Lüderitz is a town in the
ǁKaras Region
The ǁKaras Region (pronounced , with a lateral click) is the southernmost and least densely populated of the 14 regions of Namibia; its capital is Keetmanshoop. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain rang ...
of southern
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and
Shark Island.
The town is known for its
colonial architecture
Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their ...
, including some
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
work, and for wildlife including
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
s,
penguin
Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
s,
flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...
s and
ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...
es. It is also home to a museum, and lies at the end of a decommissioned
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
to
Keetmanshoop. The town is named after
Adolf Lüderitz
Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz (16 July 1834 – end of October 1886) was a German merchant and the founder of German South West Africa, Imperial Germany's first colony. The coastal town of Lüderitz, located in the ǁKaras Region of southern N ...
, founder of the
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
colony.
Economy and infrastructure
The centre of Lüderitz' economic activity is the port, until the incorporation of the
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
in 1994 the only suitable harbour on Namibia's coast. However, the harbour at Lüderitz has a comparatively shallow rock bottom, making it unusable for many modern ships. The recent addition of a new
quay
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...
has allowed larger fishing vessels to dock at Lüderitz. The town has also re-styled itself in an attempt to lure tourists to the area, which includes a new
waterfront area for shops and offices.
Lüderitz is situated on the
B4 national road to
Keetmanshoop. It is also the terminus of the railway line to
Seeheim
Seeheim is a settlement in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. The only notable structures in Seeheim today are the hotel and the railway station; only a handful of people live there. Seeheim belongs to the Keetmanshoop Rural electoral const ...
where the railway connects to the rest of the country's network. This line, built by inmates of the concentration camp on Shark Island, was completed in 1908
but is currently not operational. Rebuilding of a remaining track gap to
Aus has been delayed since 2009.
Construction of a new port at
Shearwater Bay
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Description
These t ...
, south of Lüderitz, has been proposed for the export of coal from
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
with a railway connecting the two.
History
The bay on which Lüderitz is situated was first known to Europeans when
Bartolomeu Dias
Bartolomeu Dias ( 1450 – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lay in the o ...
encountered it in 1487. He named the bay ''
Angra Pequena
Angra may refer to:
Places
* Bay of Angra (Baía de Angra), within Angra do Heroísmo on the Portuguese island of Terceira in the archipelago of the Azores
* Angra do Heroísmo, a municipality in the Azores, Portugal
* Angra dos Reis, a municipa ...
'' ( pt, Small Bay) and erected a
padrão
A ''padrão'' is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. They were often placed on promontories and capes or at the mouths o ...
(stone cross) on the southern peninsula. In the 18th century Dutch adventurers and scientists explored the area in search of minerals but did not have much success. Further exploration expeditions followed in the early 19th century during which the vast wildlife in the ocean was discovered. Profitable enterprises were set up, including
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
,
seal hunting, fishing and
guano
Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
-harvesting. Lüderitz thus began its life as a
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
.
The town was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequena and some of the surrounding land on behalf of
Adolf Lüderitz
Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz (16 July 1834 – end of October 1886) was a German merchant and the founder of German South West Africa, Imperial Germany's first colony. The coastal town of Lüderitz, located in the ǁKaras Region of southern N ...
, a ''
Hanseat
The (, ''Hanseatics'') is a collective term for the hierarchy group (so called ''First Families'') consisting of elite individuals and families of prestigious rank who constituted the ruling class of the free imperial city of Hamburg, conjoint ...
'' from
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
in Germany, from the local
Nama chief
Josef Frederiks II
Joseph Frederiks II, Nama name: ǃKhorebeb-ǁNaixab (died 20 October 1893 in Bethanie) was a Captain of the ǃAman ( Bethanie Orlam), a subtribe of the Orlam. He became Captain when his uncle and stepfather David Christian Frederiks was killed in ...
in
Bethanie. On 7 August 1884 the German Flag was officially hoisted in Angra Pequena. When Adolf Lüderitz did not return from an expedition to the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...
in 1886, Angra Pequena was named ''Lüderitzbucht'' in his honour.
In 1905, German authorities established a
concentration camp on Shark Island. The camp, access to which was very restricted, operated between 1905 and 1907 during the
Herero Wars
The Herero Wars were a series of colonial wars between the German Empire and the Herero people of German South West Africa (present-day Namibia). They took place between 1904 and 1908.
Background Pre-colonial South-West Africa
The Hereros we ...
. Between 1,000 and 3,000 Africans from the
Herero and
Nama tribes died here as a result of the tragic conditions of forced labour. Their labour was used for expansion of the city, railway, port and on the farms of white settlers.
In 1909, after the discovery of
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s nearby, Lüderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity due to the development of a
diamond rush
A diamond rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area where diamonds were newly discovered. Major diamond rushes took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in South Africa and South-West Africa.
Diamond rushes by chron ...
to the area. In 1912 Lüderitz already had 1,100 inhabitants, not counting the indigenous population. Although situated in harsh environment between desert and Ocean, trade in the harbour town surged, and the adjacent diamond mining settlement of
Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for “Coleman's head”, german: Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in the Namib in southern Namibia, ten kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during ...
was built.
After the German
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
capitulation
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
took over the administration of
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
in 1915. Many Germans were deported from Lüderitz, contributing to its shrinking in population numbers. From 1920 onwards, diamond mining was only conducted further south of town in places like
Pomona and
Elizabeth Bay. This development consequently led to the loss of Lüderitz' importance as a trading place. Only small fishing enterprises, minimal dock activity and a few carpet weavers remained.
In an effort to remove colonial names from the maps of Namibia, on 8 August 2013 the Namibian government renamed the constituency ǃNamiǂNûs, its name prior to 1884.
Geography
Just outside Lüderitz lies the
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
of
Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for “Coleman's head”, german: Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in the Namib in southern Namibia, ten kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during ...
, a prominent tourist destination. This previously bustling diamond town is now abandoned, and fights a constant struggle against being buried under the shifting
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...
dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
s of the
Namib desert
The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Nami ...
.
Conservation
The coastline in the area is recognised by Bird Life and other global conservation groups as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for important coastal seabird breeding.
In April 2009, an
oil spill from an oil tanker risked hundreds of
African penguin
The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiff ...
s and other flora and fauna.
Several species of
cetaceans, most notably
Haviside's dolphin
Heaviside's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus heavisidii'') is one of four dolphins in the genus ''Cephalorhynchus''. The small cetacean is endemic to the Benguela ecosystem along the southwest coast of Africa.
Taxonomy and evolution
Nomenclature
E ...
s, can be seen close to the shore while larger whales such as
southern right,
humpback,
minke,
fin
A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...
,
pygmy right, are less common but gradually increasing in numbers.
Climate
Lüderitz has a
desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(''BWk'', according to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
), with moderate temperatures throughout the year. The average annual precipitation is . Windy and cold conditions can occur due to the cold
South Atlantic current
The South Atlantic Current is an eastward ocean current, fed by the Brazil Current. That fraction of it which reaches the African coast feeds the Benguela Current. It is continuous with the northern edge of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Th ...
on the coast.
Politics
Lüderitz is twinned with
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island.
The town is known for its colonial architecture, includ ...
in Germany, part of the town of
Tangerhütte
Tangerhütte () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It has a population of 10,612 (2020) and is situated on the river Tanger, approximately 20 km south of Stendal.
Geography
The town is situated near the rive ...
since 2010.
Lüderitz is governed by a town council that has seven seats.
The
2015 local authority election was won by
SWAPO
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
which gained six seats (2,679 votes). The remaining seat went to the
Democratic Turnhalle Alliance
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...
(DTA) with 265 votes. SWAPO also won the
2020 local authority election but lost majority control over the town council. SWAPO obtained 1,244 votes and gained three seats.
Independent Patriots for Change
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the November 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidat ...
(IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, gained 990 votes and two seats. One seat each went to the
Landless People's Movement
The Landless People's Movement was an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a histor ...
(LPM, a new party registered in 2018) with 515 votes and the
Popular Democratic Movement
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...
(PDM, the new name of the DTA since 2017) with 343 votes.
Culture
Media
Lüderitz has a local monthly newspaper, ''Buchter News''. The paper, which was started as a source of free English-language reading material, is run by volunteers from the British gap year charity Project Trust.
Sport
Lüderitz is home to the
Lüderitz Speed Challenge
The Lüderitz Speed Challenge is an annual speed sailing event, held since 2007 in Lüderitz, Namibia, during the southern hemisphere spring. It is observed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) and the International Sailing Federat ...
, the only international sporting event held in the town. This is an annual 6 week long speed sailing event held in October and November each year under the auspices of the
International Sailing Federation
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
(ISAF) World Sailing Speed Record Council (
WSSRC). The Event is the brainchild of French kitesurfer Sebastian Cattalan, who became the first sailor in history to break the 50 Knot barrier in the purpose built
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
with a speed of 50.26 Knots in 2008.
In 1984 Lüderitz was the starting point for explorer and sailor
Amyr Klink's successful solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean,
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
for 101 days all the way to the Brazilian coast with no other form of propulsion.
In October 2011, Turkish-born American adventurer
Erden Eruç
Erden Eruç (; born 14 July 1961) is a Turkish-American adventurer who became the first person in history to complete an entirely solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth on 21 July 2012 in Bodega Bay, California, United St ...
departed from Lüderitz Bay for the final ocean crossing of his Guinness world record-setting ''solo'' human-powered
circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circ ...
of the Earth.
Eruç rowed to South America in an oceangoing rowboat, taking five months for the crossing to the town of
Güiria
Güiria is the capital city of Valdez Municipality in the Venezuelan state of Sucre. Güiria was the place where the military campaign for South American independence set out to Upper Peru and also a starting point of the 1901 Venezuelan Civil W ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
Education
Previously, the German school
Deutsche Schule Lüderitzbucht was located in the city. In 1965 it had 13 teachers and 140 learners, and was supported by the German government. The town currently has 3 primary and 2 secondary schools: Diaz, Nautilus, and Helene van Rhijn Primary, and
Lüderitz Junior Secondary and
Angra Pequena Senior Secondary schools.
Landmarks
* Deutsche Afrika Bank building, erected 1907, national monument
* Felsenkirche ( en, Rock Church) on Diamond Hill, a church in
vertical gothic style consecrated in 1912. After the diamond rush of 1908 and the completion of the railway line to
Keetmanshoop Lüderitz became permanently home to a significant white population. As a result, a number of churches were built. Felsenkirche, one of the oldest
Lutheran church
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
es in Namibia, has been a national monument since 1978.
* Glück Auf building, built 1907/08 for a lawyer of the diamond companies, declared a national monument in 2014
[
* Goerkehaus, the residence of Hans Goerke, manager and co-owner of the early diamond umbrella company, erected 1909–1911,] national monument[
* Kreplinhaus, the residence of the first mayor, Emil Kreplin, built in 1909,] national monument[
* Krabbenhöft & Lampe building, after co-owners Friedrich Wilhelm Krabbenhöft and Oscar Lampe. The predecessor of this business, the ''Handelsstation F.W. Krabbenhöft'' in Keetmanshoop, existed since 1880 and was one of the first formally registered businesses in South West Africa. Erection of the building started in late 1909, and has been a national monument since 1979.]
* Lüderitz Railway Station, erected in 1904, is also a national monument.[
File:Görke-Haus_Lüderitz.jpg, Goerke Haus
File:Kapps-Ballsaal_Felsenkirche_Görke-Haus_Lüderitz.jpg, Kapps-Ballsaal with Felsenkirche and Goerke Haus in background
File:Bergstraße_Lüderitz.jpg, Bergstraße
File:Woermannhaus Lüderitz (2017).jpg, ''Woermannhaus'' (2017)
File:Lüderitz Robert Harbour and Islands, Namibia (2017).jpg, Lüderitz with Robert Harbour and Isles (2017)
]
See also
* Lüderitz Reformed Church
External links
References
Notes
Literature
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luderitz
Populated coastal places in Namibia
Towns in Namibia
Populated places in the ǁKaras Region
Port cities and towns in Namibia
1883 establishments in South West Africa
Populated places established in 1883