Rehoboth Namibia
lays some 90 km south of Windhoek on the main B1 road, and in one's rush to get to Windhoek it is easily passed by without a
lays some 90 km south of Windhoek on the main B1 road, and in one's rush to get to Windhoek it is easily passed by without a thought. It's not a pretty town, however, like many such small…
REHOBOTH NAMIBIA . All the info you need.
The Bushmen of old knew this area, and where the hot water spring bubbled to the surface the place was called /Anhes (or Annis or Glenelg-Bath). During the early years of the nineteenth-century the people of the Red-Nation of Hoachanas, know as the Swartbooi-clan
had settled here, and in 1845 the Rhenish missionary Franz-Heinrich Kleinschmidt, who was also a trained carpenter and blacksmith established a mission-station. He named the place Rehoboth using an extract from Biblical scripture Genesis 26:22 "And he removed from thence and digged another well; and for that they strove not; and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land".
Rehoboth Spa: The original hot water springs attracted early man to this area and in modern times it was a natural progression that a spa should be built here in order that people could enjoy and take advantage of the "waters".
It was to this place, some 90 km south of Windhoek , in 1870 that the long and arduous Great Trek of the Baster people came to its conclusion. The pioneers had left the place they had called De Tuin in the North Western Cape on 4 November 1868 and ventured north of the Orange River in search of a better and more independent life. The trekkers that arrived in this area numbered under 500 people and were under the Captainship of their elected leader Hermanus van Wyk. It was here that they struck a deal with the local Swartbooi Chief and purchased the land that became know as the Rehoboth Gebiet for the price of 100 horses and 5 wagons. It was here that the Baster people settled and carved their future firmly and with pride into the annals of Namibia's history.
Rehoboth area and mining:
Deposits of gold and copper have been worked in this area since ancient times, and it was during the late 1980s that the excavations of archaeologist Dr. Beatrice Sandelowsky uncovered a series of copper smelting hearths that the San Bushmen had used long before the Bantu migrated south. Interestingly, glass beads known to have been made in India and/or in Europe were found in grave sites of 200 to 300 years old, and we are left to wonder by which ancient trade route these were brought into this area.
Rehoboth Museum: Small, but well worth a visit. There are some interesting displays.
Of Interest: At the beginning of the 1st World War the Germans negotiated a treaty with the Rehoboth Basters. However, on 22nd April 1915 the Germans broke the treaty and attacked the Basters, who in response assembled their forces at the rugged area known as Sam Kubis and made it their fighting ground. They held off the enemy assault until 8 May 1915 when the Germans made a tactical retreat owing to the advancing South African troops.
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