Swakopmund

Damaraland Etosha Park Fur Seals Okavango River Petroglyphs Sand Dunes Sesriem Canyon Swakopmund Walvis Bay Windhoek

Swakopmund

German Era Resettlement the Township

Photos from 1991

Swakopmund on the Atlantic

In northwestern Namibia, on the Atlantic coast about 20 miles (32 km) north of the port of Walvis Bay and 175 miles (280 km) west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. During the summer, in December and January, the territorial administration moves from Windhoek to Swakopmund, where the weather is somewhat cooler. It is the country's main seaside resort, fishing being a major attraction. The Swakopmund Museum, founded in 1951, has sections on natural history, mineralogy, marine life, and history and includes a small library. The Rössing uranium mine is near Swakopmund. Pop. (1988 est.) 15,500.

 

government building during German times

More Photos from 2011

By the turn of the century, German settlers had arrived, copper was minable, railway building from Swakopmund and Lüderitz was under way, and diamonds were soon discovered near Lüderitz. But from 1904 to 1907 a great war of resistance broke out, nearly expelling the Germans before it was quelled with extreme savagery by tactics including extermination, hangings, and forced detention in concentration camps.

 

monument to German soldiers

The Germans allocated about half of the usable—and apparently all of the best—ranchland (except that of the Rehoboth Basters) to settlers and restricted Africans to reserves. The Tsumeb copper and zinc mines opened in 1906, and diamond mining (more accurately, sand sifting) began near Lüderitz in 1908 and at the main fieldsat the mouth of the Orange River (Oranjemund) a few years later. Railways linked Lüderitz, Keetmanshoop, andWindhoek as well as Swakopmund, Windhoek, and Tsumeb.

Text from Encyclopedia Britannica
 

German style building

 

just like a German Gasthaus inside

 

 

German Lutheran Church

More German Era Photos from 2011

horizontal rule

Photos from 2011

 

 

former train station
now the Swakopmund Hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

African crafts

 

stored overnight in the containers behind

 

taking his display back to the container

 

 

adventures for the tourists

 

 

seaside restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

casino

 

 

 

low budget overnight stay

horizontal rule

German Era Resettlement the Township

Damaraland Etosha Park Fur Seals Okavango River Petroglyphs Sand Dunes Sesriem Canyon Swakopmund Walvis Bay Windhoek

Benin Botswana Cameroon Congo Egypt Ethiopia Gabon the Gambia Ghana Ivory Coast Kenya Libya Lesotho Mali Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zanzibar Zimbabwe

Return to Namibia page

World Heritage Mosaics Roman World Africa Antarctica Asia Atlantic Islands Australia Caribbean Central America Europe Indian Ocean Middle East North America Pacific Islands South America The Traveler Recent Adventures Adventure Travel

 

People and Places

horizontal rule