Lijdensrust, officially the Republic of Lijdensrust, was a short-lived Boer republic in the area of present-day

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 ...

. Declared on 20 October 1885, it was originally named Upingtonia, but changed its name soon after as the reason for its original name proved worthless. In 1887, it was merged into German South-West Africa.

History

Between the years 1874 and 1880, farmers migrated from the Transvaal to what was then 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 ...

. There, they came into conflict with the Portuguese colonial authorities, and some of their number decided to return to the Transvaal, while others migrated further south.Chris Marais, Julienne Du Toit, ''A Drink of Dry Land '' (2006), p. 174 In 1885, William Worthington Jordan bought a tract (fifty thousand square kilometers) of land from the Ondonga chief Kambonde ka Mpingana for three hundred pounds, paid as twenty-five firearms, one salted horse, and a cask of brandy. This land stretched almost from Okaukuejo in the west to Fischer's Pan in the east. Chief Kambonde relied on the help of Jordan to defeat his rival for power and brother, Nehale lya Mpingana. Between 1876 and 1879, at the time of the Dorsland Trek, Boers had crossed the area, heading for Angola. In 1885 some of these trekkers returned and settled at Grootfontein on land given to them free of charge by Jordan. The Republic of Upingtonia was declared on 20 October 1885. At that time, the population of Upingtonia was around five hundred settlers. The state was named after Thomas Upington, prime minister of the

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 ...

, from whom the new state was hoping for support. However, little was forthcoming. In 1886, under the influence of the Boers returning to the Transvaal from southern

, the name was changed from Upingtonia to Lijdensrust or Lydensrust. The short-lived republic's capital was Grootfontein, and its

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

was President George Diederik P. Prinsloo. The new state fought the Herero and became dependent on German protection. In 1886 Jordan was killed by Nehale ly Mpingana, and the republic collapsed. The next year the area it had covered was incorporated into German South-West Africa.Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke, John J. Grotpeter, ''Historical Dictionary of Namibia'' (2012), p. 445

Notes

{{coord, 19, 34, S, 18, 7, E, type:country, display=title Otjozondjupa Region Boer Republics Former republics Former countries in Africa States and territories established in 1885 1885 establishments in Africa States and territories disestablished in 1887 1887 disestablishments in Africa