History of Bondelswart rebellion
The Antiquarian online auction of collectible books and historical maps ended on Thursday.
On offer was The Last Tribal War by R Freislich, a history of the 1922 Bondelswart uprising at Warmbad, South West Africa (Namibia). The book, published by Struik, Cape Town in 1964, had a $40 reserve price.
The Bondelswarts, of mixed Nama and Herero origin, lived in the Warmbad district in the southern region of South West Africa. The land, known as the Sandveld, was given to them by the Union Government after the First World War. They described it as “a desert where no human being has ever lived before”.
In 1922, the Bondelswarts refused to pay a hunting-dog tax. (Some historians say they rebelled against changes made to the borders of their reserve).
The Bondelswarts pointed out that hunting was their only means of survival after they had lost their land and livestock to encroaching settlers.
When the tribe took up a defensive position, government forces moved in. According to 500 Years of South African History edited by Prof CEJ Muller, an expedition of 370 men was sent to dislodge them. Aircraft of the South African Air Force were dispatched to bomb and strafe the rebels, killing more than 100.
The opposition party accused Prime Minister Jan Smuts of using excessive force.
Of special interest is a small map or chart of Saldanha Bay from the second volume of John Luffman’s multivolume select plans of the principal cities, harbours and forts in the world, published in London between 1801 and 1803. Luffman was an engraver, publisher and goldsmith working out of London who produced a number of publications with maps.
The annotation below the chart records not only the suitability of Saldanha Bay as a natural harbour, but also a littleremembered episode in the history of the Cape. Soon after the first British occupation in 1795, the Dutch Batavian Government set about trying to recapture the Cape. It sent a small expeditionary force under Rear-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas.
The voyage took nearly six months, after which the diseased crew was in a mutinous mood. The British knew of the intended attack and were prepared. Lucas was forced to capitulate to one General Craig who was in charge of the British forces at the time.
The chart of Saldanha Bay (reserve price $75) was engraved on a copper plate, printed and hand-coloured for his 1801 publication.