Neudamm is a farm and

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

in the

Khomas Region Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative subdivision. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superio ...

of central

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, situated east of

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

on the B6 to

Gobabis Gobabis (, ) is a town in eastern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Omaheke Region, and the district capital of the Gobabis electoral constituency. Gobabis is in the heart of the cattle farming area. It had a population of 33,418 peop ...

, close to Windhoek's

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

. The entire area is today a campus of the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, and the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the following fac ...

for agricultural education and experimental farming. The first mention of a farm in this area is recorded from 1897 when a grazing license was returned to the

German South West Africa German South West Africa () 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. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

n authorities due to the lack of water in this area. During the Herero and Nama War 1904–1907, livestock confiscated by the

Imperial German (, literally translated ) is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the German ', i.e., Imp ...

troops was held here, and the first large dam in the territory was built. The dam gave the settlement and the farm its name (: New dam). An experimental farm was established at Neudamm in 1907, a post office was opened in the same year and was operational until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The farm was upgraded to an agricultural research station in 1911. At this time, research was carried out at the station on practical questions of arable farming, in particular comparative cultivation trials with cereals and fodder plants, and trials with the

dryland farming Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical ...

method. The results were published in ''Landwirtschaft!'', a supplement to the official gazette for German South West Africa. Agricultural education at Neudamm was established in 1928. In 1938 a hostel and a classrom was built, and Gammams Agricultural School was relocated from Windoek to Neudamm. At that time, a karakul breeding programme was running at Neudamm. The railway line from

was commissioned in 1930. Neudamm Railway Station is situated on this line. The Agricultural School was closed in 1941 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1955 Neudamm Agriculture College was established. The old installations from the 1930s are since called "Old Neudamm" and house Neudamm Experimental Farm. In 1996 the agricultural college was incorporated into the

. It since forms the Neudamm Campus of the university.

References

{{coord, 22, 30, 17, S, 17, 22, 09, E, display=title Populated places in the Khomas Region Populated places established in 1907 1907 establishments in German South West Africa Farms in Namibia University of Namibia Research institutes in Namibia Research institutes established in 1911