Die Dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi : kaptein van die Witbooi, 1884-1905
Edited reproduction of Witbooi's diary, with documents from the National Archives of Namibia. Featuring a forward in English by Gustav Voigts
Hendrik Witbooi
https://archive.org/details/diedagboekvanhen00witb
Van Riebeeck Society
1929
PDF
Dutch, Afrikaans, English
Charles John Anderson: Trade and Politics in Central Namibia 1860-1864
Charles John Andersson Papers, vol. 2 - "The author of the present record, Charles John Andersson, is not unknown among students of Namibian history, or Africana book collectors. He was born in Vanersborg (Sweden) to a Swedish mother (Kajsa Andersdotter) and an English father (Llewellyn Lloyd) in 1827. His papers record at least six siblings: Marie, Sophie, Henrietta, Joseph, Wilhelm and Philip. After a short spell at the University of Lund in 1847, he left to hunt and trade with his father. In 1849 he sailed to England from where he planned to take up a life of hunting and exploration In Iceland. However, meeting Galton and being Invited to accompany him to South Africa. Andersson changed his plans, and in early 1850 the two sailed for Cape Town. For a decade, interrupted only by two years In England and one year as manager of the Matchless copper mine, he travelled and hunted for Ivory in south-western Africa, visiting King Nangolo in Ondonga, exploring Lake Ngami and even reaching the Okavango River. By 1860 he had set himself up as the principal trader in central Namibia, purchasing the WBMC's assets in Otjimbingwe and fitting out a number of hunter/traders to bring in oxen and ivory. His financial situation - probably in many aspects similar to that of other European traders - remains obscure. No doubt he returned from his explorations of Lake Ngami with a fortune in ivory, stock and other saleable goods. Furthermore, the publication of his book, 'Lake Ngami', was an immense success; there were intimations of Cape civil service posts offered him until at least I860, and he was courted by British officials and scientists for his then highly interesting and precious map of the interior of southern Africa. Between 1856 and 1860 Wallis records a series of major cash outlays for fitting out hunters and traders and especially his partner Green; however, no details concerning the exact nature of these 'partnerships', nor the returns of these outlays, could be traced. Wallis claims that the establishment in Otjimbingwe, set up only five years after his return from Lake Ngami, was based partly on credit and in spite of the fact that Andersson recorded the huge sum of £20.000 as due to him in April and May 1864, by September of that year he was in financial difficulties and a few months later seems to have been a pauper. For reasons which this editor could not exact it seems that the Cape-Namaland cattle and ivory trade held the constant promise of immense profits to be made; yet it was precarious enough to ruin a trader's fortunes within months. The next four years are traced in detail by the present record; Andersson's trading activities in the early 1860s, marred by the spreading lungsickness epidemic, soon brought him into direct conflict with the Namaland chiefs and especially the sovereign, Jonker Afrikaner (succeeded by his sons, Christian and then Jan Jonker, following Jonker's death in 1861). By 1864, immobilised by a nasty leg wound received in battle against the Oorlam Afrikaners, Andersson's career as a trader came to a near standstill. [...]"
Brigitte Lau (ed.)
National Archives of SWA/Namibia
1989
PDF
English
The Matchless Copper Mine in 1857: Correspondence
Charles John Andersson Papers, vol. 1 - "The present text documents a year's copper mining activity in Namaland, SWA/Namibia. The year is 1857 and the country ruled by groups of chiefs, the mine is called Matchless, the company exploiting the mine is the Walfisch Bay Mining Company, and the mine manager whose letters to the directors have been published here, is Charles John Andersson." (p.vi)
Brigitte Lau (ed.)
National Archives of SWA/Namibia
1987
PDF
English
Kernel [Pähkinänsydän]
"Kernel tells about the San (Bushmen) of the western Okavango region of Namibia in the late 1950s and early 1960s - a period when the education system was being extended to include these earliest indigenous inhabitants of southern Africa. As a young teacher in 1949, the author, Tuulikki Jantunen, had moved to Namibia (then known as South West Africa) from her home country, Finland, to teach in the Okavango mission fields - a stint of work which continued for over thirty years. In Kernel we are introduced to a small San community living according to its own rules of behaviour in the settlement of Mpungu in the Okavango region. These people, formerly hunter-gatherers, now face a new cultural phase. Following the example of their neighbours, they have become sedentary farmers and have sown their first seeds. However, they do not want to abandon their nomadic way of life entirely and cannot bear to remain in their fields for long. They have to get back to the forest now and then. Some also want to go to school and the mission station offers them the opportunity to do so. It is this stage in the history of the San community that the author describes. There is no other written information about the San at the applicable time and place, thus Kernel is a new and valuable source for research into the cultures of Namibia. The book is also a fine read. It provides a personal and expressive description of the life of the community and conveys a humane close-up picture of San culture. Through it also the San will lie able to obtain new knowledge about their own background and cultural heritage. The publication of the book in English by the Namibia Scientific Society is a commendable cultural deed."
Tuulikki Jantunen
Namibia Scientific Society
2004
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English (translated from Finnish)
Life Among the Hereros in Africa: The Experiences of H. Beiderbecke, Lutheran Pastor
"These reminiscences refer particularly to the first years of my activity in Africa. To me, they are the most delightful, and I am sure that to the friends of missions they will be the most interesting."
Heinrich Beiderbecke
Ernst Kaufmann, New York
1922
Unclear, likely orphan
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English (translated from the German)