German colonial rule in Namibia(South West Africa)
In 1894, Major Theodore Leutwein became the governor of the territory and it entered a period of rapid development.They negotiated with the chiefs and force them to sign the the protection treaty with the Germans.The chiefs like Hendrick Witbooi and Jonker Afrikaner refused to sign the treaty.The Germans colonial authorities did everything they could to prevent the Namibians from forming a united front against them.The Germans were interested in the Hereroland.They had seen the large herds of cattle and their good grazing land which they think it was good for the Herero farmers to settle on.At the beginning when Maharero was thee chief he also refuses to sign the treaty.However at that time there were internal conflicts between the Namas and the Herero communities in Namibia.
The Germans gave weapons to some of the Namibian people to make it easy for them to control the country.This has brought a great misunderstanding and unhappiness among the Namibian people which later lead to a dispute(war) between the Namibians and the Germans.Most of the Namibian people who were involved in this war were the Herero people because of their land and cattle which were taken away from them by the Germans.Many people were killed during this war .They just defeated the Germans when South Africa helped them.
References
1.Understanding History (grade 9),Logman Namibia,2007
- --Ashipala212108093 (talk) 13:58, 5 October 2012 (UTC)