ǁKhauxaǃnas
Encyclopedia
ǁKhauxaǃnas is an uninhabited village with an ancient ruined fortress in south-eastern Namibia
, east of the Great Karas Mountains
. It is the oldest systematically designed and built structure in Namibia, pre-dating all buildings erected by Europeans. Built at the end of the 18th century, most likely between 1796 and 1798 by Klaas Afrikaner
and his two sons Jager
and Titus, ǁKhauxaǃnas served as a hidden retreat and a fortress to fend off possible pursuits by Cape authorities. The Orlam Afrikaner tribe left the place in the 1820s but it continued to be inhabited by the Veldschoendragers (ǁHawoben) tribe until the mid-19th century.
in southern Namibia, 173 km (107.5 mi) south-east of Keetmanshoop
. It lies on the banks of Bak River, 6 km (3.7 mi) off the district road D612. The nearest inhabited settlement is Warmfontein, 24 km (14.9 mi) to the north-west. The site can only be reached by four-wheel drive
n vehicles, the last kilometer has to be done on foot.
The site named ǁKhauxaǃnas refers to the fortified settlement on top of the hill overlooking the Bak River. It consists of a trapezium
-shaped walled-in enclosure of approximately 150 by 350 meters and contains several ruins of buildings and kraal
s. Most of the dwellings are situated near the perimeter wall which contains 23 doorways. The settlement directly adjacent in western direction is the Veldschoendragers Schans Vlakte village that was described by 19th century missionaries. It is equally uninhabited today and contains the ruins of a church that was designed to accommodate 300 people. While the fortification was built by piling sandstone slabs and fitting them together, for the church walls mortar was used.
The military use and value of the fortress can be disputed. The length of the perimeter wall and the amount of doorways in it would have made the site difficult to defend against a sizable number of attackers. The dwellings would have been particularly at risk as they were placed very close to the surrounding wall. However, ǁKhauxaǃnas might never have had to prove its defensive properties. Ridsdale reports that
where "Nisbett Bath" is a reference to Warmbad
, and Boer
s are the white South African descendants of Dutch
immigrants to the Cape.
left the Cape Colony
, first with the consent, possibly even under the order, of the Dutch East India Company
. The clan subsequently got into conflict with the authorities which openly broke out in March 1796 when the Afrikaners shot a farmer, Pieter Pienaar. It was in this year or soon thereafter that ǁKhauxaǃnas was built by Klaas Afrikaner and his two sons Jager
and Titus. ǁKhauxaǃnas served as a hidden retreat and a fortress to fend off possible pursuits by the Cape authorities. The Orlam Afrikaners inhabited it until the 1820s when they moved further northwards to Blydeverwacht and eventually to Windhoek
.
missionaries stationed in Warmbad visited the village that by then had lost its military importance.
Due to a severe draught at the end of the 1840s, the ǁHawoben were forced to move further northwards. When the Rhenish Missionary Society
took over operations in Warmbad in 1867 they did not make any reference to ǁKhauxaǃnas and its population.
1904–07. From there they launched a series of attacks against German Schutztruppe
which culminated in the killing of Lieutenant Baron Nikolai von Stempel on 30 August 1904.
Missionary Society who were missionaries
in Warmbad
in the 1840s. Ridsdale writes:
After their visit the place was only rediscovered in 1986 by Klaus Dierks
, hobby historian and later deputy minister in the Namibian Government. None of the written historical records of the Orlam Afrikaners mention the place.
(built between 1805 and 1810). Both were at some time considered to be the oldest buildings in Namibia—it now turns out that this recognition ignored the history of the indigenous population. Existence of this settlement provides strong evidence that a developed society existed prior to German colonisation. The discoverer Dr. Dierks compared its possible impact on nation building and national pride to that of the Great Zimbabwe
ruins. He points out that
It was for many years assumed that cultural and social development in the area began only with the intrusion of European influences. Structures of unknown origin had previously been attributed to European builders in the pre-colonial and colonial era; ǁKhauxaǃnas itself was entered on maps as "Old German Fortifications 1904-1906", which was later proven false, given that it was used as shelter and hideout against the Schutztruppe
(Protection Force) of the German Empire
.
The ruins of ǁKhauxaǃnas were proclaimed a National Monument in 1992. This proclamation has not been effected. In 1997 the Government of Namibia issued a series of stamps featuring the ruins.
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...
, east of the Great Karas Mountains
Great Karas Mountains
The Great Karas Mountains are located in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. They are located in the driest part of the country. ǁKhauxaǃnas, an uninhabited village with a ruined fortress dating to the 18th century, is located to the east of the Mountains....
. It is the oldest systematically designed and built structure in Namibia, pre-dating all buildings erected by Europeans. Built at the end of the 18th century, most likely between 1796 and 1798 by Klaas Afrikaner
Klaas Afrikaner
Klaas Afrikaner was the second Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners, first in the Cape Colony, then in South-West Africa...
and his two sons Jager
Jager Afrikaner
Jager Afrikaner was the third Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in South West Africa, succeeding his father Klaas Afrikaner at around 1800...
and Titus, ǁKhauxaǃnas served as a hidden retreat and a fortress to fend off possible pursuits by Cape authorities. The Orlam Afrikaner tribe left the place in the 1820s but it continued to be inhabited by the Veldschoendragers (ǁHawoben) tribe until the mid-19th century.
Location and site description
ǁKhauxaǃnas is situated in the eastern part of the Karas RegionKaras Region
The Karas Region is the southernmost region of Namibia. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain range in its southern part...
in southern Namibia, 173 km (107.5 mi) south-east of Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop is a city in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and founder of the city....
. It lies on the banks of Bak River, 6 km (3.7 mi) off the district road D612. The nearest inhabited settlement is Warmfontein, 24 km (14.9 mi) to the north-west. The site can only be reached by four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
n vehicles, the last kilometer has to be done on foot.
The site named ǁKhauxaǃnas refers to the fortified settlement on top of the hill overlooking the Bak River. It consists of a trapezium
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
-shaped walled-in enclosure of approximately 150 by 350 meters and contains several ruins of buildings and kraal
Kraal
Kraal is an Afrikaans and Dutch word for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form.In the Dutch language a kraal is a term derived from the Portuguese word , cognate...
s. Most of the dwellings are situated near the perimeter wall which contains 23 doorways. The settlement directly adjacent in western direction is the Veldschoendragers Schans Vlakte village that was described by 19th century missionaries. It is equally uninhabited today and contains the ruins of a church that was designed to accommodate 300 people. While the fortification was built by piling sandstone slabs and fitting them together, for the church walls mortar was used.
The military use and value of the fortress can be disputed. The length of the perimeter wall and the amount of doorways in it would have made the site difficult to defend against a sizable number of attackers. The dwellings would have been particularly at risk as they were placed very close to the surrounding wall. However, ǁKhauxaǃnas might never have had to prove its defensive properties. Ridsdale reports that
"[t]he opportunity of defending themselves in their impregnable fortification[...] never occurred, as the commandoes of Boers from the Colony pursued them no farther than Nisbett Bath",
where "Nisbett Bath" is a reference to Warmbad
Warmbad, Namibia
Warmbad is a settlement located in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. It is situated south of Karasburg at the Homs River, close to the border with South Africa, and belongs to the Karasburg electoral constituency.First occupied by traders, hunters, and missionaries of different congregations,...
, and 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 are the white South African descendants of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
immigrants to the Cape.
Foundation as Afrikaner hideout
In the 1770s the Orlam Afrikaner clan under the leadership of Klaas AfrikanerKlaas Afrikaner
Klaas Afrikaner was the second Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners, first in the Cape Colony, then in South-West Africa...
left 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...
, first with the consent, possibly even under the order, of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. The clan subsequently got into conflict with the authorities which openly broke out in March 1796 when the Afrikaners shot a farmer, Pieter Pienaar. It was in this year or soon thereafter that ǁKhauxaǃnas was built by Klaas Afrikaner and his two sons Jager
Jager Afrikaner
Jager Afrikaner was the third Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in South West Africa, succeeding his father Klaas Afrikaner at around 1800...
and Titus. ǁKhauxaǃnas served as a hidden retreat and a fortress to fend off possible pursuits by the Cape authorities. The Orlam Afrikaners inhabited it until the 1820s when they moved further northwards to Blydeverwacht and eventually 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...
.
Veldschoendragers village and missionary outpost
After the departure of the Afrikaner clan the Veldschoendragers (ǁHawoben) moved from Klipfontein to ǁKhauxaǃnas, which they called Schans Vlakte. It became the capital village of their tribe and was the place of their chief's residence. Several WesleyanMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
missionaries stationed in Warmbad visited the village that by then had lost its military importance.
Due to a severe draught at the end of the 1840s, the ǁHawoben were forced to move further northwards. When 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...
took over operations in Warmbad in 1867 they did not make any reference to ǁKhauxaǃnas and its population.
During the Herero and Namaqua War
Jakob Morenga and his men used ǁKhauxaǃnas as a refuge during the Herero and Namaqua uprisingHerero 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...
1904–07. From there they launched a series of attacks against German Schutztruppe
Schutztruppe
Schutztruppe was the African colonial armed force of Imperial Germany from the late 19th century to 1918, when Germany lost its colonies. Similar to other colonial forces, the Schutztruppe consisted of volunteer European commissioned and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary officers. ...
which culminated in the killing of Lieutenant Baron Nikolai von Stempel on 30 August 1904.
Discovery
The only historical written description of ǁKhauxaǃnas is found in the diaries of Benjamin Ridsdale and John A. Bailie from the WesleyanMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
Missionary Society who were missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in Warmbad
Warmbad, Namibia
Warmbad is a settlement located in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. It is situated south of Karasburg at the Homs River, close to the border with South Africa, and belongs to the Karasburg electoral constituency.First occupied by traders, hunters, and missionaries of different congregations,...
in the 1840s. Ridsdale writes:
"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 their visit the place was only rediscovered in 1986 by Klaus Dierks
Klaus Dierks
Klaus Dierks was a deputy government minister, a transport planner and civil engineer in Namibia.-Biography:...
, hobby historian and later deputy minister in the Namibian Government. None of the written historical records of the Orlam Afrikaners mention the place.
Importance and recognition
The ruins of ǁKhauxaǃnas are the earliest engineered settlement in Namibia known . All its buildings are older than any of the structures erected by Europeans, including the Schmelenhaus in Bethanie (built 1814) and the mission station in WarmbadWarmbad, Namibia
Warmbad is a settlement located in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. It is situated south of Karasburg at the Homs River, close to the border with South Africa, and belongs to the Karasburg electoral constituency.First occupied by traders, hunters, and missionaries of different congregations,...
(built between 1805 and 1810). Both were at some time considered to be the oldest buildings in Namibia—it now turns out that this recognition ignored the history of the indigenous population. Existence of this settlement provides strong evidence that a developed society existed prior to German colonisation. The discoverer Dr. Dierks compared its possible impact on nation building and national pride to that of the Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which existed from 1100 to 1450 C.E. during the country’s Late Iron Age. The monument, which first began to be constructed in the 11th century and which continued to be built until the 14th century, spanned an...
ruins. He points out that
"[m]ost of the written records [on the history of Namibia] were compiled by European adventurers, travellers, missionaries and colonial administrators; inevitably the Namibian people are described primarily from an alien perspective [...]."
It was for many years assumed that cultural and social development in the area began only with the intrusion of European influences. Structures of unknown origin had previously been attributed to European builders in the pre-colonial and colonial era; ǁKhauxaǃnas itself was entered on maps as "Old German Fortifications 1904-1906", which was later proven false, given that it was used as shelter and hideout against the Schutztruppe
Schutztruppe
Schutztruppe was the African colonial armed force of Imperial Germany from the late 19th century to 1918, when Germany lost its colonies. Similar to other colonial forces, the Schutztruppe consisted of volunteer European commissioned and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary officers. ...
(Protection Force) of 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...
.
The ruins of ǁKhauxaǃnas were proclaimed a National Monument in 1992. This proclamation has not been effected. In 1997 the Government of Namibia issued a series of stamps featuring the ruins.