GERMAN AFRICA. A territory north of the lower course of the Orange river, which, owing to its prox imity to Cape Colony, tame to be regarded as a sort of depend ency of the Cape. This territory, bounded on the east by the Kalahari desert, was inhabited by Hottentot tribes who had mi grated from the Cape, and was known as Great Namaqualand. A few Dutch and British farmers had settled in it, and from i8o5 the London Missionary Society had agents—of German nation ality—among the Hottentots, many of whom had a considerable strain of European blood. About 1840 the L.M.S. transferred its stations to the Rhenish mission. A few traders established them selves on the coast at Angra Pequena ; in 1867 the small islands off the coast, which had valuable guano deposits, were annexed to Great Britain. The next year (1868), largely as the result of disputes between the Hottentots and their neighbours, the Herero, a tribe living in Damaraland, the Rhenish missionaries, seeking protection, asked Great Britain to annex the country. Although this appeal was supported by Prince Bismarck, on behalf of the Prussian Government, it was refused. In 1876, however, the Cape Government sent W. Coates Palgrave as "special commis sioner to the tribes north of the Orange." Palgrave concluded treaties which placed the whole region up to the Portuguese colony of Angola under British control. Sir Bartle Frere, then high com missioner for South Africa, approved Palgrave's action, but the British Government refused to ratify the treaties, and it was with difficulty that Sir Bartle obtained consent (1878) to annex Walvis bay, the only good harbour along the coast, and the adjacent strip of territory. .
Such was the position when, in July 1883, an agent of Adolf LUderitz (a Bremen merchant), obtained a cession of land at Angra Pequena, since known as Luderitz bay. Prince Bismarck, a late convert to belief in German colonial expansion, gave ample opportunity to Great Britain to act. The opportunity was neg lected, both by the London and the Cape cabinets, and in Aug. 1884 a German protectorate was proclaimed. Treaties with Portu gal (1886) and Great Britain (189o), fixed the limits of German territory.
A large part of the country thus obtained was barren. The most fertile and most thickly-inhabited part was the northern tropical region of Ovamboland; but in this remote district the Germans interfered little. Elsewhere, besides deserts, were large stretches of grazing ground, and certain areas where farming was possible. Moreover, South-west Africa was the only oversea possession suitable for white settlement which Germany had acquired. The Germans, almost from the outset, had much trouble with the Hottentots, but in 1894 Hendrik Witboi, the most redoubtable Hottentot leader, concluded peace and became an ally of the Germans. In that year von Leutwein became governor, and under his rule in the next ten years the country made much progress. Swakopmund was chosen as chief port, and from it a railway, 24om. long, was built (1897-1902) to Windhuk, a former Hotten tot stronghold in the hill country which the Germans had made their capital. Another line was built going north to the copper mines of Otavi. Land was very freely appropriated by the white settlers from the natives ; a cause of great discontent, though von Leutwein endeavoured to treat the natives with consideration.
In 1903 the Bondelzwart Hottentots, living near the Cape border, rose in revolt, and this developed into a long and ruth less struggle with the Herero and the Hottentots generally. Impa tience of white rule, and the loss of their grazing grounds by the natives, were the main causes of the war. The Herero began hos tilities (Jan. 1904) in the approved fashion of savage tribes—the murder of a number of German farmers and their families. Troops under Gen. von Trotha were sent from Germany. Von Trotha stormed the Herero stronghold in Aug. 1904, but the main body of the enemy escaped and thereafter kept up a harass ing guerilla warfare. Von Trotha, exasperated, issued a procla mation in Oct. 19o4 saying that every (man) Herero within the German frontier, "with or without a rifle," would be shot ; no more women or children would be taken over. "I will either drive them back to your people or have them fired on." Later von Trotha ordered his soldiers to fire, not into, but over the heads of the women and children; while Prince Bulow, the then chan cellor, ordered the general to repeal the whole proclamation. At this juncture (Oct. 19o4) Hendrik Witboi broke with the Ger mans and was joined by other Hottentot tribes; the first act of the insurgents being the massacre of some 6o German settlers in the Gibeon district (British and Boer farmers were left in peace). Witboi was incensed because von Leutwein, for whom he had great admiration, had been recalled to Berlin, and by the harsh conduct of von Trotha. The Germans found that in the Hotten tots they had to deal with an able, determined and elusive f oe, and that in a country largely roadless and waterless. Von Trotha was in turn recalled towards the end of 1905. The new governor, von Lindequist, issued an amnesty to the Herero, who had lost some 30,00o men killed, while thousands, including women and children, had been driven into the Kalahari desert, there to per ish. In Nov. 19o5 Hendrik Witboi died, but other Hottentot chiefs continued the struggle, and it was not until 1908 that German authority was completely re-established. At the height of the campaign (1906) the Germans had 19,000 men in the field, while the cost of the wars (1904-08) to the Imperial Treasury was £23,000,000.
The native wars had resulted in the loss, in all, of some ioo,000 native lives, and from 1908 the problem of getting labour was very difficult. But in that year diamonds were discovered along the coast by LUderitz bay, and a new and profitable industry quickly grew up. Europeans were attracted, and though settlers on the land were few, the white population in 1913 numbered nearly 15,00o, of whom over 12,000 were Germans. The railway system was greatly extended, and the Government, though bureaucratic and expensive, did much to encourage farmers and pastoralists, while the settlers were given some voice in the administration. The country had never paid its way, but the grant-in-aid had been brought down to £500,000, and there appeared to be a fair future for this German colony when, in 1914, the World War began. A year later the country had been conquered by Gen. Botha, and it passed under the administration of the Union of South Africa. (See ,SOUTH-WEST AFRICA, CAMPAIGN IN.) See South-west Africa, British Foreign Office handbook (192o), with bibliography. (F. R. C.)