Zacharias Lewala

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Zacharias Lewala (life dates unknown) is considered to be the one whose discovery of a rough diamond on what is now the northern border of the diamond restricted area in what was then German South West Africa, now Namibia , triggered a diamond rush in this area.

Life

Lewala came from southern Africa and was a worker in a diamond mine in Kimberley , where he gained experience in spotting rough diamonds. Later he worked under his superior August Stauch on the maintenance of the Lüderitz railway . When he was shoveling away drift sand near the Grasplatz train station near Kolmanskop on April 10, 1908 , he discovered several stones in which he suspected diamonds. He gave this to Stauch and is said to have said: "Look, Mister, moy Klip (beautiful stone)." Stauch sent it to Swakopmund for analysis and then secured a claim in the area. As a result, Stauch made a fortune.

Comparatively little is known about Lewala, as historiography is more interested in the German Stauch, whose activities are better documented. Zora del Buono comments in an article in Der Spiegel : “Lewala's name went down in history, but not much more, the man had nothing from his find, nobody paid him for it or showed his appreciation, others did big business, and fast. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert A. Hill (Ed.): The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers . Berkeley, University of California Press 1995. ISBN 0-520-20211-2 , p. 403.
  2. ↑ Harald Stutte / Berliner Zeitung: Rise and fall of the city of Kolmannskuppe . http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/vor-hund-jahren-entdeckten-die-deutschen-kolonialherren-in-namibias-wueste-diamanten--der-boom-war-nicht-von-zeit-aufstieg -and-fall-der-Stadt-Kolmannskuppe, 10810590,10549940.html
  3. ↑ Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid , p. 144.
  4. ^ Zora del Buono: Lüderitz in Namibia. German ghosts in the southwest . http://www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/0,1518,739185-3,00.html

literature

  • Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid. The German population group in South West Africa 1915-1965 . Berlin / Münster, Lit 2007. ISBN 978-3-8258-0225-7 .
  • Olga Levinson: Diamonds in the Desert. The Story of August Stauch and His Times . Windhoek, Kuiseb Verlag 2009. ISBN 978-3-936858-78-5 .

Web links

  • Birgit Magiera: April 10, 1908: Zacharias Lewala triggers diamond fever , at www.br.de (accessed on June 7, 2016).
personal data
SURNAME Lewala, Zacharias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trigger of the diamond rush in Namibia
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
DATE OF DEATH 20th century