South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1966, and under South African occupation from 1966 to 1990. Renamed Namibia by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990.
The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous formerly Xiri-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony. Like the Boers they migrated inland from the Cape and in the 19th century established several states in what is now South Africa and Namibia. The Griqua consider themselves as being South Africa’s first multiracial nation with people descended directly from Dutch settlers in the Cape, and local peoples.
The Basters are a Southern African ethnic group descended from Cape Coloureds and Nama of Khoisan origin. Since the second half of the 19th century, the Rehoboth Baster community has been concentrated in central Namibia, in and around the town of Rehoboth. Basters are closely related to Afrikaners, Cape Coloureds, and Griquas of South Africa and Namibia, with whom they share a largely Afrikaner-influenced culture and Afrikaans language. Other groups of similar mixed ethnic origin, living chiefly in the Northern Cape, also refer to themselves as Basters.
Rehoboth is a town in the Hardap Region of central Namibia, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It had a population of 40,788 people in 2023.
Rehoboth was a homeland in South West Africa intended by the apartheid-era government to be a self-governing homeland for the Baster people in the area around the town of Rehoboth.
Hermanus Christoffel Beukes was a Coloured Namibian politician and activist. Beukes was a frequent petitioner of the United Nations because of Apartheid South Africa's actions while Namibia was held under its mandate.
Johannes Gerard Adolph Diergaardt, more commonly known as Hans Diergaardt was a Namibian politician active for nearly a decade after Namibia gained independence. Prior to that, he was elected as the fifth Kaptein of the then-autonomous Baster community at Rehoboth, succeeding Dr. Ben Africa in 1979 after winning a court challenge to the disputed election of 1976.
The Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN) was a political party based in Rehoboth, Namibia. It was created in the wake of Namibian independence in 1988 by a merger of several smaller parties and gained a seat in the Namibian Constituent Assembly. After also-ran results in 1994 and 1999 it ceased to be publicly active.
Coloured people in Namibia are people with both European and African, especially Khoisan and Bantu ancestry, as well as Indian, Malay, and Malagasy ancestry especially along the coast and areas bordering South Africa. Coloureds have immigrated to Namibia, been born in Namibia or returned to the country. These distinctively different periods of arrivals, from diverse backgrounds and origins have led to a diverse Coloured population. This diversity was even further exploited by South African officials who referred to three distinct groups amongst the coloureds, namely: "Baster", "Cape Coloureds" and "Namibian Coloureds".
Hermanus van Wyk (1835–1905) was the first Kaptein of the Baster community at Rehoboth in South-West Africa, today Namibia. Under his leadership, the mixed-race Basters moved from the Northern Cape to leave white racial discrimination, and migrated into the interior of what is now central Namibia; the first 30 families settled about 1870. They acquired land from local natives and were joined by additional Baster families over the following years. The Baster people developed their own constitution, called the Paternal Laws. They relied on the herding of sheep, goats and cattle as the basis of their economy.
Hermanus is a Latinized version of the Germanic masculine given name Herman. It and its less common variant Hermannus have been used in the Low Countries and South Africa as a birth name. Most people use a short form, like Herman, Harm, Harmen, and Manus. Hermanus also is a patronymic surname in South Africa. People with the name include:
Ben Africa is a Namibian politician, medical doctor, and former Baster captain.
Petrus "Piet" Matheus Junius was a Namibian politician who served as the Deputy Education Minister of the Interim Namibian Government from 1985 to 1989.
John McNab was a Namibian politician who served as Rehoboth Baster captain from 1999 until 2020.
The Rehoboth area, historically the Free Republic of Rehoboth is an unrecognized state in central Namibia, inhabited by the indigenous Baster people.
The Baster Council, is the parliament of the unrecognized state of the Rehoboth area in Namibia. It forms the legislature, or Volksraad, of Rehoboth together with the executive Captains Council (Kapteinsraad).
Cornelius van Wyk was the second Captain of the Rehoboth Baster, serving from 1914 until his death in 1924.
Albert Mouton was the third Captain of the Rehoboth Baster in South West Africa from 1924 to 1925.
David Jacobus "Dap" Izaaks (1932/1933–2005), also known as Oom Dap, was a Namibian Baster politician who served as Acting Captain of the Rehoboth Baster between February 1998 and January 1999. He also served as Mayor of Rehoboth.
The Rehoboth Uprising of 1924-25 was the bloodless revolt of the Rehoboth Baster against the South African Administration in South West Africa. The revolt was caused by diminishing Baster autonomy and territory, as a result of Administration policies.
