Discover Windhoek, Most Beautiful and Visited City in Namibia
Hello Displorers, welcome to another informative video presented to you by Displore and thanks for watching. In today’s video, we shall explore Namibia’s most beautiful and visited city, Windhoek.Windhoek is the capital and largest city of Namibia located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau. The population of Windhoek is estimated to be 431,000 as of 2020 which is growing continually due to an influx from all over Namibia. The city has thrived from being a small pastoral settlement into becoming one of the most beautiful and visited cities in Africa and in this video, we shall examine the city’s evolution from discovery to modern day Windhoek. But then, let us first of all know where it gets its peculiar name from.
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Theories vary on how the place got its modern name of Windhoek. Most believe it is derived from the Afrikaans word wind-hoek translated ‘wind corner’. Another theory suggests that Captain Jonker Afrikaner named Windhoek after the Winterhoek Mountains at Tulbagh in South Africa, where his ancestors had lived. The first known mention of the name Windhoek was in a letter from Jonker Afrikaner to Joseph Tindall, dated 12 August 1844.
Pre-colonial
In 1840, Jonker Afrikaner established an Orlam settlement at Windhoekwhere he and his followers stayed near one of the main hot springs, located in the present-day Klein Windhoek suburb. He built a stone church that held 500 people which was also used as a school. Two Rhenish missionaries, Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, started working there in late 1842. Two years later they were driven out by two Methodist Wesleyans, Richard Haddy and Joseph Tindall. Gardens were laid out and for a while Windhoek prospered. But Wars between the Nama and Herero peoples eventually destroyed the settlement leaving on a shell of its former self. After a long absence, Hahn visited Windhoek again in 1873 and was dismayed to see that nothing remained of the town's former prosperity. In June 1885, a Swiss botanist found only jackals and starving guinea fowl amongst neglected fruit trees and that is how they moved in.
Colonial Era
A request by merchants from Lüderitzbucht resulted in the declaration of a German protectorate over what was called German South West Africa, which is today Namibia in 1884. The borders of the German colony were determined in 1890 and Germany sent a protective corps, the Schutztruppe under Major Curt von François, to maintain order. Von François stationed his garrison at Windhoek, which was strategically situated as a buffer between the Nama and Herero peoples. The twelve strong springs provided water for the cultivation of produce and grains.
Colonial Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890, when von François fixed the foundation stone of the fort, which is now known as the Alte Feste or Old Fortress. After 1907, development accelerated as indigenous people migrated from the countryside to the growing town to seek work. More European settlers arrived from Germany and South Africa. Businesses were erected on Kaiser Street presently Independence Avenue, and along the dominant mountain ridge over the city. At this time, Windhoek's three castles, Heinitzburg, Sanderburg, and Schwerin burg, were built.
South African Administration After World War I
The German colonial era came to an end after the end of World War I but South West Africa, and with-it Windhoek, already fell in 1915. Until the end of the war the city was administered by a South African military government, and no further development occurred. In 1920, after the Treaty of Versailles, the territory was placed under a League of Nations Class C mandate and again administered by South Africa.After World War II more capital became available to improve the area's economy. After 1955, large public projects were undertaken, such as the building of new schools and hospitals, tarring of the city's roads, and the building of dams and pipelines to stabilise the water supply. The city introduced the world's first potable re-use plant in 1958, treating recycled sewage and sending it directly into the town's water supply. On 1 October 1966 the then Administrator of South West Africa granted Windhoek the coat of arms, which was registered on 2 October 1970 with the South African Bureau of Heraldry. Initially a stylized aloe was the principal emblem, but this was amended to a natural aloe on 15 September 1972. The Coat of Arms is described as "A Windhoek aloe with a raceme of three flowers on an island.Windhoek formally received its town privileges on 18 October 1965 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the second foundation of the town by von François.Since independence in 1990, Windhoek has remained the national capital
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