Rehoboth, Namibia

This article is about the town in Namibia. For other uses

of the term, see Rehoboth.

Rehoboth is a town of 21,000 inhabitants in central

Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located
90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek,
Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several
natural hot-water springs. It receives sparse mean an-
nual rainfall of 240 millimetres (9.4 in), although in
the 2010/2011 a record 731 millimetres (28.8 in) were
measured.[2] In 2005, it had a population of 21,378.
Rehoboth is intersected from north to south by the na-
tional road B1, which also serves as the border of the
two electoral constituencies in the town, Rehoboth Urban
West and Rehoboth Urban East. Rehoboth is the core ter-
ritory of the Baster community which still lives according
to their Paternal Laws which were enacted in 1872.
Stamps for German South West Africa postmarked Rehoboth
1901
1 Administration
the resident Nama (Khoikhoi).[3] In 1864, the Nama
Administratively, Rehoboth is classified as a town with
abandoned the area as a result of an attack by the Orlam
its own council of 7 elected individuals. Rehoboth is di-
Afrikaners.[4]
vided into eight neighbourhoods, called blocks. The old-
est part of the town is blocks A, B and C, whereby block In 1870, the Basters, who had migrated out of the Cape
B contains most public services and shops. Block D is Colony in 1868 moved into the territory and were granted
home to the wealthiest inhabitants of the town. Block permission to settle at Rehoboth[5] by the participants
E is the poorest neighbourhood and was originally (un- of the peace conference of Okahandja on 23 Septem-
der Apartheid) designated for blacks. Blocks F,G and H ber 1870. Within a few years, the Basters were closely
are the newest neighbourhoods. The current mayor of the linked to the town of Rehoboth and became identified
town is Mr. Pieters living in Block E. as Rehoboth Basters or Rehobothers. The population in-
creased rapidly from an initial number of 333 in 1870,
Public amenities include a public hospital, primary and
800 in 1874 and 1500 by 1885. The growing Baster pop-
secondary schools and a district court with resident mag-
ulation settled in the surrounding areas, which would be-
istrate. The Oanob Dam, approximately six kilometres
come known as the Rehoboth Gebiet (“Gebiet": German:
from Rehoboth, supplies the town with fresh water. The
area).
majority of the population consists of Basters.
In 1885, Baster Kaptein Hermanus van Wyk signed a
'Treaty of Protection and Friendship' with the German
2 History Empire which permitted him to retain a degree of au-
tonomy in exchange for recognising colonial rule. Re-
lations between Rehoboth and Germany remained close
Until the 19th century the area of the present day Re- for more than twenty years but in 1914, following the
hoboth town was inhabited by Nama (Khoikhoi) groups outbreak of World War I, Germany’s use of Baster sol-
who called it ǃAnis meaning smoke; referring to the cloud diers to guard South African prisoners - contrary to the
of condensed water vapour hanging over the hot springs terms of their enlistment - led to armed revolt. Ger-
in the morning. man forces then attacked Rehoboth, committed atrocities
The missionary Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt of the against Baster civilians and attacked refugees encamped
German Rhenish Missionary Society named the place upon the mountain of Sam Khubis, but, despite repeated
Rehoboth in 1845, when a mission was established among attacks and the use of superior weaponry, were unable

1
2 6 EXTERNAL LINKS

[6] “Sam Khubis”. rehobothbasters.com. Retrieved 25 April

2012.

6 External links
• Rehoboth Basters Site
• Rehoboth Town Profile 2005 Published by the Town
Council
• Video of Rehoboth Town with traditional music by
Reho Combo
Rehoboth in 1908
Coordinates: 23°19′S 17°05′E / 23.317°S 17.083°E
to destroy the Basters’ position. On the following day
the Germans retreated and Rehoboth’s Baster community
was reprieved.[6]
Namibia was occupied by South Africa in 1915 and, ten
years later, a second rebellion broke out at Rehoboth.
This revolt collapsed, however, when colonial forces,
armed with machine guns and supported by two war-
planes, marched into the town and arrested more than 600
people.

3 Transport
The town is served by Rehoboth railway station. There
is also a private landing strip, for small aircraft near the
Oanob Dam. To the west is Gamsberg Nature Reserve.

4 Notable residents
• Hermanus Beukes, early petitioner for Namibian in-
dependence

5 References
[1] “Table 4.2.2 Urban population by Census years (2001 and
2011)". Namibia 2011 - Population and Housing Census
Main Report. Namibia Statistics Agency. p. 39. Retrieved
10 September 2013.

[2] Menges, Werner (26 May 2011). “Rainy season was one
for the record books”. The Namibian.

[3] “Rehoboth, Namibia”. Namibia 1-on-1. Retrieved 21

February 2011.

[4] Dierks, Klaus. “Chronologie der namibischen Geschichte,

1864” [Chronology of Namibian History, 1864] (in Ger-
man). Klaus Dierks. Retrieved 21 February 2011.

[5] Shiremo, Shampapi (26 May 2011). “Hermanus van

Wyk: The ‘Biblical Moses’ of the Rehoboth Baster Com-
munity”. New Era.
 3

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text
• Rehoboth, Namibia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehoboth%2C%20Namibia?oldid=621746385 Contributors: Warofdreams, Sj,
Roisterer, D6, Acntx, Giraffedata, Mikenassau, Woohookitty, Tabletop, Josh Parris, YurikBot, RobotE, Zandberg, RussBot, Tfine80, Es-
kimbot, Hmains, MalafayaBot, Namiba, Sadalmelik, Thijs!bot, Dr. Blofeld, The Anomebot2, Broadbot, SieBot, DumZiBoT, Pgallert, Wik-
Head, MystBot, Addbot, Tide rolls, Xenobot, Sandbank, Luckas-bot, Naudefjbot, Ulric1313, Xqbot, Miltonlouw, Baldini2008, Wensey,
TamsynGertze, Underlying lk, EmausBot, ZéroBot, Jørdan, Helpful Pixie Bot, Arche-foto, Aliwal2012 and Anonymous: 17

7.2 Images
• File:Flag_of_Namibia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_Namibia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Namibia_location_map.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Namibia_location_map.svg License:
CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Transferred from de.wikipedia; transfer was stated to be made by User:Uwe Dedering.
Original artist: Uwe Dedering. Original uploader was Uwe Dedering at de.wikipedia
• File:Red_pog.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Red_pog.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
• File:Rehoboth_Namibia_1908.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Rehoboth_Namibia_1908.jpg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: http://www.rehobothbasters.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=39
Original artist: ?
• File:Rehoboth_stamp_1901.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Rehoboth_stamp_1901.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: scan stamp Original artist: Unknown

7.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0