Hermanus van Wyk was the first Kaptein

Tribal chief

A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 of the Baster

Baster

The Basters are the descendants of Cape Colony Dutch and indigenous African women. They largely live in Namibia and are similar to Coloured or Griqua people in South Africa....

 community at Rehoboth

Rehoboth, Namibia

Rehoboth is a town of 21,000 inhabitants in central Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located on the B1 road, 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several natural hot-water springs. It receives sparse mean annual rainfall...

 in South-West Africa, today Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. Under his leadership, the Basters moved from the Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 to what is now central Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 and obtained Rehoboth and the land around it through a protection treaty with the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

.

Trek to South-West Africa

Van Wyk was born in 1835 in the Fraserburg

Fraserburg

Fraserburg is a town in the Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province.It was established in 1851 on the farm Rietfontein, and named after the Scottish immigrant Reverend Colin Fraser, and a church elder G.J. Meyburgh. Prior to the town establishment the earliest known inhabitants of the...

 district in the Cape Colony

Cape Colony

The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...

, today South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. His clan was living at De Tuin in the Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 until 1868 when they decided to leave the Cape Colony; van Wyk was already the clan's leader at that time. They trek

Trek

Trek or trekking is a long journey undertaken on foot in areas where common means of transport is generally not available. Trekking is not mountaineering; it is days of walking along with adventure.-Etymology:...

ked via Pella

Pella, Northern Cape

Pella is an oasis in Namakwa in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Originally called Cammas Fonteyn, the spring was used by a nearby stronghold of San people...

, then crossed the Orange River

Orange River

The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...

, and arrived at Berseba

Berseba

Berseba is a village in the Karas Region of southern Namibia and the district capital of the Berseba electoral constituency...

 in 1870. Scout

Scout

A scout is a soldier performing reconnaissance and other support duties.Scout may also refer to:-Aircraft:* Scout , pre-1920s terminology for a single-seat fighter...

s of the Baster clan discovered the fertile area around Rehoboth

Rehoboth, Namibia

Rehoboth is a town of 21,000 inhabitants in central Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located on the B1 road, 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several natural hot-water springs. It receives sparse mean annual rainfall...

 which at that time had largely been abandoned by the Nama people after they had been attacked by the Orlam Afrikaners in 1864.

Development of Rehoboth

In 1870, Abraham Swartbooi of the Nama allowed the Basters to settle at Rehoboth for an initial payment of eight horses and an annual rent of one horse. They arrived at Rehoboth in October that year and set out to repair and develop the existing infrastructure. Under van Wyk's leadership the Basters gave themselves a constitution that continues to govern the actions of the Basters . By 1876, their community consisted of 800 people; they owned 20,000 sheep and between 2,000 and 3,000 cattle.

Due to the relative wealth the community had accumulated, van Wyk attempted to buy the land around Rehoboth from Swartbooi. An option on the land was granted at a price of £

Pound sign

The pound sign is the symbol for the pound sterling—the currency of the United Kingdom . The same symbol is used for similarly named currencies in some other countries and territories, such as the Irish pound, Gibraltar pound, Australian pound and the Italian lira...

2,750, but Swartbooi would not sell the land just yet. When the Herero-Nama War of 1880 began, the Basters joined sides with Jan Jonker Afrikaner

Jan Jonker Afrikaner

Jan Jonker Afrikaner was the second oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois...

 and the Namas under Swartbooi against the Herero after a Baster merchant group was killed by the Herero. In 1882 however the Basters were attacked by their allies. They defeated the attack but substantial numbers of livestock were stolen.

Protection treaty

The Nama then sold the land around Rehoboth to an agent for the Dorsland Trek

Dorsland Trek

Dorsland Trek is the collective name of a series of northwards explorations undertaken by South African settlers in the second half of the 19th century in search of political independence...

kers but before the Boer

Boer

Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...

s could settle there Imperial Germany

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 claimed their new colony

Colony

In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

 of German South-West Africa

German South-West Africa

German South West Africa was a colony of Germany from 1884 until 1915, when it was taken over by South Africa and administered as South West Africa, finally becoming Namibia in 1990...

. On 15 September 1885 van Wyk and the Germans signed a "Treaty of Protection and Friendship" which permitted him to retain a degree of autonomy in exchange for accepting colonial rule. As this treaty contained no sale of land but rather a recognition that it was rightfully theirs, no money was changing hands in this deal. Later in the Herero and Nama War

Herero and Namaqua Genocide

The Herero and Namaqua Genocide is considered to have been the first genocide of the 20th century. It took place between 1904 and 1907 in German South-West Africa , during the scramble for Africa...

 of 1904–08 the Basters would side with the Germans as a result of this protection treaty.

Hermanus van Wyk died in Rehoboth in 1905. The German colonial authorities did not approve a successor and instead established the Basterrat (Council of Basters). Only after the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 when the area became British Protectorate was again a Baster Kaptein put in place and Cornelius van Wyk succeeded Hermanus in 1914.

External links

• Rehoboth Basters Information on the history of the Baster community in Namibia