Klein Windhoek ( in German) is an affluent suburb of

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 ...

, the capital 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 ...

History

The British explorer James Alexander had already visited the area in 1837. Klein Windhoek is the oldest part of the town, having been established in 1840 by Jonker Afrikaner and his 800-strong group. He had requested the services of a missionary, and 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 ...

(RMS) built the first house in the area in the same year. In 1842, missionaries Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt worked here. They called the place ''Elberfeld'', but Jonker Afrikaner's name prevailed. They were replaced by Wesleyan missionaries in 1844. In 1896,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

missionaries arrived. They purchased the RMS land in 1899 and converted it into an orchard and vineyard.

References

Notes

Literature

* History of Windhoek Suburbs of Windhoek 1840 establishments in South West Africa {{Namibia-geo-stub