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One of the key figures in Namibia during the first half of the 19th century was Jonker Afrikaner, an Oorlam from the Cape Province who established his authority over the central and southern part of Namibia, and who established the settlement at Windhoek which was to eventually become Namibia’s capital.
Jonker Afrikaner belonged to an Oorlam group who, around the turn of the century, crossed the Orange River and established a fortified village in the Karasburg District. The leader of the clan at the time was Jager Afrikaner, Jonker’s father, who had killed his white employer, a farmer named Pienaar, in a dispute over wages and had subsequently fled over the Orange River beyond the reach of the Cape Province authorities. After his father’s death in 1823, Jonker Afrikaner trekked north with a group of his followers, and by the 1830s had established himself as leader of central and southern Namibia.
During the lack of accurate historical records during this period, there a differing accounts of how Jonker established himself as the senior Nama/Oorlam leader. One explanation is that by force of arms and constant cattle raids upon neighbouring Nama tribes, Jonker was able to establish his predominance. Other theories suggest that Nama leaders, fearing the steady encroachment of the Herero on their grazing lands, called in Jonker to force the Herero back. The English explorer Sir James Alexander met Jonker in 1836 in the Rehoboth area and reported that the Afrikaners had defeated the Herero in three decisive battles in 1835, allowing the Afrikaners to steal Herero cattle and establish themselves as the dominant power in the area.
By the 1840s an informal but definite alliance between Jonker Afrikaner and other Nama chiefs, such as Oaseb and Swartbooi existed. The basis of the alliance recognized Jonker Afrikaner as an equal of the Nama leaders, gave the Afrikaners sovereignty of the land between the Swakop an Kuiseb rivers and made Jonker Afrikaner overlord of the Herero lands north of the Swakop River. In this way the Afrikaner effectively acted as a buffer between the Herero to the north and the Nama tribes of the south, ensuring greater security for the Nama lands to the south. This informal alliance was officially confirmed in 1858 in an agreement between Chief Oaseb and Jonker Afrikaner.
During the 1840s and 1850s, Jonker established relations with various Herero leaders, in particular Chief Tjamuaha and his son Maherero and Chief Kahitjene. The basis of this relations obliged Herero to look after Afrikaner cattle and to pay regular tributes in the form of cattle, and in return the Herero leaders were generally spared catlle raids and were able to enrich themselves at the expense of their fellow Herero.
In 1840, Jonker had established the settlement of Windhoek in the Klein Windhoek Valley. In 1842, invited by Jonker, the first two missionaries Hahn and Kleinschmidt arrived to find a flourishing community, boasting a whitewashed stone church capable of seating up to 500 people. There were also well-established gardens where corn, tobacco and dagga (marijuana) were being cultivated in irrigated fields. For the next 20 years Windhoek was to flourish as a centre of commerce between the Hereros and the Oorlams/Namas.
Jonker Afrikaner died in 1861 and the years following his death were to see the gradual erosion of Afrikaner hegemony over central and southern Namibia, and the abandonment of the settlement at Windhoek.
Bron tekst: Footprint "Namibia" (2006).
Jan Jonker grew up in a flourishing pre-colonial Windhoek. He went to a mission school where he was taught to read and write Dutch. Jan Jonker was the son of Jonker Afrikaner, and the younger brother of Christian Afrikaner. He came to power after the death of his brother in a battle against Maharero, and was supposed to step down as soon as Christian’s eldest son was old enough, but it never happened. The Afrikaners (Nama) suffered terribly under the attacks by the Herero during Jan Jonker’s reign.
When his brother, Christian died, Jan Jonker intended to negotiate peace with Maharero, but his advisors convinced him not to go to Maharero. The war continued and during an attack the following year, Jan Jonker’s wife and daughter were killed. Not wanting more people to die, he asked Maharero for peace. The Herero chief declined peace and the war continued.
During 1864, Jan Jonker Afrikaner led his people to Gobabis. He hoped they would be safe there. From Gobabis, he coordinated attacks on Europeans connected to the Herero, stealing the wares, horses and cattle of traders and missionaries. This they kept up until 1869 when both Jan Jonker and Maharero wanted peace. Jan Jonker swallowed his pride and signed the Treaty of Okahandja in September 1870, recognizing Maharero as sole leader of Namibia.
The Afrikaners (Nama) were allowed back in Windhoek, but they were not allowed to use any of the surrounding field, for either grazing or hunting purposes. Famine gradually grew in Windhoek, forcing the Afrikaners to break the treaty. Jan Jonker allowed the Afrikaners to steal some Herero cattle and in 1880 a new war broke out. The Afrikaners fled to Gamsberg, and a year later joined the ranks of Moses Witbooi, another Nama captain, in a combined effort to break the regime of the Herero in Namibia.
A year later, Jan Jonker made a grave mistake. He made friends with Manasse and Paul Visser, not knowing that they were sworn enemies of Hendrik Witbooi. After the death of Moses Witbooi, Paul Visser tried to take the leadership away from Hendrik, Moses Witbooi’s son. When Jan Jonker realized the mistake he made, he took his people and fled to Maharero. On their way to the Herero, Hendrik Witbooi caught up with them at Tsoabis. Jan Jonker decided it was best to ask for peace, and on his way to Hendrik’s camp, he was killed with a single bullet, fired by his son, Phanuel, one of the numerous Afrikaners who joined Witbooi.
The rest of the Afrikaners fled to the Herero, and Maharero allowed them to return to Windhoek. There malaria killed most of the surviving Afrikaners and a once great tribe became almost extinct.
Uit: http://completenamibia.com/History%20individuals.htm |