|
Grasplatz
Grasplatz (''grass place'') is a defunct railway station in the south of Namibia on the decommissioned Aus–Lüderitz line. It is the place where in 1908 railway worker Zacharias Lewala found the first diamond in German South-West Africa and handed it over to his foreman August Stauch. Stauch's subsequent investigation triggered a diamond rush. The place was originally called Grasabladeplatz (''grass offload point'') because here, before the railway was in place, alfalfa was stored to feed oxen before the ox wagons set off through the waterless Namib The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Nami .... References Railway stations in Namibia German South West Africa TransNamib Railway Buildings and structures in ǁKaras Region {{Namibia-railstation-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August Stauch
:''This article has been translated from the German Wikipedia article.'' August Stauch (15 January 1878 – 6 May 1947) was a German prospector who discovered a diamond deposits near Lüderitz, in German South West Africa (now Namibia). August Stauch was the third of seven children of a railway worker's family in Ettenhausen, Thuringia. He was a railway employee in Thuringia. Stauch arrived in Lüderitz in 1907. He suffered from asthma and received medical advice that the drier desert climate may be suitable for his health. He took up mineralogy as a hobby in his spare time but later worked as a ''Bahnmeister'' (chief railway foreman) on the Lüderitzbucht- Aus railway line. August developed a fascination for diamonds, after listening to the tales about Adolf Lüderitz, who believed there lay diamonds in the desert and obtained a prospecting license from Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft fur Südwest Afrika. He consequently informed his workers, who had been brought in from South Afr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamond Rush
A diamond rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area where diamonds were newly discovered. Major diamond rushes took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in South Africa and South-West Africa. Diamond rushes by chronology * In 1871, the discovery of an 83.50 carat (16.7 g) diamond on the slopes of Colesberg Kopje on the farm ''Vooruitzigt'' in South Africa led to the foundation of Kimberley Mine, and eventually the town of Kimberley. This diamond rush was termed the "New Rush",Roberts,Brian. 1976. ''Kimberley, turbulent city''. Cape Town: David Philip pp 45-49 as diamond prospectors were already operating in the country. * In 1908, the discovery of a diamond near Grasplatz station in German South-West Africa led to a diamond rush developing the town of Lüderitz and creating several mining settlements that today are ghost towns. * In the 1990s, several frequency domain heliborne electromagnetic anomalies were discovered by Charles E. Fipke around L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations. The driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia has been inhabited since pre-historic times by the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aus, Namibia
Aus is a settlement in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on a railway line and the B4 national road, 230 km west of Keetmanshoop and about 125 km east of Lüderitz and belongs to the ǃNamiǂNûs electoral constituency. Trains from Keetmanshoop now terminate at the village but formerly continued on to Lüderitz. The settlement is small but has a number of amenities including a hotel, police station, shop and garage. It is located in the Aus Mountains above the plains of the Namib Desert. The climate is usually hot and arid but snow has been recorded in winter in 1963, and the area features the coldest winters recorded in Namibia. The village's name comes from the Khoekhoe for "big snake." The village was formerly the site of a prisoner-of-war camp established by the South African army in 1915 to house German inmates captured during the First World War. The inmates initially lived in tents but later built brick houses. The number of prisoners reached 150 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, including some Art Nouveau work, and for wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. It is also home to a museum, and lies at the end of a decommissioned railway line to Keetmanshoop. The town is named after Adolf Lüderitz, founder of the German South West Africa colony. Economy and infrastructure The centre of Lüderitz' economic activity is the port, until the incorporation of the exclave Walvis Bay in 1994 the only suitable harbour on Namibia's coast. However, the harbour at Lüderitz has a comparatively shallow rock bottom, making it unusable for many modern ships. The recent addition of a new quay has allowed larger fishing vessels to dock at Lüderitz. The town has also re-styled itself in an attempt to lure tourists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zacharias Lewala
Zacharias Lewala (fl. 1908) was a Namibian worker, considered to have started a diamond rush in the area of Lüderitz in the former colony of German South West Africa, now Namibia, with his discovery of a diamond on 14 April 1908. Life Lewala came from southern Africa and was a worker in a diamond mine in Kimberley, where he gained experience in the recognition of rough diamonds. Later he worked under his superior August Stauch at the maintenance of the Lüderitz railway. In 1908, when he was scouting near the railway station at Grassplatz near Kolmanskop, he discovered several stones in which he suspected diamonds. He dutifully handed these over to Stauch and said: "Look, Mister, moy Klip (beautiful stone)." Stauch sent it to the analysis at Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German South-West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of 835,100 km², it was one and a half times the size of the mainland German Empire in Europe at the time. The colony had a population of around 2,600 Germans. German rule over this territory was punctuated by numerous rebellions by its native African peoples, which culminated in a campaign of German reprisals from 1904 to 1908 known as the Herero and Namaqua genocide. In 1915, during World War I, German South West Africa was invaded by the Western Allies in the form of South African and British forces. After the war its administration was taken over by the Union of South Africa (part of the British Empire) and the territory was administered as South West Africa under a League of Nations mandate. It became independent as Namibia on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as well as a green manure and cover crop. The name alfalfa is used in North America. The name lucerne is the more commonly used name in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The plant superficially resembles clover (a cousin in the same family), especially while young, when trifoliate leaves comprising round leaflets predominate. Later in maturity, leaflets are elongated. It has clusters of small purple flowers followed by fruits spiralled in 2 to 3 turns containing 10–20 seeds. Alfalfa is native to warmer temperate climates. It has been cultivated as livestock fodder since at least the era of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Etymology The word ''alfalfa'' is a Spanish modification of the Arabic word ''a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namib
The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Annual precipitation ranges from in the most arid regions to at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world and conta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Stations In Namibia
A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales, waiting rooms and baggage/freight service. If a station is on a single-track line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. Places at which passengers only occasionally board or leave a train, sometimes consisting of a short platform and a waiting shed but sometimes indicated by no more than a sign, are variously referred to as "stops", "flag stops", " halts", or "provisional stopping places". The stations themselves may be at ground level, underground or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses, trams or other rapid transit systems. Terminology In British English, traditional terminology favours ''railway station'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of 835,100 km², it was one and a half times the size of the mainland German Empire in Europe at the time. The colony had a population of around 2,600 Germans. German rule over this territory was punctuated by numerous rebellions by its native African peoples, which culminated in a campaign of German reprisals from 1904 to 1908 known as the Herero and Namaqua genocide. In 1915, during World War I, German South West Africa was invaded by the Western Allies in the form of South African and British forces. After the war its administration was taken over by the Union of South Africa (part of the British Empire) and the territory was administered as South West Africa under a League of Nations mandate. It became independent as Namibia on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Railway Stations In Namibia")