WINDHOEK

With over 200 000 inhabitants, Namibia's capital of Windhoek is the biggest city in the country. The attractive town lies at an altitude of 1650 meters in a beautiful valley bordered by the Eros Mountains in the north and the Auas mountains in the south. Towards the west, stretches the Khomas Highland to the Namib and the coast. Windhoek combines the modern city architectural style with that of the German colonial era.

The city is for an African town still very clean and a bit provincial, although the atmosphere does have cosmopolitan flare as well.

The influence of the German language and culture is, in many ways, still present. There are German restaurants where one can have traditional German dishes, bread and beer, and even celebrate the German carnival. Although English is the official language, one can use German just about anywhere.

The city centre of Windhoek lies on both sides of the Independence Avenue, and can be explored by foot. The busy main road (formerly known as the "Kaiserstrasse") starts at the Ausspannplatz in the south and stretches up to the former township Katutura in the north. Worth a visit are the "Tintenpalast" ("Ink Palace"), which houses Namibia's parliament, the Christuskirche (Christ Church) of the Lutheran parish from the year 1896, the "Reiterdenkmal" from 1912 and the "Alte Feste" (Old Fort); former headquarters of the Schutztruppe and today, Namibia's National Museum. Since 1997, the historical buildings of Windhoek are overshadowed by the monumental Supreme Court building. The city of Windhoek is traditionally known by two names: Ai-Gams, from the Nama people,which literally refers to the hot springs that were once part of Windhoek, while the second name, Otjomuise, meaning a place of steam, was given by the Herero people. Both traditional names reference the hot springs. The early settlements of Windhoek came about because of the water from the hot springs. In the mid-1800s Captain Jan Jonker Afrikaner settled near one of the main hot springs, located in the present-day Klein-Windhoek, an upper-class suburb of Windhoek.

The city is - for an African town - still very clean and a bit provincial, although the atmosphere does have cosmopolitan flare as well.

The influence of the German language and culture is, in many ways, still present. There are German restaurants where one can have traditional German dishes, bread and beer, and even celebrate the German carnival. Although English is the official language, one can use German just about anywhere. Theories vary on how Ai-Gams/Otjomuise got its modern name of Windhoek. Most believe the name Windhoek is derived from the Afrikaans word Wind-Hoek, meaning "corner of wind". It is also thought that the Afrikaners named Windhoek after the winterhoek Mountains, at Tubagh in South-Africa, where the early Afrikaner settlers had lived. In those days Windhoek was the point of contact between the warring Namas, led by Jan Jonker Afrikaner, and the Herero people.

In Windhoek, Afrikaners built a stone church that held 500 people, which was also used as a school. Two Rhenish missionaries, Hugo Hahn and Heinrich Kleinsmidt, started working there in the 1840s and were later succeeded by two Wesleyans. Gardens were laid out and for a while Windhoek prospered, but wars between the Nama and Herero eventually destroyed the town. After a long absence, Hahn visited Windhoek again in 1873 and was dismayed to see that nothing remained of the town's former prosperity. In June 1885, a Swiss botanist found only jackals and starving guinea fowl amongst neglected fruit trees.

In 1878, Britian annexed Walvis Bay and incorporated it into the Cape of Good Hope in 1884, but Britain did not extend its influence into the hinterland. A request by merchants from Luderitzbuch resulted in the declaration of a German protectorate over German West Africa in 1884.

The German colony came into being with the determination of its borders in 1890 and Germany sent a protective corps, called the Schutztruppe under Major Curt von Francois to maintain order. Von François stationed his garrison at Windhoek, which was strategically situated as a buffer between the Nama and Herero, while the twelve strong springs provided. Present-day Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890, when Von François fixed the foundation stone of the fort, which is now known as the Alte Feste (Old Fortress). During the next fourteen years Windhoek developed slowly, with only the most essential government and private buildings being erected. In Klein-Windhoek, plots were allocated to settlers, who started farming on a small scale with fruit, tobacco and dairy cattle. After 1907, development accelerated as people migrated from the countryside to the city and also some immigrated from outside the country. There was also a larger influx of European settlers arriving from Germany and South-Africa. Businesses were erected on Kaiser Street, present Independence Avenue, and along the dominant mountain ridge over the city, including the three eye-catching castles.

The German colonial era came to an end during World War 1 when South-African troops occupied Windhoek in May 1915 on behalf of the British Empire. For the next five years, a military government administered South West Africa. Development of the city of Windhoek and the nation later to be known as Namibia came to a virtual standstill.

After World War II, Windhoek's development gradually gained momentum, as more capital became available to improve the area's economic climate. After 1955, large public projects were undertaken, such as the building of new schools and hospitals, hardening of the city's roads (a project begun in 1928), and the building of dams and pipelines to finally stabilize the water supply.

With Namibia's independence from South-African administration in 1990, the city experienced accelerated growth and development. Windhoek became the seat of the first, democratically-elected government of the Republic of Namibia, headed by the president, Sam Nujoma. Windhoek is twinned with the German capital Berlin (since 2000), Trossingen, Germany and has a partnership with Wetzlar, Germany.