of Namibia were more or less
accessible by the rough ox-wagon. It was possible to reach Bethany from Sendlings Drift in
the west or Ramans Drift (Kompagniefurt) in the east at the Orange River. From there it
was possible to travel on a road that was not too bad, without danger to wheels and life,
to Windhoek via Rehoboth. From Windhoek a connection existed via the "Bay Road"
to Walvis Bay and via Okahandja to Otjikango, the subsequent Groß Barmen in southern
Hereroland.
However, for the inhabitants of Otjikango it was quite difficult and exhausting to gain
access to the harbour of Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coast. In 1845, the missionary
conference at Otjikango decided to instruct the young missionary from Walvis Bay, Heinrich
Scheppmann, to build a connection to the Windhoek-Walvis Bay road. A serious shooting
accident prevented Scheppmann from completing this road [32]. Carl Hugo Hahn wrote on 27
September 1847 that it was his colleague, Johannes Rath, who opened a road from Otjikango
via Otjimbingwe in the Swakop Valley to Walvis Bay [33]. Rath began his works in 1846 and
determined during the alignment studies the later important site of Otjimbingwe, and
completed the road in 1850. Rath's "Bay Road" joined Jonker Afrikaner's
"Bay Road" somewhere between Tsaobis and the present-day farm Anschluß. The new
"Bay Road" shortened the journey from Otjikango to Walvis Bay from four weeks to
twelve days. In the middle of the last century the two "Bay Roads" made Namibia
somewhat more independent from time wasting and expensive imports from South Africa.
Before the completion of the two "Bay Roads", the journey from the Cape to
Windhoek had taken eleven months. The completion of the "Bay Road" revealed a
basic Namibian transportation principle, namely that it was in the interest of the country
to have a short east-west connection to the Atlantic coast rather than the long and
expensive transport link to South Africa.
This is confirmed by an "instruction to missionaries" given at the Rhenish
Missionary Society in Barmen/Germany on 14 August 1844. This instruction mentions three
missionary stations which it was the Society's intention to establish in central Namibia,
namely Rehoboth (Annis), Okahandja (Schmelen's Hope or Schmelen's Verwachting) and a
landing station at the Walvis Bay [34]:
"Which could be of importance for all our northern stations, because most
probably ships would like to land there in order to trade with local products which, not
to mention many other advantages, could save us a lot in transport costs in the future due
to the fact that the land journey per ox-wagon from Cape Town would take 9 to 10 months
against a sea transport of approximately two months only".
It was, however, James Chapman who during April 1861 recorded that, at his house in
Otjimbingwe, Charles John Andersson mentioned that a road through the territory of the
Swartboois at Rehoboth were to be built to take cattle to the Cape Colony [35].
Amongst the first travellers on record on the "Bay Road" from Walvis Bay to
Otjimbingwe were the two explorers John Baines and James Chapman in 1861, although Charles
John Andersson and Francis Galton used this road already in 1851, and Chapman travelled on
it from Lake Ngami to Walvis Bay during 1855/56 [36]. Baines did not elaborate on the
condition of the roads he travelled but he must always have reached his destination.
Baines and Chapman were also amongst the first travellers on record who crossed Namibia
from west to east into Botswana, after the very first crossing made by Andersson in 1853
[37].
Further road building activities were continued in the south during this period. These
and many other activities prove that it is a myth that only "Europeans" have
initiated roads in Namibia. Benjamin Ridsdale reported in December 1846 the following
about road construction by the "Veldschoendragers" in the vicinity of Warmbad
[38]:
"In several parts of the circuit, also, at great expense of labour, new roads
have been made, and old ones shortened and improved. We have exhorted them in prophetic
language: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for
our God!" and they have done so: parties of road-makers have been formed; no
remuneration has been given; but now "the crooked places are made straight, and the
rough places plain". One of these "rough places", so rough as to shake
waggon and traveller nearly in pieces, was made "plain" by one of our native
teachers and all his scholars, who persevered in their voluntary task, casting all the
loose stones aside, till a good, broad, and perfectly clear road was thrown open. .. . By
these improvements, the circuit is much diminished in its extent; and we are enabled to
reach our most distant outposts with a considerable saving of time, and with much more
comfort than formerly."
On the 3 April 1847 Ridsdale wrote further [39]:
"This morning we arrived at Schans Vlakte [Schanzen 281], a village of the
Velschoen Draagers. .. . For a considerable distance before reaching the village our
attention was arrested by the amount of labour the people had bestowed in road-making. On
former occasions I had visited this tribe on horseback; but as they had for some time past
expected that I should visit them with the wagon , . .. ., they had with great labour, and
no implements more powerful than their hands, torn up enormous stones and made a clear
open road for a wagon, of many miles in length. From the wild and rugged nature of this
part, there can never be what an Englishman would call a good road: still, this is one
that can be travelled without danger, and it reflects great credit on its inexperienced
makers."
The destination of the noteworthy road construction activities of the Veldschoendragers
was the fortified town of ||Khauxa!nas (Schans Vlakte), which in itself must have been a
very remarkable settlement of the Nama people. This unique place was all the more
remarkable as it must have been one of the best guarded secrets of the people who lived
there nearly two hundred years ago. Besides Ridsdale's and A.J.C. Bailie's mentions of ||Khauxa!nas
there are no other historical sources known to the author which take note of such a
settlement. The investigations for this publication lead to the conclusion that Ridsdale's
Schans Vlakte has to be situated on the farms Schanzen 281 and Gugunas 301 east of the
Karas Mountains. This assumption was subsequently verified by aerial photographs and in
situ investigations which clearly showed a town on a mountain above a river, which matches
Ridsdale's description closely.
Benjamin Ridsdale wrote the following about Schans Vlakte [40]:
".. In front of the village is a low mountain, which is surrounded at the top
by a wall, the entire length of which must be eight or ten hundred yards, low in places
difficult to access, and five or six feet high in those parts that are most easily
available. This wall, which consists of a double row of loose flat stones piled one above
another, was thrown round the mountain by the Afrikaners (Orlam Afrikaners from Nama
descent) at the beginning of the century. After shooting of the Dutch Boer, Pinnar, to
whom old Afrikaner and his clan were at that time subject, and by whom they were oppressed
beyond all endurance, Afrikaner and his people fled to this place. Here they resolved upon
making a stand against the commandoes sent in pursuit of them by the Colonial Government
(Cape Colony). Within this entrenchment, at the top of the mountain, they built their
houses, had kraals for their calves, and in fact everything necessary to a Namaqua
village, and considered themselves able to defy all their enemies. They seemed scarcely
able to conceive of a valour that would proceed in the face of their bullets, scale their
fort, bound over its walls, drive them over the fearful precipice on the opposite side,
and plunge them into the abyss of black waters beneath. The opportunity of defending
themselves in their impregnable fortification, however, never occurred, as the commandoes
of Boers from the Colony pursued them no farther than Nisbett Bath ( Warmbad). This entrenchment remains unimpaired to this day, and is at least a
proof that the Afrikaners possessed an energy of character much greater than that
possessed by the Namaqua tribes generally. I felt much interest in viewing this relict. ..
. I next inspected the new stone chapel in course of erection. The walls, in nearly their
entire length, are raised to the height of six feet, and are two feet thick, and when the
building is completed, it will hold about three hundred hearers."
Ridsdale's observations highlight a chapter in the history of the Orlam
Afrikaners - their initial collaboration with and subsequent resistance to European
settlers in the northern frontier zone of the Cape Colony during the latter years of the
18th century. This resistance culminated in the shooting of Pieter Pienaar in March 1796,
the same man who sailed to Walvis Bay in 1793 and explored the lower Swakop River valley,
and the subsequent retreat of the Orlam Afrikaners into the inaccessible Karas Mountains
in southern Namibia where they set up ||Khauxa!nas as their hidden refuge against further
colonisation. This fortified Nama/Orlams town must have been erected shortly before or
just after 1800 and represents the oldest, so far known sophisticated building structures
in Namibia. New research to find the capital village of the Veldschoendragers disclosed
that ||Khauxa!nas could not be identical with "Robber Henrick's Place", which
Alexander tried to reach in January 1837.
Alexander was, however, not able to visit the capital of the Veldschoendragers and was
only allowed to proceed as far as Kama Kams, some miles away from "Robber Henrick's
Place". It has been revealed recently (March 1988) that this place could possibly be
situated on the modern day farm Narudas 268 near Groen Rivier 265 which is the literal
translation of the Nama name Kamkam. "Robber Henrick's Place" could be identical
with Ridsdale's Klip Fontein, the main settlement of the Veldschoendragers between 1844
and 1846. It is unfortunate that Ridsdale's narrative of his journeys was not supported by
a map, as this would have enabled us to obtain primary historical evidence that
Alexander's "Robber Henrick's Place" or Ridsdale's Klip Fontein are to be found
in the remains of a ruined town on a hill at the southern entrance to the Narudas Gorge.
The building structures of these stone ruins are clearly of pre-colonial origin with
European influenced structural elements but are most probably of a later period than the
ruins of ||Khauxa!nas. These historical events have been confirmed by the author's surveys
of the present farms Schanzen 281, Back River 302 and Gugunas 301 (||Khauxa!nas-Schans
Vlakte) as well as of Narudas 268 (Klip Fontein - "Robber Henrick's Place"),
respectively. What was found in the case of ||Khauxa!nas exactly matches Ridsdale's
description of the settlement above the Bak River. There is always water in the river,
even in times of drought. A ring wall virtually intact and over one kilometre long was
found here with the ruins of houses and foundations of what was probably a council chamber
for the Nama leaders, as well as kraals. There is also a well constructed pathway to the
hill-top fortress, which is one of the first human made roads in the history of Namibia.
The mountain top with its ruins, above the almost vertical rock face which drops to the
Back River, provides an impressive sight.
The availability of water at all times must have made this place an ideal settlement
and retreat for different Namibian groups in the early times of history. It can thus be
accepted that ||Khauxa!nas on the present-day farms, Schanzen and Gugunas (Gugunas is
derived from the Nama word ||Khauxa!nas which means in Afrikaans "Schans Vlakte"
(plain of the bulwark) and was first mentioned on Theophilus Hahn's map, 1879) is the
forgotten town of the Orlam Afrikaners, and later the Veldschoendragers, who occupied the
settlement after the Orlams had left the Karas Mountains in their northward migration to
the central parts of Namibia. The Nama had every good reason to keep ||Khauxa!nas a
relative secret, especially from Europeans, and this is surely the reason why this place
cannot be found in any primary historical source except in those of Ridsdale and Bailie.
||Khauxa!nas or Schans Vlakte
The fortified town of ||Khauxa!nas most probably played its last role as a retreat for
the Nama leader Jakob Marengo during the resistance war of the Nama against the German
colonial power from 1903 to 1909. The area is so inaccessible and was evidently so poorly
known to the German Administration of the time, that, as far it has been possible to
establish, they left behind no historical reference to the settlement. After having served
the interests of the Nama people for the last time as Jakob Marengo's refuge, it sank into
oblivion until it was rediscovered during the investigations for the early Namibian roads
system [41].
Further road building activities in the Namibian south have been reported by Franz
Heinrich Vollmer and Samuel Hahn. Vollmer reported for the 2 May 1848 [42] that "yesterday
the Nama-Chief Willem Swartbooi went with his men to build a decent road for wagons
between Tsebris and Rehoboth".
On 13 September 1850, Samuel Hahn mentioned the following in a letter, written at
"Grootbroekkros Mountain", about a trip to Berseba [43]:
"The new road through the mountains (Brukkaros) has been built by my
"Kaptein" and is for these people a masterpiece in this country." The
journey from Berseba through the Brukkaros Mountain has taken seven days.
In the reports of the "Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft" for 1852 the
following was written [44]:
"To their surprise they saw the road which was built by the people of Bethanien
and Gulbrandsdalen (Berseba) to connect these two places for missionary purposes. It is
astonishing to see how much effort was invested to connect these two stations with an
adequate road. It is a piece of work of which a European need not to be ashamed of. When
one considers how people had not only thrown away all movable stones, be they big or
small, on the four-day mountainous road, but also excavated and removed even huge rocks,
one of them 15 feet long, without adequate tools and equipment, then one cannot justly
agree any more that the Namas .. are stupid and lazy".
Heinrich Vedder also mentioned the activities of Samuel Hahn, who repaired the first
ox-wagon tracks in the rainy season of 1849 by filling potholes with improved gravel
material after the first "Bay Road", which Schmelen had built, had been washed
away. These are the first road maintenance activities on record in Namibia's
transportation history. Samuel Hahn also built the first ox-wagon road from Bethany to
Gulbrandsdalen, east of Bethany, as well as to Berseba. This road was a very difficult one
because one section was so steep that no wagon could pass it. All goods had to be
off-loaded and then transported on human or animal back to the top.
The missionary Carl Hugo Hahn provided interesting transport statistic on the ox-wagon
road between Berseba and the Orange River. He wrote on 4/5 September 1852 that the
distance between Berseba and the Orange River can be estimated with 78 hours, where three
hours of ox-wagon travelling time are equivalent to two hours of good walking. He also
mentioned the first traffic count in the history of Namibia's roads. On his trip from
Berseba to the Orange River he met only one "bushman" (San) and a small travel
group of three persons [45]:
From Berseba to |Aub
6 hours
|Aub to Gulbrandsdalen
6 hours
Gulbrandsdalen to Spitzbergen (?) 9 hours
Spitzbergen to Löwenfluß
9 hours
Löwenfluß to !Kab (Gaab)
9 hours
!Kab to Khanibes
10 hours
Khanibes to !Gaibes
11 hours
!Gaibes to Uhabis
12
hours
Uhabis to Orange River (Vioolsdrift) 6 hours
Pollock and Swanzie
[46] established that the speed of an ox-wagon depends on the season, the physical
properties of the terrain or the used track, the mass of the payload and the condition of
the draught-oxen. According to this source two shifts of three hours per day were common
practice, and the average draught-distance could be determined with 19 to 24 km per day,
but during the cooler winter months it was possible to go for three shifts per day with an
average distance of 32 km per day. However, it should be added that the speed of ox-wagon
journeys also depended on the skills and the quality of the drivers, and it seems that the
above claimed speeds are on the high side.
In the north of Namibia, Francis Galton and Charles John An dersson
reached the Etosha Pan on 1 June 1851 and proceeded further than the 18th degree of
latitude in Owamboland during their expedition to Nangolo's residence in Ondonga
(modern-day Ondangwa), as was reported by Carl Hugo Hahn on 18 August 1851 after the two
adventurers had returned to Otjikango. They followed a route from Otjikango to a point
west of the Omatako Mountains and further to the Omuverume Mountains (Waterberg). They
travelled east of the Waterberg to Okamabuti, near modern-day Grootfontein and turned then
to the north-west to the Otjikoto Lake, near modern-day Tsumeb. From there they followed
the established route to Owamboland via the fountains of Otjando and Namutoni [47].
2.4 THE PRE-GERMAN ERA circa 1860 - 1884
At the middle of the 19th century the southern and central parts of Namibia had a well
developed ox-wagon roads system at their disposal. This concentration of roads in the
southern two-thirds of the country reflects the available historic source material, but
not necessarily the physical reality. It is most likely that the Namibian north,
especially Owamboland, also had a well developed system of paths and perhaps even tracks.
This can be assumed in view of the density of the population there, the long-standing
social, economic and political links across the present-day Angolan border as well as the
nature of political organisation of the various communities like Ondonga, Uukwanyama,
Uukwambi etc. Even though there may not be any known recorded account of the situation
there, the possibility of a precolonial roads network in the north of Namibia has to be
mentioned [48].
Between 1850 and 1862 the wagon traffic increased considerably, especially in the
central parts of Namibia. The mine traffic from the interior to Walvis Bay also grew in
this time. The South Africa based " Walfisch Bay Mining
Company" began developing the Matchless Mine just west of Windhoek in the Khomas
Hochland during 1856. The key to the economic success of this mine was the satisfactory
solution to the transport problem. Charles John An dersson became
the mine manager in 1857. After some futile tests with pack oxen transporting the copper
ore to the coast, he came to the conclusion that it was better to improve the "Bay
Road" to Walvis Bay and use the conventional ox-wagon. The, by Andersson, improved
"Bay Road" lead from the Matchless Mine to Remhoogte (Ganams 316 or Abochaibis
315), then via a route along the Kaarn River (Kaan River) to Davetsaub (29) and to
Otjimbingwe. From there it went via Tsaobis (90), Onanis (121) and Tinkas to Walvis Bay.
Andersson mentioned the difficulties in road making in the rough terrain between the Namib
Desert and the Namibian interior in a letter to Wollaston of 4 March 1857 [49]:
"I am now more than ever impressed with the importance of this route. Indeed
without this being practicable our transport will fare badly. Those two terrible stages,
Tinkas and the Narip plain, made sad havoc of the oxen. .. . I have explored the country
between Tsaobis and Tinkas flat, entering the latter at the same point at where the road
leads off to Onanis. .. . A road is practicable in that direction but more I cannot say at
present. Whether a wagon can pass out from Tinkas flat into the Swakop remains still to me
to ascertain. If the Onanis route is to be retained, I doubt not but that a considerable
improvement may be made, though at a greater amount of labour .. .
From Tsaobis to Otjimbingwe little or no improvement can be made. The line is not bad,
and since the road has been cleared of bushes, wagons can now travel pretty comfortable.
The sand you cannot avoid. From Otjimbingwe to the entrance of the Kaarn River you have
little or no chance of improving the road. .. . From the entrance of the Kaarn to Baboon
Kloof (on Kaan 309 or Dagbreek 365) the country on both sides of the river is inaccessible
for wagons. From Baboon Kloof to near the spot, where the river branches a road is
practicable .. ."
Andersson managed to find a new route to avoid six steep hills and he continued to say:
"About three weeks ago I left Jones at the Hoogte with a strong party of
Damaras with orders to begin the new road and, if I mistake not, he will now be more than
one-third through his appointed task, and a splendid piece of road it will be when
completed-, certainly the finest that ever was made in this country."
Andersson's claim must surely be a little bit exaggerated, because the
Nama communities were, for their time, experienced and skilled road-builders. The most
famous roads were probably those that Jonker Afrikaner had built from Windhoek to Walvis
Bay and across the Auas Mountains in the early 1840s. But roads built by Namas between
Bethany and Berseba as well as in the Warmbad region and even in the Great Karas Mountains
won high acclaim by the missionaries, as has been previously shown in this publication.
Andersson also pursued the direct transport of the Matchless Mine ore via Walvis Bay to
England instead of using the route via Cape Town. With an estimated annual shipment of 300
ton of ore, a saving of nearly 1.700 pound sterling per year could be achieved (direct
route: 2.945 pounds against 4.549 pounds via Cape Town) which again proves the theorem
that it would be beneficial for Namibia to use direct east-west transport links and avoid
those via South Africa.
The closure of the Matchless Mine for economic reasons in 1859 and the outbreak of the
rinderpest in 1861/62 decreased, however, the traffic numbers [50]. The returning empty
vehicles accepted loads from Walvis Bay to the interior, mainly to Otjimbingwe. Apart from
ammunition, the ever increasing trade involved ivory, cattle and ostrich feathers. The
Namaland got its supplies from Angra Pequeña [51], the subsequent Lüderitzbucht. Already
in 1835 it was mentioned that dried meat and skins were exported from Angra Pequeña. In
1856 even Alexander Bay served as a harbour to transport goods into the interior of
Namibia's south [52]. It is interesting to read statistics compiled by Hugo Hahn over the
ox-wagon traffic between Walvis Bay and Windhoek in the year 1853, which took 103 driving
hours:
From
Walvis Bay (Rooibank)to Husab
16 hours
Husab to Jonkersfort (?)
5 hours
Jonkersfort to Tinkas
10 hours
Tinkas to Onanis
8,5 hours
Onanis to Tsaobis
13,5 hours
Tsaobis to Otjimbingwe
8,5 hours
Otjimbingwe to Omantjiva (Lievenberg ?)
14,5 hours
Omantjiva to Buxtonfontein (Klein Barmen
4 hours
Buxtonfontein to Groß Barmen (Otjikango)
4 hours
Groß Barmen to Windhoek (Concordiaville)
19,5 hours
In comparison to Hahn's
statistics, statistics compiled by James Chapman for 1861 for the section Otjimbingwe to
Groß Barmen can be quoted. Hahn's statistics revealed 22,5 hours travelling time against
Chapman's 24 hours:
From Otjimbengwe to Platklip
2 hours
Platklip to second Platklip
5 hours
Platklip to Otjimonjeba (Westfalenhof ?) 9
hours
Otjimonjeba to Grey's Park (Sney River ?)2
hours
Grey's Park to Little Barmen
3 hours
Little Barmen to Great Barmen
3 hours
On 26 February 1857
Carl Hugo Hahn reported on the improvement of the road between Otjikango, the modern-day
Groß Barmen, and Buxtonfontein, the subsequent Klein Barmen:
"For two and a half days I have worked with 10 people improving
the road between here (Otjikango) and Buxtonfontein, a distance of three travelling hours
on the road to Otjimbingwe. In earlier times this road went through the Tsoaxaub (Swakop)
and crossed it several times with the consequence that it was during the dry season
difficult to cross and during the rainy season not passable at all and even dangerous. The
new road, however, doesn't touch the river anymore but traverses the mountains on a more
straight alignment which is permanently and easier passable. The Herero are working well
with sufficient food and under adequate supervision." (sic)
From 20 May to 11 September 1857 Carl Hugo Hahn travelled together with Johannes Rath
to Owamboland. On some sections of this exploring trip they were accompanied by the
hunter, trader and adventurer, Frederick Joseph Green. They travelled from Ot jikango (Neu Barmen) to the Omatako Mountains, from where they followed the
course of the Omuramba Omatako to Otjituo. They reached Auuns on the 30 June 1857 and then
followed the course of the Omuramba Owambo to the eastern edge of the Etosha Pan. From
there the party more or less followed the line of the modern-day trunk road 1/11 to
Ondonga (Nangolo's residence). Nangolo's men attacked Hahn's expedition on 30/31 July 1857
and forced them to retreat to Hereroland. Hahn travelled again to Owamboland in 1866 and
was instrumental in bringing Finnish missionaries to Owamboland. During a search journey
to find the source of the Kunene River, Charles John Andersson "discovered" the
Okavango River on 18 March 1859 [53].
The increase of ox-wagon traffic was a direct consequence of the rising trade in many
parts of Namibia, and it changed the pattern of life for many Namibians. This resulted in
an increasing request for more ox-wagons and carts. With the completion of the new Bay
Road between Windhoek and Walvis Bay, Windhoek and Otjimbingwe developed as new important
trade centres with new trade routes to Damara and Namaland, and even to Lake Ngami in
modern-day B otswana, which was to become an important trading point before the lake dried
out at the turn of the century. One of the more important traders was Andersson, who
established a business in Otjimbingwe at the end of the 1850s. In Angra Pequeña the De
Pass, Spence & Co Company established a post in order to trade with Namaland. During
1869, Axel Wilhelm Eriksson and Anders Ohlsson established a business in Omaruru in order
to trade with the northern areas of Damaraland and with the trading post at Lake Ngami in
Botswana. Eriksson kept up to sixty ox-wagons on the roads from Walvis Bay to Damaraland,
Owamboland and the Lake Ngami area [54].
Palgrave Photo Album: Road to Grootfontein (South)
In a letter to Hahn of 19 February 1866 Green reported
reaching the long-sought Kunene River from the south. Green also reported that it was his
intention to follow the river towards its mouth, but that he found that there was no
practicable road westward, at least for wagons, because the country was so mountainous. It
can therefore be concluded that by the mid 1860s Namibia was known and accessible to the
ox-wagon from the Orange to the Kunene and Okavango rivers.
In 1879 William Coates Palgrave reported that there were five wholesale and retail
stores in the area and about a hundred wagons and other vehicles engaged in trading and
hunting pursuits [55]. Palgrave further noted that Otjimbingwe had a population of about
20.000 people at this time which would seem to be completely unrealistic [56]. Maybe he
meant 2.000 people, which seems to be a more likely figure. Theophilus Hahn, who also was
a trader, mentioned that "there are about 3.000 regular ostrich hunters in this
country" and 30 to 40 traders [57]. The 3.000 ostrich hunters, mentioned by Hahn, are
most probably also exaggerated and should rather read 300. Serton [58] gave the following
description regarding the conditions of Namibian roads in the 1870s:
"Transport for traders and missionaries followed definite routes, determined by
the waterholes. Through repeated use well-defined tracks had developed, clearly visible in
the landscape, so that as a rule the traveller need be in no doubt about the right
direction. Our author (Gerald Mc Kiernan: In South West Africa: 1874-1879) even talks of
"roads", but there was, of course, no question of a hard surface. The very ease
with which a new track could be opened might, however, become a source of embarrassment;
at a point of divergence it was not always clear whether this meant a choice between two
independent roads, or merely between two parallel tracks on the same route. On the whole,
however, people seem to have been well informed about such particulars, and they went
forward and back along these routes fully confident of getting to their destination.
"Losing the road" was a difficulty mainly occurring during night-treks."
The "Original Map of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland - compiled from his own
observations and surveys by Theophilus Hahn Ph.D., 1879" [59], gives a survey of the
existing ox-wagon roads at the end of the pre-colonial epoch in the transport history of
Namibia, shortly before the Germans arrived. The major routes of this map are listed in
Appendix Table 1 at the end of this publication. From this table it can be concluded that
the pre-colonial Namibian roads network was well established, especially in the southern
and central parts of the country. Adequate ox-wagon roads were in existence as far north
as the Ugab River and as far as to Outjo with a track leading to the central parts of
Owamboland, to the Waterberg and the area around Grootfontein. The southern and central
Namibian roads system of this time was mainly orientated towards the Orange drifts at the
border to the Cape Colony with some very prominent roads to the Atlantic coast, the two
"Bay Roads" to Angra Pequeña (South Bay Road) and to Walvis Bay (North Bay
Road), respectively. These two important east-west transport links are among the most
outstanding examples of road construction during the pre-German era of the Namibian
history of roads.
Palgrave Photo Album: Bethany to Berseba Road
The great war between Nama and Herero in the years 1880 to
1890 ended a period of relative peace and progress. This peaceful period was most probably
related to the tremendous expansion of trade and consequently establishment of the
ox-wagon roads system at this time. It were the European traders who had been the main
beneficiaries of this peaceful period. The traders, for instance, were able to supply
Herero-speaking chiefs with guns and ammunition. Due to the increased influx of European
capital and the expansion of trade more roads came into being. But it has to be observed
that subsequently these roads increasingly served the economic interests of the European
communities and, since the beginning of the German period in Namibia, the strategic
interests of the colonial power. The last war between Herero and Nama in the 1880s ended
all road building activities before the German administration began a new chapter in the
history of roads in Namibia.
As has been shown, the first road building activities on record in the Namibian history
are those of early nomadic communities in the western parts of Namibia which can be dated
back as far as approximately 1250 A.D., and also of the Namas and Orlams of the south, as
well as of Schmelen, Afrikaner and the German missionaries of the " Rhenish Mission". It is significant to note that these first Namibian road
building efforts were not so much pursued to improve north-south road links between
Namaland and the South African Cape Colony but rather east-west links between the Atlantic
coast and the Namibian interior. These first road construction activities aimed at
reducing Namibia's dependence on South Africa, and furthermore to create beneficial short
east-west transport links to the open sea and to avoid the long, dangerous road to South
Africa through the barren, rugged and waterless areas in the Namibian Great Namaqualand
and the northern parts of the Cape Colony. Towards the end of the 19th century an extended
and integrated roads system existed between the eastern parts of present-day Namibia and
Botswana [60].
Many links of the well developed network of the ox-wagon
roads of the pre-colonial time disappeared after the arrival of the German colonial power
in Namibia. They were, furthermore, never re-established by the South African mandatory
power. This fact is sufficient evidence that east-west transport links were not in the
interest of the South Africans, a fact which will later be proved in this publication. It
has, however, also to be noted that roads running in a north-south direction to the Cape
Colony in South Africa were a prominent transportation feature in the pre-German time,
even if no very distinct north-south road construction activities can be reported due to a
lack of historic data.
However, it is even more significant that it were not only Europeans but many Namibian
indigenes who initiated and built roads in Namibia during the 19th century. The tendency
of indigenes to build roads on their own was continued even until far into the German
colonial epoch. For instance, during 1906 it was reported that Damaras built more than 100
miles of new roads between Ais [Ais/Otjihorongo (Okomahana) on "Kriegskarte" of
1904] and Sesfontein [61]. The many examples of road building initiatives in the 19th
century could most probably only be exercised in a free, non-colonial environment. The
example of the Ais-Sesfontein road can be explained by the fact that the area between
Sorris Sorris at the Ugab River and Sesfontein was by 1906 not under firm German control.
To the writer's knowledge, it is the last example of any road construction undertaken by
Namibians before the colonial structure destroyed the will of the people to pursue any
such further activities. Their ability to continue would have been reduced and then
eliminated by colonial control and by the fact that many of the old Namibian roads and
trade flows associated with them would have been inimical to the new colonial objectives
of the German and much later the South African periods. |