Zacharias Lewala (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1908) was a Namibian worker, considered to have started a diamond rush in the area of

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. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023. Th ...

in the former 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 ...

, 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 ...

, 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 Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, where he gained experience in the recognition of rough diamonds. Later he worked under his superior

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 St ...

at the maintenance of the Aus–

railway line. In 1908, when he was scouting near the railway station at

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 ha ...

, he discovered several stones which he suspected to be diamonds. He dutifully handed these over to Stauch and said: "Look, Mister, moy Klip (beautiful stone)." Stauch sent it for analysis to

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

and secured a claim in the area. Realising the area was full of diamonds, the German government prohibited entry to almost the entire extent of Namibia's southern coast soon thereafter, declaring it the " Sperrgebiet", meaning "forbidden zone". About Lewala, comparatively little is known, as historiography, and especially tourist literature, are more interested in the German Stauch, whose activity is better documented, and with which European tourists can more easily identify. Zora del Buono remarks in an article in the German news magazine der Spiegel:

"Lewala's name entered history but not much more, the man had nothing of his find, no one paid him for it or showed any kind of gratitude, others made the big business and they made it quick."

References

*Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid. The German population group of Southwest Africa 1915 - 1965 . Berlin / Münster, Lit 2007. . *Olga Levinson: Diamonds in the Desert. The Story of August Stauch and His Times. Windhoek, Kuiseb Verlag 2009.

External links

*Picture of Zacharias Lewala on the website of Namdeb Holding : http://www.namdeb.com/images/ZachariasLewala.jpg *Birgit Magiera: April 10, 1908: Zacharias Lewala releases diamond fever, at www.br.de (retrieved June 7, 2016). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewala, Zacharias Indigenous people in German South West Africa People from Lüderitz

Life

References

Further reading

External links