New Germany, KwaZulu-Natal

Last updated
New Germany
South Africa KwaZulu-Natal location map.svg
Red pog.svg
New Germany
South Africa adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
New Germany
Coordinates: 29°48′S30°53′E / 29.800°S 30.883°E / -29.800; 30.883
CountrySouth Africa
Province KwaZulu-Natal
Municipality eThekwini
Main Place Pinetown
Area
[1]
  Total9.13 km2 (3.53 sq mi)
Population
 (2001) [1]
  Total12,592
  Density1,400/km2 (3,600/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
[1]
   Black African 37.9%
   Coloured 2.5%
   Indian/Asian 5.4%
   White 54.2%
First languages (2001)
[1]
  English56.8%
   Zulu 32.8%
   Afrikaans 5.2%
   Xhosa 2.5%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
3610
PO box
3620

New Germany is an industrial town situated just inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It has been incorporated firstly into Pinetown and now into eThekwini. Originally Neu-Deutschland and subsequently translated, the name refers to settlement of the area by German immigrants in 1848. [2] They came over to farm cotton, but when that crop proved unsuccessful, the settlers turned to growing vegetables and flowers. The town became a municipality in 1960.

Contents

Vehicle registration plates in New Germany start with NU - N for Natal, U for Upper Highway; New Germany does not necessarily form part of the Upper Highway Area which extends between Kloof and Botha’s Hill.

History

Natal's first German community owed its existence to the immigration scheme of an English Jew, [3] Jonas Bergtheil, who arrived in Natal in 1843 and established the Natal Cotton Company three years later. Bergtheil saw the potential of European settlement along the coast and approached the British colonial office for immigrants. When first the British and then the Bavarian governments rejected his plans, he turned to the Kingdom of Hanover for support. Thirty-five peasant families (about 188 people) from the Osnabrück-Bremen district accepted his offer and arrived in Natal on 23 March 1848. They were settled in two adjacent areas roughly 10 km inland from Port Natal and called their new homes Neu-Deutschland (New Germany) and Westville.

Bergtheil's cotton scheme failed after the first two crops were ravaged by bollworm. Furthermore, the ginning machinery he had ordered from England never arrived. The settlers soon abandoned cotton in favour of market gardening, and when their five-year contracts with Bergtheil ended many did not renew them. The fledgling community may well have foundered within a generation since the immigrants did not maintain contact with Germany and had no vision of a distinctly German community. The arrival of a Berlin missionary ensured that the language and religion would continue for the time being.

Pastor Carl Wilhelm Posselt (1815–85) agreed to care for the congregation in New Germany, where he consecrated the first chapel of the Berlin Missionary Society in South Africa on 19 November 1848. He conducted mission work among the Zulu farm labourers and in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, and in 1854 established a second station, Christianenberg, for this purpose. He also taught Scripture in the little German school which the settlers had established. In 1852 the congregation was briefly moved to Emmaus because of famine on the coast and declining numbers of settlers. Bergtheil succeeded in stemming the flow of Germans into the interior, and in 1854 Posselt returned to New Germany where he continued as missionary and pastor until his death in 1885. [4]

Geography

The town consists of an industrial area bounded on two sides by Otto Volek Road and Shepstone Road, as well as a large hilly residential area whose main arterial roads are Sander Road and Glamis Avenue (eastern boundary), and Bohmer Road and Bosse Street (western boundary). Neighbouring suburbs are Padfield Park, Manors, Wyebank, and Clermont.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KwaZulu-Natal</span> Province in South Africa

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Trek</span> 1836–1852 Boer migrations away from the British Cape Colony

The Great Trek was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's original European settlers, known collectively as Boers, and the British Empire. It was also reflective of an increasingly common trend among individual Boer communities to pursue an isolationist and semi-nomadic lifestyle away from the developing administrative complexities in Cape Town. Boers who took part in the Great Trek identified themselves as voortrekkers, meaning "pioneers", "pathfinders" in Dutch and Afrikaans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boer republics</span> Former countries in southern Africa

The Boer republics were independent, self-governing republics formed by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north-eastern and eastern parts of present-day South Africa. Two of the Boer Republics achieved international recognition and complete independence: the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The republics did not provide for the separation of church and state, initially allowing only the Dutch Reformed Church, and later also other Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition. The republics came to an end after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which resulted in British annexation and later incorporation of their lands into the Union of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andries Pretorius</span> South African politician (1798–1853)

Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the South African Republic, as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic, in present-day South Africa. The large city of Pretoria, executive capital of South Africa, is named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Republic</span> Former country in Southern Africa

The Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic founded in 1839 after a Voortrekker victory against the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River. The area was previously named Natália by Portuguese sailors, due to its discovery on Christmas. The republic came to an end in 1843 when British forces annexed it to form the Colony of Natal. After the British annexation of the Natalia Republic, most local Voortrekkers trekked northwest into Transorangia, later known as the Orange Free State, and the South African Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estcourt</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Estcourt is a town in the uThukela District of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The main economic activity is farming with large bacon and processed food factories situated around the town. The N3 freeway passes close to the town, linking it to the rest of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottburgh</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Scottburgh is a coastal resort town located along the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It situated south of the mouth of the Mpambanyoni River (confuser of birds).

Westville is an area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and is just west and 10 km inland from the Durban CBD. It was a formerly independent municipality however it became part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nutbush, Tennessee</span> Unincorporated community in Tennessee, United States

Nutbush is a rural unincorporated community in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States, in the western part of the state, approximately 50 miles northeast of Memphis. It was established in the early 19th century by European-American settlers who bought enslaved African Americans to develop the area's cotton plantations. The houses and churches that were built during this time still stand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colony of Natal</span> British colony from 1843 to 1910

The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its provinces. It is now the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick King</span> British businessman and colonist (1811–1871)

Richard Philip King (1811–1871) was an English trader and colonist at Port Natal, a British trading station in the region now known as KwaZulu-Natal. He is best known for a historic horseback ride in 1842, where he completed a journey of 960 kilometres (600 mi) in 10 days, to request help for the besieged British garrison at Port Natal. In recognition of his heroic deeds, a statue was unveiled in Durban portraying himself riding his horse 'Sunny’. Additionally, he was bestowed with an estate in Isipingo. Several prominent landmarks in Durban, including the Kings Park Rugby Stadium, Kingsmead Cricket Stadium, the former soccer stadium, and Kingsway High School, were named in his honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelm Gueinzius</span> German naturalist, collector and apothecary

Wilhelm Gueinzius was a German naturalist, collector and apothecary.

Jacob Ludwig Döhne, from the Berlin Missionary Society, who was responsible for compiling A Zulu-Kafir Dictionary after spending twenty years documenting the language and dialects. He also translated the New Testament into Xhosa and Zulu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Wilhelm Posselt</span>

Karl/Carl Wilhelm Posselt, was a German missionary from the Berlin Missionary Society and was active in South Africa where he became known as "the missionary with the violin".

Hermannsburg is a small hamlet located in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It is home to the Hermannsburg School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Lindley</span>

Daniel Lindley was an American missionary in South Africa. He and his wife Lucy founded the Inanda Seminary School in 1869. Lindley was pastor to the first Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State. He was a pastor to the Voortrekkers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lüneburg, KwaZulu-Natal</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Lüneburg is a farming community in eDumbe Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

German South Africans refers to South Africans who have full or partial German heritage.

The Zulu Congregational Church is a Congregational Church in South Africa.

Johann Heinrich Christoph Johannes was born on 16 August 1852 in the Lower Saxony state, Germany and died on 13 September 1943, in the Eastern Transvaal South Africa He was a missionary in eNyathi, Colony of Natal, South Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Main Place New Germany". Census 2001.
  2. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 333.
  3. "Jonas Bergtheil".
  4. Hans-Juergen Oschadleus,: "Lutherans, Germans, Hermannsburgers." Natalia No.22, Dec.1992, pp.30-31, (www.natalia.org.za)