MAPPING THE NAMIB DESERT: THE EXAMPLE OF THE �BERGRECHTSKARTE� OF 1920

Jana Moser Saxon Academy of Sciences Leipzig, jana.moser@t-online.de

The largest territory and mines company of the German colony South West Africa (today�s Namibia), the �Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika� (DKGfSWA), was invited by the Gouvernment to carry out extensive land surveys in their territory. Between late 1890th and 1915 company owned land surveyors did a lot of route-mappings, triangulations, cadastral and mine surveys. On the basis of the material of about 15 year survey work the company decided to produce a map series that should cover large parts of the territory. Under direction of the companies geologist Dr. Reuning the maps were drawn since 1915 by the only trained cartographer of German South West Africa Albert Max Hofmann. Up to 1921 about 15 sheets of the so-called �Bergrechtskarte� with a scale of 1:200 000 were finished and some others commenced. Today the series can be found in four different production stages: draft, correction, fair copy and proof. The versions give the unique chance to follow the production process. LOCATION The title of this presentation already gives an impression of the nature of the land, today known as Namibia. The country � since 1990 independent � is a land mostly covered by steppe, enclosed between two deserts: the Namib in the west and the Kalahari in the east. The Namib protected the land and its people for a long time against European expeditions, which had difficulties to come over the up to 100 km wide desert strip along the whole coast. But the Namib Desert is not as much as hostile for life than it seems to be. The desert shows lot of different characteristics (sand, stone). Along the episodic rivers one can find plants and animals � up to antilopes � and also humans can alive in this regions. The coastal parts of the desert have the privilege of fog coming at nights from the coast into the land. HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SUVEYING AND MAPPING As I noted before, the investigation and colonialisation of the land north of Orange River, later called South West Africa, began late in comparison with the neighboring South Africa. Only in the end of 18th century some single exepditions could reach the Orange River as southern border, the first longer journeys through the south and central Namibia take part in the first half of 19th century. The most important travellers of this time were Sir J. E. Alexander, Th. Baines, Ch. J. Andersson and some others. Also missionaries of the German Rhenish Mission Society were present at that time. The native inhabitants of the Nama and Herero tribes stood in a persistent conflict about some areas of central Namibia. The colonial subdivision of Africa between European countries began in the 1880th. South West Africa came under German rule and was for the next 30 years known under the name �German South West Africa�. Only in the late 1880th started the consequent development by the German administration with street and railway construction, with expansion of administration and also with intensivation of land surveying and mapping. But with the beginning of Herero and Nama uprising in 1904 the German troops had only little printed information about the landscape. Up to 1914/15 with the extension of the First World War to Southern Africa the land surveying and mapping was sophisticated. The organisation of surveying and mapping in German South West Africa was unique within the German colonies. Beside the gouvernmental land surveying existed since 1905 also a military division for triangulations and topographic surveys. From these recordings different map series were prepared through the �Königlich Preußische Landesaufnahme� in Berlin. Thirdly the main territory and mine companies, like the �Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika� (DKGfSWA), the �South West African Company Ltd.� (SWACo) and the �Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahngesellschaft� (OMEG) had to employ own land surveyors.

THE �DEUTSCHE KOLONIALGESELLSCHAFT FÜR SÜDWESTAFRIKA�

The largest territory and mines company in South West Africa was the �Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika�. The company owned large territories in the centralwest and southwest of the colony. In other parts of the land they owned additionally mining rights (fig. 1). The claimes were mostly directly based on Lüderitz� acquirements from the 1880th. Because of the large property, the economic interests and not at least because of the discovery of diamonds in the southern Namib the company was the one that employed the most land surveyors between 1900 and 1915. The first one, Richard Schettler, came in 1899 and acted at the same time additionally as official companies representative. Up to 1905 the company spent about 1.2 Million Marks only for expeditions, land surveying and administration. [von Bülow, 1905, p. 14] The two surveyors that worked for the company in 1903 were hardly restriced because of the uprising fights between 1904 and 1907. Only end of 1907 the important works could go on with two new employees. They had to survey and mark out the farmable land for sale purposes, to determine the companies boundaries, to carry out mine and town surveys, to record route mappings and triangulations and to do all necessary computations with framing cadastral plans and overview maps. The company did run an own survey office in Swakopmund, where also their administration was situated. Since 1909 the company employed on average three admitted land surveyors.

But because of the diamond boom since 1908 these three were not able to deal with all works at the diamond fields to save all rights. Additionally the company employed with Dr. Reuning a geologist who was also able and gouvernmently authorized for land surveys. Since 1910 he was the director of the companies land survey department. Since 1912 stood the only trained cartographer of the whole colony in the service of the DKGfSWA. Albert Max Hoffmann came to South West Africa directly after finishing his cartography training at F.A. Brockhaus in Leipzig and had to carry out all drawing works for the company. Besides producing cadastral maps and town construction plans he had to construct Reuning�s route measurements. Later he did also own route measurements and surveyings. [In Memoriam Albert Max Hofmann, 1979] All staff that was trained in any way for land surveying had to use every opportunity to carry out route-mappings, local triangulations and cadastral surveys of farms, properties and mining areas. Additionally the company published expedition reports with geological and hydraulic engineering mappings.

Figure 1: Land property and mine concessions in South West Africa 1905, scale 1:2 m. (Namibia National Archives, map collection No. 529)

The workings of all surveyors had to follow special standards worked out by the director of the gouvernmental land survey department and published in June 1912. THE �BERGRECHTSKARTE� Based on the extensive useful material of over ten years survey work and on other accessible material and because of the need of a middlescale map of the territory the company decides to produce a mapseries, the so called �Bergrechtskarte� with the scale 1:200.000. The series was leant on the maps of the same scale produced by the gouvernmental land survey department. At the beginning the series was planned as an only internally used overview. The decision to publish the sheets came only in 1913. Under direction of Dr. Reuning the maps were composited and drawn in Swakopmund by the cartographer Albert Max Hofmann and some assistants.

Because of First World War, the German capitulation in 1915 and restrictions by the South African Military Administration the work stagnated beween 1915 and 1918. Fortunately the Administration allowed to continue and the

Figure 2: Overview over founded sheets of the �Bergrechtskarte� 1:200.000, produced between 1918 and 1921.

fair drawings could start in 1918. Up to 1921 about 20 sheets could be commenced (Fig. 2). 14 of them could be finished (Fig. 3). Most of the finished sheets show central parts of Namibia, which corresponds with the northern area of the companies mining rights. Some sheets of Kalahari Desert north and south of Gobabis could not be edited because of lacking in material.

In 1921 enforced liquidation of the DKGfSWA remained the series incomplete. The company decided to sell 18 sheets (fig. 3) to the South African Administration. [NNA, SWAA-1009-A99/2] Within the delivery list there are three sheets missing, which can be found today as fair drawings in Swakopmund. These sheets show southern parts of Namibia: 23 Helmeringshausen, 25 Aus, 26 Bethanien. The most interesting aspect with all today known sheets of the series is the circumstance that they exist in up to four different production stages: draft, correction, fair copy, proof. But only one sheet � 12-Usakos (Fig. 4) � can be found in all four stages plus a special copy for military purposes. That points out the possibility that some of the maps were drawn before 1915 and used by German troops in the First World War. Additionally the sheet Helmeringhausen (23) exists also in a predraft version.

With these different stages one can follow very closely the production process. Because of the fact that the most of the gouvernmental and military maps of German South West Africa were produced or even printed in Berlin and because of enormously losses in 1944/1945 these sheets are a rare example of the production process. The example of sheet 12 - Usakos (Fig. 4) shows clearly the production process. At first all usable information was mapped based on existing triangulation points. Thereafter the production process was going on with a correction. The sheet includes only some benchmarks and the corrective situation. As one can see the most corrections affect to the form lines. Even at the end of German colony South West Africa the methods und potentialities of terrain measurment were not that accurate to map the terrain by contour lines. But also parts of the hydrography were modified. By comparing the first two sheets the drawings between measured points and along the measuring routes show the highest accuracy. The situation in beween these points was mapped not that exact and some corrections were needed. In the fair copy sheet one can follow the corrected parts very closly. The monochrome proof did loss a lot of the beauty of the handdrawn multicolor sheets. But in fact, they were not produced for fun but to use them practically. The sheets with their extensive topography, their up to this time unexcelled terrain presentation and their different border lines should be the basis for following geological surveys and mappings.

Sheet No.

Name

finished 1 2 5 6 7 8 9

11 12 13 14 16 17 18

Franzfontein Outjo Kap Cross Brandberg Omaruru (with contour lines) Okahandja Günther�s Au Swakopmund Usakos Khomas Hochland Windhoek Sandfischfontein Gorob Mine Nauchas

partly finished

3 15

Waterberg Gobabis

started 4 10

Sandberg Okawarumenda

Figure 3: Sold sheets of the �Bergrechtskarte� to the South African Administration in 1921 [NNA, SWAA-1009-A99/2]

No proofs are known for the three additionally found sheets of the southern Namib. All three sheets are beautiful fair drawings of high quality. Fig. 5 will give an example for this. These sheets show very impressive the interesting contrast of the different characteristics of the Namib Desert. In the right part of Fig. 5 one can see the inland plateau with the decline edge. All terrain information was drawn with only one colour but the different intensity of using gives a very plastic effect. Left of that edge starts the sandy desert � shown by very smooth pointed lines � with some table mountains.

Figure 4: Four different versions of sheet 12-Usakos, draft (top left), correction (top right), fair copy (down left), proof (down right) [Sam Cohen Library, Swakomund, map collection M0011-12a-d]

CONCLUSION By initiative of DKGfSWA about one third (205.000 km²) of the former German colony could be mapped up to 1920. Other 90.000 km² could have been additionally finished shortly after 1920. There is no information if the map series was published in any way. But because there can be found only a few copies today and the series is more or les unknown reaches the conclusion that the series was never published. Supposedly the completed sheets and the incompleted stages were used by the South African Administration to produce the farmmap of South West Africa with the scale 1:500.000 in the mid 1920th. The �Bergrechtskarte� is a largely unknown but important example of German colonial cartography in South West Africa. While selling the series to South African Administration a representative of the South African survey and mapping institution, the Trigonometrical Survey Office, did support the buying, because of the much higher value of the sheets in comparison with the price. On the other hand he argued that there is no map in South Africa comparable with these sheets in accuracy and beauty. REFERENCES Bergrechtskarte: 48 sheets (different versions), Sam Cohen Library, Swakopmund, M0011-00 � M0011-26a In Memoriam Albert Max Hofmann: part 1. in: SWA Mitteilungen, 1979-XIX-10-11, S. 2-5 In Memoriam Albert Max Hofmann: part 2. in: SWA Mitteilungen, 1979-XIX-12, S. 8-10 In Memoriam Albert Max Hofmann: part 3. in: SWA Mitteilungen, 1979-XX,1, S. 9-10 Namibia National Archive, Windhoek (NNA): SWAA (Archives of the Sectretary for South West Africa, 1920-1959), 1009, A99/2, DKGfSWA-Administration, 1921-1922 von Bülow, B.: Denkschrift über die im südwestafrikanischen Schutzgebiete tätigen Land- und Minen-Gesellschaften. Berlin 1905

Figure 5: Part of sheet 25-Aus, handdrawn draft

BIOGRAPHY Jana Moser, born in 1975. After finishing school in 1994 I studied cartography at the University of Applied Studies in Dresden. I graduated in 1998 with a work about �Digital construction of blockdiagrams� considering as example the Fishriver-Canyon in southern Namibia. Afterwards I started my dissertation at the Institute of Cartography of the Technical University of Dresden about the �Mapping history of South West Africa / Namibia from the beginnings up to independence in 1990�. For the dissertation I stayed for about two years in Namibia. Since 2004 I am employed as a project manager at the Saxon Academy of Sciences Leipzig in Dresden at the project �Atlas zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Sachsen�.