||K H A U X A ! N A S, THE GREAT NAMIBIAN SETTLEMENT by KLAUS DIERKS
CASS/Namibia Project and Longman Namibia, Winhoek, 1992, original, spiral bound with clear acetate cover, printed on one side of the page only by a duplicating process, 152 pages, 22.5 cms x 30 cms, condition: very good.
ǁKhauxa!nas, or Schans Vlakte, is an 18th-century ruined fortress and former settlement in south-eastern Namibia, built by Klaas Afrikaner and his sons for protection against the Cape authorities. This extensive, walled settlement, constructed from local red sandstone, served as a hidden refuge for the Orlam Afrikaner clan and represents the oldest systematically designed structure in Namibia, pre-dating any European-built structures.
After fleeing the Cape Colony, the Orlam Afrikaner clan sought refuge and safety in the strategic location of ǁKhauxa!nas in the Great Karas Mountains. The settlement is a testament to the Orlam Afrikaners' process of state formation and their organized resistance to colonial powers. "The Great Namibian Settlement" refers to the significant role ǁKhauxa!nas played as a center of political and social life for the Orlam Afrikaners before the rise of other significant centers like Windhoek.
The author, Klaus Dierks, was a German-born Namibian deputy government minister, a transport planner and civil engineer in Namibia. In 1982 Dierks became a member of SWAPO rising to be a member of its Central Committee. In the 1980s he was forced to resign after 22 years of service. Dierks then started to write about Namibian history, "pursuing an academic war against the apartheid regime" by outlining the cultural and economic development of the area before the encroachment of European settlers and missionaries, a fact contested by the colonial regime. Dierks wrote a number of scientific publications including his doctorate on the development of an improved road system in Namibia and publications on history and the settlement of ǁKhauxaǃnas.
CONTENTS:
FROM STOLEN HISTORY TO THE REAL PAST
THE REDISCOVERY OF ||KHAUXA!NAS
THE HISTORY OF ||KHAUXA!NAS
THE DEFENSIVE PERIOD (ORLAM AFRIKANERS)
THE MISSIONARY PERIOD (||HAWOBEN)
THE ACTIVE PERIOD (THE !GAMI-#NUN AND JAKOB MARENGO)
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
VISITING THE ||KHAUXA!NAS RUINS
||KHAUXA!NAS IN THE CONTEXT OF NAMIBIAN HISTORY
EPILOGUE SELECTED AVAILABLE LITERATURE
