Pniel, Northern Cape
Encyclopedia
Pniel was a mission station
established by the Berlin Missionary Society
on the Vaal River
near modern Kimberley
, South Africa
, in 1845.
Winter withdrew owing to ill health and was replaced by the Revd Ludwick Zerwick from Bethanie and Brother Nikolaas Meyfarth.
In 1847 an outstation was established at an old Wesleyan mission site at Platberg near the modern Warrenton, with the Revd Winter (now recovered) in charge. By 1850, however, Winter had retired yet again and was replaced by August Schmidt and F. W. Salzman.
Mission Station
Mission Station is the eastern terminus station on the West Coast Express commuter rail line connecting Vancouver to Mission, British Columbia, Canada. The station is located on the north side of the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks in Mission on North Railway Avenue. The station opened in 1995,...
established by the Berlin Missionary Society
Berlin Missionary Society
The Berlin Missionary Society or Society for the Advancement of evangelistic Missions amongst the Heathen was a German Protestant Christian missionary society that was constituted on 29 February 1824 by a group of pious laymen from the...
on the Vaal River
Vaal River
The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...
near modern Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
, 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...
, in 1845.
Establishment and early history
The Pniel Mission was established in 1845 by the Revd Winter, after exploratory expeditions from the Berlin Missionary (BMS) station at Bethanie. The missionaries had negotiated setting up a station with the Korana leader Jan Bloem jnr.Winter withdrew owing to ill health and was replaced by the Revd Ludwick Zerwick from Bethanie and Brother Nikolaas Meyfarth.
In 1847 an outstation was established at an old Wesleyan mission site at Platberg near the modern Warrenton, with the Revd Winter (now recovered) in charge. By 1850, however, Winter had retired yet again and was replaced by August Schmidt and F. W. Salzman.
Prominent individuals associated with the mission
- Carl Wuras - missionary at Bethanie who directed the work at Pniel.
- Richard MilesRichard Miles (Tswana catechist)Richard Miles was a Motswana catechist and preacher "to the native tribes beyond the border" in South Africa.-Origins:Nothing definite is known of Richard Miles's origins, except that he was born a Motswana , and as a youth was in the employ of the apothecary John Harfield Tredgold in Cape...
- Tswana catechist, probably at Pniel in the late 1860s/early 1870s.. - Sol PlaatjeSol PlaatjeSolomon Tshekisho Plaatje was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer. The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, which includes the city of Kimberley, was named after him.-Early life:...
- the Tswana author and first secretary of the African National CongressAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
.