Product Code Database
The Herero and Nama War is the collective term for a series of interlinked, anti-colonial armed struggles by native peoples in German South West Africa (present-day Namibia), mainly the Herero people and Nama people, against the German Empire. The overall conflict took place between 1904 and 1908, and included the Herero uprising and the Second Nama Rebellion.
Instead of giving the entire war one name, however, researchers have often focused on individual sections or phases of the fighting and given those individual names. As such, the 1904–1908 conflict has been subdivided into the Herero uprising (1904–1907), alternatively known as Herero Revolt, Revolt of the Hereros, Herero War, or the Ovaherero-German War; and the Second Nama Rebellion (1904–1908) or Nama-German War.
Smaller ethnic groups included the San people, Damara people, and Basters. The San were largely hunters and gatherers and weaker than the other native peoples. The Damaras were largely "serfs" or slaves of Herero and Nama, while the free Damaras existed as hunters and gatherers in the local mountains. The Basters were descended from "legally recognized and religiously consecrated unions" of Dutch men and Nama women; they were proud of their European heritage and spoke Dutch language.
From 1830, the later Namibia became engulfed in warfare between the different ethnic groups and clans due to influx of migrants from other regions, the spread of European firearms by trade, and scarcity of resources due to droughts. A major conflict erupted when Herero intruded into traditional Nama lands on the search for new pastures in 1830, whereupon the Nama rallied under the leadership of Jonker Afrikaner to push them back. The resulting fighting intermittently lasted until 1858, with Jonker Afrikaner temporarily dominating much of Namibia, while the Herero suffered such heavy losses that European Christian missionaries prematurely claimed that the "Herero race has so far as we know ceased to exist". Under the pressure of Christian missionaries and many Nama –who had grown wary of his power– Jonker Afrikaner was forced into signing the peace treaty of Hoachanas in 1858. As part of this treaty, the Herero acknowledged the Nama as overlords.
After Jonker Afrikaner died in 1861, his Nama coalition fell apart. As Swedish trader Charles Andersson had also sold large numbers of guns to the Herero, the latter exploited the Nama's weakness by launching a new conflict which became known as the "Herero War of Freedom". At the time, local white residents began petitioning both the Cape Colony and North German Confederation to intervene to bring the Nama-Herero conflicts to an end, but these requests were ignored. Regardless, historian Jon Bridgman argued that these petitions set "a dangerous precedent" for things to come. The war ultimately concluded with the treaty of Okahandja in 1870, with the Herero regaining their independence.
From 1870, Herero chief Samuel Maharero became the predominant figure in Namibia, being called upon to mediate in disputes by Herero, Nama, and Europeans alike. However, Maharero regarded his position as tenuous and continued to view the Nama as potential enemies; he thus requested the Cape Colony to send a commissioner to secure the peace and, by extension, his own position. As a result of Maharero's closeness to commissioner William Coates Palgrave, the Nama were ultimately unwilling to submit to the Palgrave Commission. The peace process collapsed in 1880, when a new war broke out over a border incident and Palgrave withdrew from the region. The renewed conflict was economically ruinous to local European traders.
The continued resistance of the Witboois, led by Hendrik Witbooi, culminated in an armed conflict in 1893, as the Germans opted to violently force them into submission. This campaign, also known as the "First Nama Rebellion", demonstrated the Nama's effective use of guerrilla warfare and dragged on until 1904. It was concluded when the new German governor, Theodor Leutwein, managed to corner the Witboois in the Naukluft Mountains where they agreed to surrender. The German-Witbooi treaty allowed the Witbooi Nama to remain under arms as German allies and auxiliaries. Over the next years, Leutwein launched disarmament and punitive operations to subjugate native groups, including the Mbandjeru and Khaua Nama, the Zwartboois, the Grootfontein "mixed-bloods", and some Nama Afrikaners.
Whilst Rhineland missionaries, traders, and other Europeans had been present in the territory since the 1830s, it was only with the advent of Germany's claim to South-West Africa that German settlement of the territory began in earnest. By 1903 there were roughly 4,682 European settlers in the protectorate of whom nearly 3,000 were Germans, most of them in the towns of Lüderitz, Swakopmund, and Windhoek. The advent of large-scale German settlement also brought about changes in the treatment of the native Herero and Nama peoples by Europeans, with native people facing increased legal discrimination and expropriation of land for the use of European settlers. The large majority of these settlers were men, as just 700 white women lived in the colony before the rebellion. This caused many male settlers to take native concubines, often forcefully, or just rape local women. The impact of the German colonization was uneven, with the Herero territories being heavily affected, whereas the Ovambo "remained essentially unconquered". The fort Namutoni effectively marked the northern border of German control, beyond which the Ovambo remained largely self-governing.
Traditional Herero society and political-religious systems disintegrated during the German rule. The new commercial pressures encouraged many Herero to sell their cattle, forcing large numbers to become cattle ranchers who worked for Germans or richer Herero. Samuel Maharero was officially appointed Herero paramount chief by the Germans, though this position had not existed before colonization and Maharero could not fulfill the religious duties of the chiefdom due to being Christian. There existed no measures for Maharero, let alone other chiefs, to enforce their decision across the entire Herero people; at best, chiefs like Maharero acted as primus inter pares. Regardless of any formal appointments, the power of all Herero chiefs largely depended on their wealth and had to be shared with all other cattle owners. Furthermore, the Herero were subdivided into nine large tribes by 1903. The Okahandja Herero under Maharero's personal leadership were the largest tribe, bordered to the west by the Omaruru Herero of Chief Manasse and the Otijimbingwe Herero under Chief Zacharias. Around Mount Waterberg lived Chief Kambazeni's tribe, while the east was split into smaller tribes under Chiefs Nikodemus, Tjetjo, Mambo, Ombondju, and Kakimena.
The influence of the struggle over land in regards to the Herero uprising remains disputed among researchers. Some studies have emphasized struggle over land as the central cause of the uprising, but the colonist population was not quickly increasing in 1903 and other research has shown that the land question was not urgent. In the period before the rebellion, Leutwein had begun to implement a strategy to concentrate indigenous people on reserves. The creation of the reserves, alongside a statute limiting contracts in July 1903, were supposed to at least partially remedy abuses against the Herero. Instead, the reserves openly showcased how little land the Herero still held, while the statute led traders to further pressure natives to repay debts. These measures thus led to even greater grievances among the Herero. The building of the Otavi railway resulted in further seizure of land in the southern territories of the Herero, and the railway's financier –the Otavigesellschaft– openly demanded that the Herero cede not just land for a further expansion of the line itself but also all water rights and a stretch along the tracks. Leutwein negotiated with Samuel Maharero over these demands until the chief partially yielded. Maharero agreed to relinquish land for the railway's tracks free of charge, but no additional territory. The Herero were aware that the expansion of the railway might lead to an influx of more settlers into their areas.
In general, the settler population as well as German authorities ignored the provisions of the protection treaty with the Herero, with Leutwein noting that the majority of the local whites were even ignorant of the treaty's existence. The Herero complained that the Germans were violating their customs and breaking the treaty; realizing that the old promises were ignored, many Herero also no longer felt bound by the agreement by 1904.
Governor Leutwein responded by gradually sending the majority of the colony's Schutztruppe garrison to punish the Bondelswarts. A short and fierce war erupted. The Bondelswarts engaged in hit-and-run attacks and began cooperating with bands of robbers in the Karras Hills, with the Germans unable to inflict a defeat on them. On 25 December 1903, Captain Franke's Second Field Company was also sent from Omaruru to the far south of the colony to quell the Bondelswarts' rebellion. This left the north stripped of troops—there were only 770 German soldiers in the entire colony. At this point, several local clans still offered support to the Germans; for instance, Hendrik Witbooi's clan fought alongside the Schutztruppe against the Bondelswarts.
The Bondelswarts were still fighting by early 1904, ensuring that most of the German colonial troops were not present in central Namibia when the Herero uprising broke out.
The removal of most German troops from their lands due to the Bondelswarts rebellion provided the Herero with a favorable strategic situation, contributing to the rebel leaders triggering their rising in January 1904.
After the uprising's start, Samuel Maharero sent letters to Kaptein Hermanus van Wyk of the Rehoboth Basters as well as Hendrik Witbooi, requesting their support. In his letter to Witbooi, Maharero expressed his desire for an inter-ethnic alliance, famously exclaiming Let us die fighting!Gewald, Jan-Bart, Herero Heroes: A Socio-political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923, London: James Curry Ltd (1999), , p. 156 Yet van Wyk and Witbooi initially refused to join any rebellion, and van Wyk turned the letters over to the Germans. Maharero may had hoped that the Nama and Basters could tie down the Germans in the south, but this came not to pass. Upon learning of the Herero's actions, Leutwein hastily initiated negotiations with the Bondelswarts and concluded a peace which provided for the clan's disarmament but was otherwise not favourable to the Germans; this allowed him to move his troops back north. When the colonial authorities called upon the Nama clans to provide auxiliaries in accordance with the old treaties, they obliged; about 100 Nama joined the anti-Herero operations, including several Witboois. The Basters also sided with the Germans, but remained loyal to the colonial authorities throughout the entire conflict.
Troops were also sent from Germany to re-establish order but only dispersed the rebels, led by Chief Maharero. The Herero led a guerrilla campaign, conducting fast hit-and-run operations then melting back into the terrain they knew well, preventing the Germans from gaining an advantage with their modern artillery and machineguns. The German governor Theodor Leutwein sent desperate messages to Maharero in hopes of negotiating an end to the war. The Hereros, however, were emboldened by their success and had come to believe that, "the Germans were too cowardly to fight in the open," and rejected Leutwein's offers of peace. One missionary wrote, "One hears nothing but (Herero) talk of 'cleaning up,' 'executing,' 'shooting down to the last man,' 'no pardon,' etc."
Some German authorities quickly began to investigate the rebellion's causes. The Reichstag demanded an official inquiry in March 1904, and this demand was reluctantly backed by Oskar Stuebel, director of the Colonial Department. Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow forwarded the demand to Wilhelm II who promptly postponed any investigation indefinitely. In general, German imperialists showcased little genuine interest in the circumstances of the rebellion, instead viewing it as a good pretext to seize more control as well as territory in South West Africa. The uprising was broadly blamed on Herero "blood-thirstiness", "racial strife", the traders' practices, and Leutwein's allegedly too-lenient governing style. British influence was also used as a scapegoat, with Leutwein quickly joining those who claimed that British individuals had incited the Herero to rebel, seeking to deflect blame from himself. The ensuing anti-British campaignincluding the arrest of British citizens in South West Africapetered out once no evidence could be found. German missionaries were also blamed by officials and the pro-colonial press, alleging that the missionaries were somehow abetting the insurgents. Missionaries responded with an anonymous letter in the newspaper Der Reichsbote, clarifying that the rebellion was rooted in the mistreatment of Herero by settlers and officials. This further incited imperialists and colonial officials; the "Shadowboxing" between the missionaries and their critics in the press ultimately availed to little.
Trotha's troops defeated 3,000–5,000 Herero combatants at the Battle of Waterberg but were unable to encircle and annihilate the retreating survivors. The pursuing German forces prevented groups of Herero from breaking from the main body of the fleeing force and pushed them further into the desert. As exhausted Herero fell to the ground, unable to go on, German soldiers killed men, women, and children.
It took the Germans until 1908 to re-establish authority over the territory. By that time tens of thousands of Africans (estimates range from 34,000 to 110,000) had been either killedJeremy Sarkin-Hughes (2008) Colonial Genocide and Reparations Claims in the 21st Century: The Socio-Legal Context of Claims under International Law by the Herero against Germany for Genocide in Namibia, 1904-1908, p. 142, Praeger Security International, Westport, Conn. A. Dirk Moses (2008) Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation and Subaltern Resistance in World History, p. 296, Berghahn Books, NY Dominik J. Schaller (2008) From Conquest to Genocide: Colonial Rule in German Southwest Africa and German East Africa, p. 296, Berghahn Books, NY Sara L. Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox, and Susanne M. Zantop (1998) The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy, p. 87, University of Michigan Press Walter Nuhn (1989) Sturm über Südwest. Der Hereroaufstand von 1904, Bernard & Graefe-Verlag, Koblenz .Marie-Aude Baronian, Stephan Besser, Yolande Jansen (2007) Diaspora and Memory: Figures of Displacement in Contemporary Literature, Arts and Politics, p. 33, Rodopi or died of thirst while fleeing. 65,000 of 80,000 Hereros and at least 10,000 of 20,000 Nama died as a result of the conflict. Herero und Nama verklagen Deutschland wegen Kolonialverbrechen 06.01.2017, FOCUS Magazine
In 1915, during World War I, South African forces occupied it in the so-called South West Africa Campaign, and SW Africa officially became a mandate of South Africa in 1920.
On 16 August 2004, 100 years after the war, the German government officially apologised for the atrocities. "We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time," said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister. In addition, she admitted that the massacres were equivalent to genocide. "German minister says sorry for genocide in Namibia" (15 August 2004) The Guardian
Not until 2015 did the German government admit that the massacres were equivalent to genocide and again apologised in 2016. The Herero are suing the German government in a class action lawsuit.Christoph Schult und Christoph Titz (6 January 2017). " Herero und Nama verklagen Deutschland" Der Spiegel In 2021, Germany announced that they would repay Namibia €1.1 billion.
Some notable fighters in Herero Wars are revered as the national heroes of Namibia.
The heavy toll of the Herero and Nama genocide on individual lives and the fabric of Herero culture is seen in the 2013 historical novel Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov.Serebrov, Mari (2013) Mama Namibia. Windhoek, Namibia: Wordweaver Publishing House
The war and the massacres are both significantly featured in The Glamour of Prospecting, a contemporary account by Frederick Cornell of his attempts to prospect for diamonds in the region. In the book, he describes his first-hand accounts of witnessing the concentration camp on Shark Island amongst other aspects of the conflict.
|
|
