Axel Wilhelm Eriksson (24 August 1846 – 5 May 1901) was a Swedish ornithologist, settler and trader in what is now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. He was born in

Vänersborg Vänersborg () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 23,882 inhabitants (out of a municipal total of 39,904) Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which mer ...

, in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Eriksson went to South West Africa in 1866 (before Germany had established its colony of

German South West Africa German South West Africa () 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. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

in 1884) to serve out a three-year apprenticeship to

Charles John Andersson Charles John (Karl Johan) Andersson (4 March 1827 – 9 July 1867) was a Swedish explorer, hunter and trader as well as an amateur naturalist and ornithologist. He is most famous for the many books he published about his travels, and for being on ...

. In 1871, with Swede Anders Ohlsson, he established a brewery at Omaruru. Eriksson established a trading post there, which flourished and by 1878 employed about forty whites. Eriksson's business was based upon long-distance trading between southern

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, which necessitated the establishment of regional trade routes. He also built up an extensive

bird collection Bird collections are curated repositories of scientific specimens consisting of birds and their parts. They are a research resource for ornithology, the science of birds, and for other scientific disciplines in which information about birds is u ...

, specimens coming from South West Africa,

and the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

(now Gauteng Province in South Africa), the bulk of which has since been donated to the municipal museum in Vänersborg. His activities gained much respect from a wide range of communities, including native and

Boer Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

, over a large geographic area. He was known to the

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Nama genocide * Herero chat, a species of bird ...

as ''Karuwapa Katiti'' ("the small white person"). Axel Eriksson died on 5 May 1901 at farm Urupupa. It was said that "when Karuwapa died, the goodness in the country died as well". His grave near

Rietfontein Rietfontein is a town in ZF Mgcawu District Municipality located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It functions as the Rietfontein Borderpost with Namibia during the day hours of 08:00-16:30, that gives access to and from south-east ...

, thirty kilometres south west of

Grootfontein Grootfontein (, named after the nearby hot springs) is a city with 26,839 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. It is one of the three towns in the Otavi Triangle, situated on the B8 road (Namibia), B8 national road that lead ...

, was made a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

in 1978; a sign beside the grave reads: "This is the last resting place of Axel Eriksson, well known traveller, hunter, trader and pioneer, through whose intercession the Cape Government sent food to the distressed thirstland trekkers in 1879 thus rescuing various families from certain death". Despite the grave's status, the site is virtually inaccessible and is not maintained, with its boundary fence no longer intact (as at October 2014). However, in 2019 visits of the National Namibian Heritage Council took place and first steps to re-establish access and the National Heritage site had been taken. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a planned visit of a delegation of Swedish and Namibian government representatives and private Swedish interested parties had to be postponed to 2021. Eriksson married Frances "Fanny" Stewardson, in 1871 and the couple had two sons, Axel Eriksson (1871-1924, died at Gaideb, Warmbad), a noted painter and Andrew Albert Eriksson (1876-1955) who became a priest in Sweden. There was also a daughter, Maud Alice Eriksson (who married in Cape Town and moved to England). Eriksson's two brothers, Carl and Gustav also migrated to South West Africa. Eriksson divorced Frances and subsequently married a Herero princess. The couple had a son, Jacob (born around 1884), who became a farmer in what is now Mozambique (his fate is not known).

References

* *

External links

Vänersborg Museum

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Axel Wilhelm 1846 births 1901 deaths People from Vänersborg Colonial people in South West Africa Explorers of Africa Swedish explorers Swedish emigrants to Namibia White Namibian people Swedish ornithologists