Bethanie
Encyclopedia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, and is ranked as one of the oldest settlements in the country. It is situated on the road C14 between Goageb and Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...
, 100 km west of Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop is a city in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and founder of the city....
.
As missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
started travelling north from the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in the early 19th century, they established mission stations
Mission (station)
A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....
on their way. The London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
founded the town, but, because of a shortage of missionaries and presumably because of the cooperation between the London and Rhenish Missionary Society
Rhenish Missionary Society
The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.The...
at the time, they instead sent a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Reverend Heinrich Schmelen
Heinrich Schmelen
Reverend Johann Heinrich Schmelen was a German missionary and linguist who worked in South Africa and South-West Africa. Traveling through the area of today's northern South Africa and central and southern Namibia he founded the mission stations at Bethanie and Steinkopf and discovered the natural...
arrived in 1814 as missionary of the Kaiǀkhauan (Khauas Nama) and their leader Amraal Lambert
Amraal Lambert
Amraal Lambert, Nama name: ǂGaiǀnub, was the first Captain of the Kaiǀkhauan , a subtribe of the Orlam, in the eastern area of Namaland, today's Namibia....
. The Schmelenhaus was built the same year, long considered the oldest structure in Namibia, and currently a National Monument and memorabilia museum. It was later discovered that the church and the pastor's house in Warmbad
Warmbad, Namibia
Warmbad is a settlement located in the Karas Region of southern Namibia. It is situated south of Karasburg at the Homs River, close to the border with South Africa, and belongs to the Karasburg electoral constituency.First occupied by traders, hunters, and missionaries of different congregations,...
, both destroyed in 1811, were older than the Schmelenhaus, and that the fortification of ǁKhauxaǃnas
ǁKhauxaǃnas
ǁKhauxaǃnas is an uninhabited village with an ancient ruined fortress in south-eastern Namibia, east of the Great Karas Mountains. It is the oldest systematically designed and built structure in Namibia, pre-dating all buildings erected by Europeans...
predates all European constructions.
In 1822, Schmelen left Bethanie after becoming dissatisfied with his missionary work among the local tribes, who refused his repeated and impassioned pleas to attend church.
The original church was built in 1859, and also still stands today.
In 1883, Bethanie was the scene of the historical first recorded deed of sale at the house of Namaqua
Namaqua
Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama now speak Afrikaans. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group,...
chief Josef Frederiks, when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequeña
Angra Pequena
Angra Pequena was a small coastal area in what is now known as Lüderitz, Namibia.First discovered by Europeans in 1487 by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias. On April 10, 1883 Heinrich Vogelsang first landed at Angra Pequena...
and some of the surrounding land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz
Adolf Lüderitz
Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz was a German merchant and founder of the first German colony in Southwest Africa....
, the German representative at the time. The town of Lüderitz would later develop on this land.
Politics
In the 2010 local authority electionNamibian local and regional elections, 2010
Namibia held elections for their local and regional councils on 26 and 27 November 2010. The terms of regional councillors and local authority representatives were originally set to expire in 2009...
, RDP
Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)
The Rally for Democracy and Progress is an opposition political party in Namibia. It was launched on November 17 2007 under the leadership of Hidipo Hamutenya and Jesaya Nyamu, both former leading members of the ruling SWAPO party and cabinet ministers. Hamutenya had unsuccessfully sought the SWAPO...
received the most votes with 253. SWAPO finished in 2nd place with 245 votes and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance finished in 3rd with 52 votes.