Hendrik Witbooi, Chief of the Nama, dies

Hendrik Witbooi was born into a prominent Nama family in 1830. He was educated at a Lutheran Mission and was fluent in a number of European languages, as well as his own Nama. Witbooi's grandfather and father were both chiefs of the Nama group, which was a title that Hendrik inherited upon the death of this father. After a number of skirmishes with the Herero, Witbooi led his faction of the Nama group to the north of the country, which became known as South West Africa with the German colonization of 1885. A number of rebellions were staged against German rule, one of which resulted in the Herero Genocide of 1904. The Witbooi Namas also came into conflict with the Germans. Initially serving as soldiers under the Germans for three years during the Herero Revolt, they eventually rebelled. On 29* October 1905, Hendrik Witbooi died in a skirmish with the Germans near Keetmanshoop. The rest of the Witbooi Namas surrendered in 1908. *A different source gives 28 October 1905 as the date of death.