Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt (1812–1864) was a German missionary and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

who worked in southern Africa, now in the region of

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 founded the missionary station and town of Rehoboth and together with

Carl Hugo Hahn Carl Hugo Hahn (1818–1895) was a Baltic German missionary and linguist who worked in South Africa and South-West Africa for most of his life. Together with Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, he set up the first Rhenish mission station for the Herer ...

set up the first Rhenish mission station to the

Herero people The Herero () are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there ...

in Gross Barmen. Kleinschmidt is known for his scientific work on the

Nama language Khoekhoe or Khoikhoi ( ; , ), also known by the ethnic terms Nama ( ; ''Namagowab''), Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non- Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy ...

Education and time in Cape Colony

Kleinschmidt was born on 25 October 1812 in the village of Blasheim, today a suburb of

Lübbecke Lübbecke (; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (''Wiehengebirge'') and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is part of district of Minden- ...

, then in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. He was a trained carpenter and blacksmith. Kleinschmidt became a missionary with the

Rhenish Missionary Society The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river Rhine; , ''RMG'') was one of the largest Protestant missionary society, missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamate ...

, which sent him to Southwestern Africa in response to the request of Jonker Afrikaner, chief of the

Oorlam The Oorlam or Orlam people (also known as Orlaam, Oorlammers, Oerlams, or Orlamse Hottentots) are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony (today, part of South Africa) to Namaqualand and ...

tribe residing there. He arrived in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

in October 1842. When

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

missionaries arrived in 1844, also at the invitation of Jonker Afrikaner, Kleinschmidt and his colleague

moved northwards into

Damaraland Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of South West Africa, which later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bordered roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the e ...

in order to avoid conflict with them. Hahn and Kleinschmidt arrived at Otjikango on 31 October 1844. They named the place ''Barmen'' (today Gross Barmen) after the headquarters of the Rhenish Missionary Society which was located in

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

, Germany (today part of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

), and established the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero there. At that time Jonker Afrikaner oversaw the development of the road network in South-West Africa. Hahn and Kleinschmidt initiated the creation of a path from Windhoek to Barmen via Okahandja, and in 1850 this road, later known as Alter Baiweg (''Old Bay Path''), was extended via

Otjimbingwe Otjimbingwe (also: Otjimbingue) is a settlement 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 Afr ...

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land. The bay is a ...

. This route served as an important trade connection between the coast and Windhoek until the end of the century. Their missionary work was not very successful, and while Hahn visited Europe between 1853 and 1856 to gather support for his endeavors, Kleinschmidt moved back south to the Nama communities, where he founded the mission station and town of Rehoboth in 1845. Kleinschmidt was fluent in

Khoekhoegowab Khoekhoe or Khoikhoi ( ; , ), also known by the ethnic terms Nama ( ; ''Namagowab''), Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non- Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy ...

(also called Nama or Damara/Nama). Together with the missionary Vollmer he translated the Bible into this language in 1853 and published a Dutch–Nama dictionary in 1855. In August 1864

Oorlams The Oorlam or Orlam people (also known as Orlaam, Oorlammers, Oerlams, or Orlamse Hottentots) are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony (today, part of South Africa) to Namaqualand and Dam ...

attacked Rehoboth. Kleinschmidt fled to

but died there of exhaustion on 2 September 1864. He was married to Hanna née Schmelen, daughter of his colleague Heinrich Schmelen. His daughter Frieda married missionary Martti Rautanen in 1872.Namibian website, ''150 Years of Namibia-Finland Relations Started in Ondonga Terrority'', article by Brigitte Weidlich dated March 27, 2020
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References

Footnotes

Literature

*(af) De Kock, W.J. 1968. Suid-Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek, volume I. Pretoria: Nasionale Raad vir Sosiale Navorsing, Departement van Hoër Onderwys. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinschmidt, Franz Heinrich 1812 births 1864 deaths People from Lübbecke German Lutheran missionaries Lutheran missionaries in Namibia 19th-century Lutherans