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HereroThe Herero are a people belonging to the Bantu group of about 120.000 today. The majority among them lives in Namibia, whereas some live in Botswana or Angola. Most of them are employed as workers on large farms or earn their living as merchants or tradesmen in the cities. A subgroup among them is known as the Himba or Ova-Herero. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Herero migrated to what is today Namibia from the east and established themselves as herdsmen. In the beginning of the 19th century, the Nama from South Africa, who already possessed some firearms, entered the land, only to be followed in turn by white merchants and mostly German missionaries. At first, the Nama began to displace the Herero, but later both peoples entered into a period of cultural exchange. During the late 19th century, the first Europeans planning to permanently settle entered the land. Primarily in Damaraland, German settlers acquired land from the Herero in order to establish farms; in 1883, the merchant Franz Adolf Eduard Lderitz entered into a contract with native elders which later was to become the basis of German colonial rule. The territory became a German colony under the name of German South-West Africa. Soon after, conflicts between German colonists and Herero herdsmen began; controversies frequently arose because of disputes about access to land and water, but also the legal discrimination of the native population by the white immigrants. In 1904, those conflicts resulted in an uprising by the Herero and Nama. (Interestingly enough, the uprising was planned in an exchange of letters among tribal leaders; some of the documents have been preserved.) After a period success for the well-equipped insurgents, the German Empire sent a military expedition corps of about 15000 men under the command of Lothar von Trotha. The war and the subsequent genocide ordered by von Trotha resulted in the death of between 25000 and 100000 (possibly 65000) Hereros, about 10000 Nama and 1749 Germans. Since the insurgents had been ordered not to harm priests, clerics were falsely accused of collaboration and sometimes taken into custody. At the 100th anniversary of the massacre, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul commemorated the dead on site and apologized for the genocide on behalf of all Germans. Also see
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