Germans in Natal
Two groups from Germany settled in what was then the British colony of Natal , part of today's KwaZulu-Natal ( South Africa ), in the 19th century , the Bergtheil colonists and the Hermannsburg missionaries .
In 1935, about 6250 people of German descent lived in Natal, and descendants of these immigrants still live in South Africa today.
The Bergtheil colonists
The recruiter
Jonas Bergtheil emigrated with 15 years in 1834 by Bavaria in the then Cape Colony out to his cousin Gabriel Killian, a living there grocer to help. In 1843, after the British annexation of the Boer Republic of Natalia , he traveled to Durban by ship pilot . After two years in Durban, he entered into a partnership with Philip Jacob Jung. The French settler Hipolyte Jargal joined them in 1846. In 1847 these three founded the Natal Cotton Company . It was believed that Natal would be a suitable place to grow cotton . They bought the 15,500 acre (63 km²) farm Wandsbeck from Edmund Morewood to grow cotton there. Bergtheil tried to find suitable settlers in England. There, unsuccessfully, he turned to Germany and found willing settlers in Bramsche in the Osnabrück region , as there was an economic crisis at the time.
The immigrants
On November 19, 1847, they sailed from Bremerhaven in the ship Bertha towards their new home. There were not only farmers there, but also craftsmen (two bricklayers , a carpenter , a straw-decker , a weaver , two shoemakers , a tailor , a wagon builder and two gardeners ) who were supposed to help build their new home. A doctor and a teacher were also part of the team.
This group was the first organized settler group from Europe to settle in Natal. A total of 35 families came, each of whom received a piece of land. 200 acres for cotton , 10 acres for vegetables , plus a plot of land for a house. The allocation of the land was determined by lot. Five families were given land in Westville (named after the then Lieutenant-Governor Martin West). The rest of them settled in what became known as Neudeutschland (now New Germany ).
The attempt to plant cotton ended up being unsuccessful for various reasons. However, all settlers decided to stay in their new home. They were now selling vegetables to nearby Durban . The early days were not easy because the quality of the soil was not the best and the harvests were often destroyed. Later, some of the settlers moved further inland and settled near Pietermaritzburg and New Hanover (now New Hanover ).
religion
As devout Lutherans , it was a great disappointment for the settlers that they did not have a pastor. In 1848, when Pastor Wilhelm Posselt from the Berlin Mission was in Pietermaritzburg, one of the settlers asked him if he might not hold a service with them. In the beginning, New Germany's church services were celebrated in a packing house. A year after their arrival, the settlers had built their first small church. The first Lutheran services in Westville were held outdoors or in a tent until they later built a small hall. This served as a church on Sundays and as a school during the week.
Today the churches of these two immigrant groups are united and form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (Natal-Transvaal).
The Hermannsburg Mission Society
The Hermannsburg Mission Society originally wanted to evangelize the Galla people in Ethiopia . After this failed, however, she settled in Natal in 1854 at the request of Pastor Posselt to convert the Zulu people . Neu Hermannsburg was established as the first mission station on the border between Natal and Zululand . From here further stations were established. Later they worked with the Tswana people at the request of the Boer government of the South African Republic .
Together with the missionaries, the society also sent colonists from Germany to help on the mission stations. Most of these settlers came from the Kingdom of Hanover , especially from the Lüneburg Heath and spoke Low German .
The settlers founded stations and villages whose names are reminiscent of Germany and the Reformation. In Zentralnatal, north of Pietermaritzburg, these were the places Hermannsburg , Wartburg , Harburg , Lilienthal and Neu Hannover. Christianenburg, Uelzen (near Glencoe), Verden-Elandskraal (near Dundee), Glückstadt, Bergen, Lüneburg and Braunschweig were founded in Northern Natal. The settlers Alfredia and Bethanien near Izotsha in southern Natal and Augsburg and Wittenberg in Mpumalanga (between Paulpietersburg and Piet Retief ).
schools
In New Germany, as in many other German settlements, a school was founded. It was opened in 1854 with 35 students. FW Freese was the first teacher at this school and his successor was J. Volek. In Volek's day, the school was considered Natal's best. The first school building was built in 1899.
The German School was founded in Hermannsburg in 1856 . One of her students was the future Boer general and Prime Minister Louis Botha . Today the private school is attended by around 200 students.
Some primary schools in the villages where the descendants of the settlers live offer German classes.
Museums
- The Bergtheil Museum in Westville (Durban), KwaZulu-Natal
- The old mission house in Hermannsburg
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Das Kluge Alphabet Volume 2, page 351, Propylaeen Verlag 1935