Carl Hugo Hahn
Encyclopedia
Carl Hugo Hahn was a German
missionary and linguist
who worked in South Africa
and South-West Africa for most of his life. Together with Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
he set up the first Rhenish mission station
to the Herero people in Gross Barmen
. Hahn is known for his scientific work on the Herero language.
near Riga
, Latvia
. He studied Engineering at the Engineering School of the Russian Army from 1834 onwards but was not satisfied with that choice and, more generally, his parents' way of life. In 1837 he left Ādaži (Aahof) for Barmen (today part of Wuppertal
, Germany
) to apply at the missionary school of the Rhenish Missionary Society
. He was admitted to the Missonary School in Elberfeld (also part of Wuppertal today) in 1838 and graduated in 1841.
on 13 October 1841. His orders were to bring Christianity to the Nama
and the Herero in South-West Africa—not an easy task considering that both tribes were enemies at that time. He travelled to Windhoek
in 1842 and was well received by Jonker Afrikaner
, Captain
of the Orlam Afrikaner tribe residing there. When in 1844 Wesleyan missionaries arrived at the invitation of Jonker Afrikaner, Hahn and his colleague Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
moved northwards into Damaraland
in order to avoid conflict with them.
Hahn and Kleinschmidt arrived at Otjikango on 31 October 1844. They named the place Barmen (today Gross Barmen
) after the headquarters of the Rhenish Missionary Society in Germany and established the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero there. At that time Jonker Afrikaner oversaw the development of the road network in South-West Africa. Hahn and Kleinschmidt initiated the creation of a path from Windhoek to Barmen via Okahandja
, and in 1850 this road, later known as Alter Baiweg (Old Bay Path), was extended via Otjimbingwe
to Walvis Bay
. This route served as an important trade connection between the coast and Windhoek until the end of the century.
Their missionary work was not very successful, and Hahn visited Europe between 1853 and 1856 to gather support for his endeavors, which by then were considered futile by the Rhenish Missionary Society. He returned with the order to evangelize the people in Ovamboland
but his expedition to the Ovambo in 1857 ended in a disaster, and the members barely escaped alive. Moreover, Gross Barmen was almost destroyed by then due to the skirmishes between Namas and Hereros.
After the Herero defeated the Nama on many occasions, missionary work was continued. Hahn moved westwards to Otjimbingwe
in 1863 and established a missionary station and a theological seminary
there to educate indigenous missionaries. Five years later, an attack by the Nama ended his hitherto successful project. The Herero fled the settlement and gave up their Christian affiliations. In 1870 Hahn brokered a ten-year peace deal between Nama and Herero and convinced the Finnish Missionary Society to take over missionary work in Ovamboland. When the Rhenish Missionary Society began trading for profit and colonising, Hahn severed his ties with them in 1872 and relocated to the Cape Colony
.
For the next twelve years, Hahn served as pastor of the German Lutheran congregation in Cape Town. From 1882 until his retirement in 1884 he was the Cape Government's "Special Commissioner for the Walwich Bay
Territory".
and other religious texts into the language of the natives. He also drafted a grammar of Otjiherero and published its first dictionary. During his visit to Germany in 1873/74, University of Leipzig
awarded a Doctor degree honoris causa
to Hahn for his research on the language of the Herero, although his domestic servant and interpreter, Urieta (Johanna Gertze) probably had a more than cursory role in the creation of his language studies and publications.
Hone, daughter of William Hone
) on 3 October 1843. They had one daughter and three sons. After his retirement in 1884, Hahn visited his daughter Margaritha in the United States
, and later lived with his son Carl Hugo Hahn (Jr.) in Paarl
, South Africa. He died in Cape Town on 24 November 1895 and is buried at St. Petri in Paarl.
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...
missionary and linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
who worked in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and South-West Africa for most of his life. Together with Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt was a German missionary and linguist who worked in South-West Africa, today Namibia. He founded the missionary station and town of Rehoboth and together with Carl Hugo Hahn set up the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero people in Gross Barmen...
he set up the first Rhenish mission station
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...
to the Herero people in Gross Barmen
Gross Barmen
Gross Barmen is a historic settlement and a recreational spa in central Namibia. It is situated on the District Road 1972, 25 km south-east of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region...
. Hahn is known for his scientific work on the Herero language.
Early life
Hahn was born into a bourgeois family on 18 October 1818 in AahofAdaži
Ādaži is a town in the historical region of Vidzeme, and the Riga Planning Region in Latvia, and the centre of Ādaži Municipality. It has a population of about 9,000....
near Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. He studied Engineering at the Engineering School of the Russian Army from 1834 onwards but was not satisfied with that choice and, more generally, his parents' way of life. In 1837 he left Ādaži (Aahof) for Barmen (today part of Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, Germany
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...
) to apply at the missionary school of the 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...
. He was admitted to the Missonary School in Elberfeld (also part of Wuppertal today) in 1838 and graduated in 1841.
Missionary work
Hahn arrived in Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
on 13 October 1841. His orders were to bring Christianity to the Nama
Nama
Nama may mean:* Nama band, a Greek music group* Nama , a genus of plants in the family Hydrophyllaceae* Holy Name in Indian religions* Nama , a hero in ? folklore who built an ark to save his family from a flood...
and the Herero in South-West Africa—not an easy task considering that both tribes were enemies at that time. He travelled to Windhoek
Windhoek
Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...
in 1842 and was well received by Jonker Afrikaner
Jonker Afrikaner
Jonker Afrikaner was the fourth Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in South West Africa, succeeding his father, Jager Afrikaner, in 1823...
, Captain
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
of the Orlam Afrikaner tribe residing there. When in 1844 Wesleyan missionaries arrived at the invitation of Jonker Afrikaner, Hahn and his colleague Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt
Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt was a German missionary and linguist who worked in South-West Africa, today Namibia. He founded the missionary station and town of Rehoboth and together with Carl Hugo Hahn set up the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero people in Gross Barmen...
moved northwards into Damaraland
Damaraland
Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, and Windhoek in the south....
in order to avoid conflict with them.
Hahn and Kleinschmidt arrived at Otjikango on 31 October 1844. They named the place Barmen (today Gross Barmen
Gross Barmen
Gross Barmen is a historic settlement and a recreational spa in central Namibia. It is situated on the District Road 1972, 25 km south-east of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region...
) after the headquarters of the Rhenish Missionary Society in Germany and established the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero there. At that time Jonker Afrikaner oversaw the development of the road network in South-West Africa. Hahn and Kleinschmidt initiated the creation of a path from Windhoek to Barmen via Okahandja
Okahandja
Okahandja is a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70km north of Windhoek on the B1 road...
, and in 1850 this road, later known as Alter Baiweg (Old Bay Path), was extended via Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. It has approximately 8000 inhabitants.The Rhenish Mission Society used Otjimbingwe as a central location for their Namibian mission in 1849. Johannes Rath and his family settled in the area on 11 July that year, and the settlement...
to Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...
. This route served as an important trade connection between the coast and Windhoek until the end of the century.
Their missionary work was not very successful, and Hahn visited Europe between 1853 and 1856 to gather support for his endeavors, which by then were considered futile by the Rhenish Missionary Society. He returned with the order to evangelize the people in Ovamboland
Ovamboland
Ovamboland was the name given by English-speaking visitors to the land occupied by the Ovambo people in what is now northern Namibia and southern Angola...
but his expedition to the Ovambo in 1857 ended in a disaster, and the members barely escaped alive. Moreover, Gross Barmen was almost destroyed by then due to the skirmishes between Namas and Hereros.
After the Herero defeated the Nama on many occasions, missionary work was continued. Hahn moved westwards to Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. It has approximately 8000 inhabitants.The Rhenish Mission Society used Otjimbingwe as a central location for their Namibian mission in 1849. Johannes Rath and his family settled in the area on 11 July that year, and the settlement...
in 1863 and established a missionary station and a theological seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
there to educate indigenous missionaries. Five years later, an attack by the Nama ended his hitherto successful project. The Herero fled the settlement and gave up their Christian affiliations. In 1870 Hahn brokered a ten-year peace deal between Nama and Herero and convinced the Finnish Missionary Society to take over missionary work in Ovamboland. When the Rhenish Missionary Society began trading for profit and colonising, Hahn severed his ties with them in 1872 and relocated to 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...
.
For the next twelve years, Hahn served as pastor of the German Lutheran congregation in Cape Town. From 1882 until his retirement in 1884 he was the Cape Government's "Special Commissioner for the Walwich Bay
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...
Territory".
Linguistic works
While in Gross Barmen, Hahn learned to speak Otjiherero and translated the New TestamentNew Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and other religious texts into the language of the natives. He also drafted a grammar of Otjiherero and published its first dictionary. During his visit to Germany in 1873/74, University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
awarded a Doctor degree honoris causa
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
to Hahn for his research on the language of the Herero, although his domestic servant and interpreter, Urieta (Johanna Gertze) probably had a more than cursory role in the creation of his language studies and publications.
Family life
Carl Hugo Hahn married his wife Emma (néeNEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Hone, daughter of William Hone
William Hone
William Hone was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a turning point in the fight for British press freedom.-Biography:...
) on 3 October 1843. They had one daughter and three sons. After his retirement in 1884, Hahn visited his daughter Margaritha in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and later lived with his son Carl Hugo Hahn (Jr.) in Paarl
Paarl
Paarl is a town with 191,013 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its the third oldest European settlement in the Republic of South Africa and the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni township, it is now a de facto urban unit with Wellington...
, South Africa. He died in Cape Town on 24 November 1895 and is buried at St. Petri in Paarl.