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Otjimbingwe
Otjizingue | |
|---|---|
 Rhenish Missionary Church in Otjimbingwe | |
  Otjimbingwe Location in Namibia | |
| Coordinates: 22°21′27″S 16°7′43″E / 22.35750°S 16.12861°E | |
| Country |  Namibia |
| Region | Erongo Region |
| Population (2016) | |
| • Total | 8,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (South African Standard Time) |
Otjimbingwe (also: Otjimbingue) is a settlement[1] in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. Otjimbingwe has approximately 8,000 inhabitants and belongs to the Karibib electoral constituency.
Otjimbingwe was an important settlement in South West Africa. In the 1860s the Herero people, facing an imminent attack from the Nama people, united here and elected Maharero first their military commander, and later their first paramount chief. Situated on the Old Bay Road, an ox wagon track leading from Windhoek to Walvis Bay, the settlement was also an economic and cultural centre. Karl Johan Andersson had his trading headquarters here, the Augustineum seminary was situated in town, and it hosted the headquarters of the Rhenish Mission Society. When the territory became the German colony of German South West Africa, Otjimbingwe was the de facto capital.
At the end of the 19th century the settlement began to lose its importance. The Augustineum was relocated to Okahandja, the German administration moved to Windhoek, and the railway between Swakopmund and Windhoek, built 1900, bypassed Otjimbingwe.
- ^ "Settlement Areas". Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Republic of Namibia. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.