Pniel was a

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

established by the

Berlin Missionary Society The Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) (German: ''Berliner Missionsgesellschaft'' (BMG)) was a Berlin-based German Protestant (Lutheran) Christianity, Christian missionary society, active from 1824 to 1972 in South Africa, East Africa and China. In 197 ...

on the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Oce ...

between modern

Barkly West Barkly West is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the north bank of the Vaal River west of Kimberley. Establishment and naming Barkly West was initially known as ''Klip Drift'' (sometimes written as Klipdrift). This ...

and

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, in 1845.Schoeman, K. 1985. ''Die huis van die armes: die Berlynse Sendinggenootskap in die OVS, 1833-1869'', pp 67-76

Establishment and early history

The Pniel Mission was established in 1845 by the Reverend

August Wilhelm Winter August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

, after exploratory expeditions from the

(BMS) station at

Bethanie Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate of Palestine, bordering East ...

. The missionaries had negotiated setting up a station with the Korana leader, Jan Bloem jnr. Winter withdrew owing to ill health and was replaced by the Revd Ludwick Zerwick from Bethanie and Brother Nikolaas Meyfarth. The

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

claimed sovereignty over Pniel, and President

Johannes Brand Sir Johannes Henricus Brand, (popularly known as Sir Jan Brand and sometimes as Sir John Henry Brand or Jan Henrick Brand; 6 December 1823 – 14 July 1888) was a lawyer and politician who served as the fourth President (government title), ...

appointed a landrost to preside over it. A school, a courthouse and a prison were built, and the Free State

Volksraad The Volksraad was a people's assembly or legislature in Dutch or Afrikaans speaking government. Assembly South Africa * Volksraad (South African Republic) (1840–1902) * Volksraad (Natalia Republic), a similar assembly that existed in the Natalia ...

passed legislation to regulate the activities on alluvial diggings. In 1847 an outstation was established at an old Wesleyan mission site at Platberg near the modern Warrenton, with the Revd Winter (now recovered) in charge. By 1851, however, Winter had retired yet again, choosing to return to Germany with his family, and was replaced by August Schmidt and F.W. Salzman.

Prominent individuals associated with the mission

* Carl Wuras - missionary at Bethanie who directed the work at Pniel. * Richard Miles - Tswana catechist, probably at Pniel in the late 1860s/early 1870s..Richard Miles: Motswana preacher "to the native tribes beyond the border
*

Sol Plaatje Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (9 October 1876 – 19 June 1932) was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. Plaatje was a founding member and first General Secretary of the South African Native Natio ...

- the

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu languages, Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Tswanaland, ...

author and first secretary of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

. * August Winter - BMS missionary and father of

Johannes August Winter Johannes August Winter (17 December 1847 – 7 April 1921) was a German Lutheran missionary for the Berlin Missionary Society (BMS) who played an important role in the formation of the Lutheran Bapedi Church in South Africa at the turn of the 1 ...

References

{{Reflist Kimberley, Northern Cape Christian missions in South Africa