Maharero
Encyclopedia
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...
.
Biography
Maharero, also known as Kamaharero, was born about 1820 at OkahandjaOkahandja
Okahandja is a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70km north of Windhoek on the B1 road...
. In 1843 he went with his father Tjamuaha
Tjamuaha
Tjamuaha was a chief of the Herero people in South-West Africa, today's Namibia, and the father of Maharero. He was a close ally and subordinate of Jonker Afrikaner, Captain of the Oorlam Afrikaners, and stayed with him in Windhoek for most of his chieftaincy...
to Windhoek
Windhoek
Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...
to stay with Jonker Afrikaner
Jonker Afrikaner
Jonker Afrikaner was the fourth Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in South West Africa, succeeding his father, Jager Afrikaner, in 1823...
, Captain of the Oorlam Afrikaners. Tjamuaha was an ally of Jonker Afrikaner until his death in 1861, albeit in a subordinate position.
Herero-Orlam hostilities
When Jonker Afrikaner died, he was succeeded by Christian AfrikanerChristian Afrikaner
Christian Afrikaner was the oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois...
. Maharero rebelled against the Afrikaners. They subsequently attacked Maharero's men at Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. It has approximately 8000 inhabitants.The Rhenish Mission Society used Otjimbingwe as a central location for their Namibian mission in 1849. Johannes Rath and his family settled in the area on 11 July that year, and the settlement...
on 15 June 1863, a battle in which Christian Afrikaner was killed.
Christian's successor, Jan Jonker Afrikaner
Jan Jonker Afrikaner
Jan Jonker Afrikaner was the second oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois...
did not want to allow the Hereros to escape from his overlordship, and so hostilities continued for several years.
Some traders at Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. It has approximately 8000 inhabitants.The Rhenish Mission Society used Otjimbingwe as a central location for their Namibian mission in 1849. Johannes Rath and his family settled in the area on 11 July that year, and the settlement...
, notably C.J. Andersson
Charles John Andersson
- References :* at Internet Archive...
and Frederick Green
Frederick Thomas Green
Frederick Thomas Green was an explorer, hunter and trader in what is now Namibia and Botswana. From 1850 to 1853 he was in the Lake Ngami area, travelling hunting and trading with his older brother Charles...
, considered that the war was bad for trade, and took a hand in organising and leading the Herero army. Green led a force that captured most of the Oorlams cattle, and on 1864-06-22 there was a decisive battle in which Jan Jonker Afrikaner's forces were defeated.
Dispensing with the services of the traders, Maharero won more battles, and took control of Damaraland
Damaraland
Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, and Windhoek in the south....
, and even sent his forces into Namaqualand
Namaqualand
Namaqualand is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of 170,000 square miles/440,000 km². It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into two portions - Little Namaqualand to the south and Great Namaqualand to the...
. Eventually in 1870 a peace was brokered by missionary Carl Hugo Hahn
Carl Hugo Hahn
Carl Hugo Hahn was a German missionary and linguist who worked in South Africa and South-West Africa for most of his life. Together with Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt he set up the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero people in Gross Barmen...
of the Rhenish Missionary Society
Rhenish Missionary Society
The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.The...
.
In the decade that followed, many more white traders entered Damaraland, mostly from the Cape Colony. Maharero complained to the governor of 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...
about Boers entering the eastern part of the territory. The Cape government sent the Palgrave Commission, and later annexed Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...
in 1878, though this was not actually part of Maharero's territory.
In 1880 there were renewed hostilities between Maharero and Jan Jonker Afrikaner
Jan Jonker Afrikaner
Jan Jonker Afrikaner was the second oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois...
. What was originally a dispute over grazing escalated into a pogrom against all Nama
Namaqua
Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama now speak Afrikaans. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group,...
living in Maharero's territory, and over 200 were killed. One who escaped with his life was Hendrik Witbooi
Hendrik Witbooi (Namaqua chief)
Hendrik Witbooi was a king of the Namaqua people, a sub-tribe of the Khoikhoi. He lived in present day Namibia. His face is portrayed on the obverse of all Namibian dollar banknotes.-Names:...
, who thereafter led the opposition to Maharero.
Also faced with repeated attacks by the ǀKhowesin, a subtribe of the Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
under Hendrik Witbooi
Hendrik Witbooi
Hendrik Witbooi may refer to:* Hendrik Witbooi * Hendrik Samuel Witbooi * Hendrik Witbooi , deputy prime minister of Namibia...
, Maharero signed a protection treaty with 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...
's colonial governor Göring
Heinrich Ernst Göring
Heinrich Ernst Göring was a German jurist and diplomat who served as colonial governor of German South-West Africa. He was the father of five children including Hermann Göring, the Nazi leader and commander of the Luftwaffe....
on 21 October 1885 but did not cede the land of the Herero. Due to lack of German support against Witbooi Maharero renounced this treaty in 1888 and reopened negotiations with the government of 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...
. But by that time the Scramble for Africa
Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914...
was under way, and the Cape Colony government was powerless to intervene, even if it had wanted to. The European powers had by then recognised South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
as a German sphere of influence. Maharero reaffirmed the treaty with the Germans in May 1890.
Maharero died on 7 October 1890 in Okahandja
Okahandja
Okahandja is a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70km north of Windhoek on the B1 road...
. Historian Heinrich Vedder
Heinrich Vedder
Hermann Heinrich Vedder was a German missionary, linguist, ethnologist and historian. Originally a silk weaver, he received missionary training in Barmen between 1894 and 1903, whereafter he was sent to German South-West Africa...
claims that his main wife Kataree poisoned him in order to prevent him from changing his mind on who his successor should be. His eldest son Samuel Maharero
Samuel Maharero
Samuel Maharero was a Paramount Chief of the Herero people in German South-West Africa during their revolts and in connection with the events surrounding the Herero genocide.- Life :...
succeeded him as chief of the Herero.