The Germans did not last long in south west Africa, modern day Namibia. That does not mean they did not go a long way to shaping the place. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is a standard colonial German issue. The empire was small outposts of Germans all over the world. So a ship or the home countries monarch would be a welcome sight on the stamps. Regular stops by ships to bring longed for contact from home was a big part of colonial life. Also the idea that the monarch remembers you and is looking out for you in a perhaps inhospitable place. This German stamp cleverly manages both. The ship is the SMY Hohenzollern II, the Kaiser’s royal yacht. You wouldn’t have seen it much in Namibia though, the Kaiser mainly used it for his annual vacation to Norway.
The stamp today is issue A3, a five Pfennig stamp issued by the Crown Colony of German Southwest Africa in 1900. The South West Africa version of the stamp came in thirteen different denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $20 mint.
Although the first European contact in south west Africa was with Portuguese, they did not stay. The bulk of the locals were hunter/gatherer Khoikhoi tribesman. To the Germans they were known as the Hottentots. The first European camps were German Lutheran Rhenish missionary camps. The British also sent some missionaries but they quickly affiliated with the Germans. The missionaries were followed by industrialists who saw the potential for farming and copper mining. Unlike other German colonies, the call went out for German colonists. As the locals were nomadic there was nothing really to conquer, but German interests in the area were confirmed by the Conference of Berlin in 1884. Cooperation with Britain was a part of this and English and especially Boers became important investers. Diamonds were discovered in 1908. The area of the Colony was larger than Germany.
The Hottentots were not happy with German presence. In something that will sound familiar to modern South Africans, Hottentots began raiding German farms and killing the families. The Hottentots were under the leadership of German trained tribal King Hendrik Witboi, who they named the “captain who disappears into the grass.” Over 150 Germans were massacred and Hottentot sieges were laid on even the capital of Windhoek. The Germans only had the 1700 strong Schutztruppe of part time German colonists with officers from Germany. Luckily their ranks were swelled by Boer volunteers and additional troops sent from Germany. The Hottentots were chased into the desert northern part of the territory and the women and children held in camps. The Germans then put a guard on all the water holes and shot all Hottentots that approached until they surrendered in 1908. By the end of the uprising, the native population was less than half of what was before, more from the desert than the fighting. Hendrik Witboi died in action against the Germans and is revered in today’s Namibia, even appearing on the money, which I am sure they mean as a compliment.
When World War I came, the South Africans invaded and the Germans did not resist and many stayed in South West Africa. The change in the counties demographics after the Hottentot rebellion meant the country stayed white ruled much longer than most. It only became African ruled Namibia in 1990, and there are still over 30,000 people there of German heritage.
The SMY Hohenzollern survived World War I but was not required by the Weimar Republic. Therefore she sat unused and was broken up in 1922. This was also the fate of the half built replacement ship, the Hohenzollern III. The ships had been built by AG Vulcan shipyard in the former German city of Stettin. Kaiser Wilhelm II had spent over 4 years of his life aboard.
Well my drink is empty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.