Inhabitants.—Among the natives of German South-West Africa three classes may be distinguished. In the first class are the Namaqua (Hottentots) and Bushmen. The Namaqua probably came from the south, while the Bushmen may be looked upon as an indigenous race. The Hottentots, the purest existing types of that race, are divided into numerous tribes, independent of one another, such as the Witbois, Swartzbois, Bondelzwarts. The Bushmen are found scattered over the eastern parts of the country (see [Hottentots] and [Bushmen]). The second class consists of the mountain Damara (Hau-Khoin), a race of doubtful affinities, probably of Bantu-Negro origin, but speaking the Hottentot language. The third class belongs to the Bantu-Negro stock, and came from the north-east, expelling and enslaving the mountain Damara, and settling in various parts of the country under different names. The most prominent are the Herero, thorough nomads and cattle-breeders; while the Ovampo (Ovambo or Ambo), in the northern part of the protectorate, are agriculturists. The Herero (q.v.) are also known by the Hottentot name Damara, and by this name their country is generally called. The Bastaards, who live in Namaqualand, are a small tribe originating from a mingling of Cape Boers with Hottentots. They are Christians, and able to read and write. The other natives are spirit-worshippers, save for the comparatively few converts of the Protestant missions established in the country. Of white races represented the chief are Germans and Boers. In the S.E. Boer settlers form the bulk of the white population. There are also numbers of British colonists in this region—emigrants from the Cape. The immigration of Germans is encouraged by subsidies and in other ways.
Towns.—The chief port is Swakopmund, built on the northern bank of the Swakop river (the southern bank belonging to the British territory of Walfish Bay). The harbour is partially protected by a breakwater. There are also settlements at Lüderitz Bay (white pop. 1909, over 1000) and at Sandwich Harbour. Swakopmund is connected by a narrow gauge railway with Windhoek, the administrative capital of the colony, situated in a hilly district 180 m. due east of the port, but 237 m. by the railway. Karibib is the only place of consequence on the line. Otyimbingue is a government station 70 m. W.N.W. of Windhoek, and Tsumeb a mining centre 240 m. N.N.E. of the same place. Olukonda is a government post in Ovampoland. In the S.E. corner of the colony, 30 m. N. of the Orange river, is the town of Warmbad. Keetmanshoop, 100 m. N. of Warmbad and 180 m. E. of Lüderitz Bay, is the centre of a small mining industry. Gibeon is a government station and missionary settlement about midway between Keetmanshoop and Windhoek. Besides these places there are numbers of small native towns at which live a few white traders and missionaries. The missionaries have given Biblical names to several of their stations, such as Bethany and Beersheba in Namaqualand, and Rehoboth in Damaraland. In the Caprivi enclave are a German residency and the site of the town of Linyante, once the capital of the Makololo dynasty of Barotseland (see [Barotse]).
Industries.—Agriculture is followed by the natives in the northern districts, but the chief industry is stock-raising. The scarcity of water in the southern parts is not favourable for agricultural pursuits, while the good grazing lands offer splendid pasturage for cattle, which the Herero raise in numbers amounting to many hundred thousands. Sheep and goats thrive well. Horses have been imported from the Cape. Unfortunately the climate does not suit them everywhere, and they are subject to a virulent distemper. Cattle and sheep also suffer from the diseases which are common in the Cape Colony. Camels have been imported, and are doing well. Wheat, maize and sorghum are the chief crops raised, though not enough is grown to meet even local requirements. Near the coast the natives collect the kernels of the nara, a wild-growing pumpkin which, in the words of an early traveller, C.J. Andersson, “are eaten by oxen, mice, men, ostriches and lions.” About half the European settlers are engaged in agriculture. They raise maize, wheat, tobacco, fruit and vegetables. Cotton cultivation and viticulture are carried on in some districts.
Minerals, especially copper, are plentiful in the country. The chief copper deposits are at Tsumeb, which is 4230 ft. above the sea, in the Otavi district. Diamonds are found on and near the surface of the soil in the Lüderitz Bay district, and diamonds have also been found in the neighbourhood of Gibeon. A little pottery is made, and the Hottentot women are clever in making fur cloths. In the north the Ovampo do a little smith-work and grass-plaiting. The external trade of the country was of slow growth. The exports, previous to the opening up of the Otavi mines, consisted chiefly of live stock—sent mainly to Cape Colony—guano, ivory, horns, hides and ostrich feathers. The chief imports are food stuffs, textiles and metals, and hardware. In 1903 the value of the exports was £168,560, that of the imports £388,210. The war which followed (see below, History) led to a great shrinking of exports, rendering the figures for the period 1904-1907 useless for purposes of comparison. About 85% of the imports are from Germany.
Communications.—The economic development of the country is largely dependent on transport facilities. The railway from Swakopmund to Windhoek, mentioned above, was begun in 1897, and was opened for traffic in July 1902. It cost nearly £700,000 to build. Another narrow gauge railway, to serve the Otavi copper mines, was begun in 1904 and completed in 1908. It starts from Swakopmund and is 400 m. long, the terminus being at Grootfontein, 40 m. S.E. of Tsumeb. The highest point on this line is 5213 ft. above the sea. In 1906-1908 a railway, 180 m. long, was built from Lüderitz Bay to Keetmanshoop. This line is of the standard South African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.), that gauge being adopted in view of the eventual linking up of the line with the British railway systems at Kimberley. A branch from Seeheim on the Keetmanshoop line runs S.E. to Kalkfontein.
Besides railways, roads have been made between the chief centres of population. Along these, in the desert districts, wells have been dug. Across the Awas Mountains, separating Windhoek from the central plateau, a wide road has been cut. In 1903 the colony was placed in telegraphic communication with Europe and Cape Colony by the laying of submarine cables having their terminus at Swakopmund. There is a fairly complete inland telegraphic service.
There is regular steamship communication between Hamburg and Swakopmund, Walfish Bay and Lüderitz Bay. Regular communication is also maintained between Cape Town and the ports of the colony.
Administration.—At the head of the administration is an imperial governor, responsible to the colonial office in Berlin, who is assisted by a council consisting of chiefs of departments. The country is divided into various administrative districts. In each of these there is a Bezirksamtmann, with his staff of officials and police force. In each district is a law court, to whose jurisdiction not alone the whites, but also the Bastaards are subject. As in all German colonies, there is a court of appeal at the residence of the governor. The government maintains schools at the chief towns, but education is principally in the hands of missionaries. The armed force consists of regular troops from Germany and a militia formed of Bastaards. The local revenue for some years before 1903 was about £130,000 per annum, the expenditure about £400,000, the difference between local receipts and expenditure being made good by imperial subsidies. In 1908 local revenue had risen to £250,000, but the imperial authorities incurred an expenditure of over £2,000,000, largely for military purposes. On articles of export, such as feathers and hides, 5% ad valorem duty has to be paid; on cattle and horses an export tax per head. There is a 10% ad valorem duty on all imports, no difference being made between German and foreign goods. The sale of spirituous liquors is subject to a licence.
History.—The coast of south-west Africa was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1487, whilst endeavouring to find his way to the Indies. He anchored in a bay which by reason of its smallness he named Angra Pequena. Portugal, however, took no steps to acquire possession of this inhospitable region, which remained almost unvisited by Europeans until the early years of the 19th century. At this time the country was devastated by a Hottentot chief known as Afrikander, who had fled thither with a band of outlaws after murdering his master, a Boer farmer by whom he had been ill-treated, in 1796. In 1805 some missionaries (of German nationality) went into Namaqualand in the service of the London Missionary Society, which society subsequently transferred its missions in this region to the Rhenish mission, which had had agents in the country since about 1840. The chief station of the missionaries was at a Hottentot settlement renamed Bethany (1820), a place 125 m. E. by Angra Pequena. The missionaries had the satisfaction of stopping Afrikander’s career of bloodshed. He became a convert, a great friend of the mission, and took the name of Christian. The proximity of Great Namaqualand to Cape Colony led to visits from British and Dutch farmers and hunters, a few of whom settled in the country, which thus became in some sense a dependency of the Cape.
In 1867 the islands along the coast north and south of Angra Pequena, on which were valuable guano deposits, were annexed to Great Britain. At this time a small trade between the natives and the outside world was developed at Angra Pequena, the merchants engaged in it being British and German. The political influence of the Cape spread meantime northward to the land of the Herero (Damara). The Herero had been subjugated by Jonker Afrikander, a son of Christian Afrikander, who followed the early footsteps of his sire and had renounced Christianity, but in 1865 they had recovered their independence. The Rhenish missionaries appealed (1868) to the British government for protection, and asked for the annexation of the country. This request, although supported by the Prussian government, was refused. In 1876, however, a special commissioner (W. Coates Palgrave) was sent by the Cape government “to the tribes north of the Orange river.” The commissioner concluded treaties with the Namaqua and Damara which fixed the limits of the territories of the two races and placed the whole country now forming German South-West Africa within the sphere of British influence. In the central part of Damaraland an area of some 35,000 sq. m. was marked out as a British reservation. The instrument by which this arrangement was made was known as the treaty of Okahandya. Neither it nor the treaty relating to Great Namaqualand was ratified by the British government, but at the request of Sir Bartle Frere, then high commissioner for South Africa, Walfish Bay (the best harbour along the coast) was in 1878 annexed to Great Britain.