Gross Barmen
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Gross Barmen Otjikango (Otjiherero) |
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|---|---|
| recreational area | |
 Gross Barmen
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| Coordinates: 22°6′0″S 16°45′0″E / 22.10000°S 16.75000°E | |
| Country |
 Namibia
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| Region | Otjozondjupa Region |
| Constituency | Okahandja Constituency |
| Founded | 1844 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.36 sq mi (0.93 km2) |
| Time zone | South African Standard Time (UTC+1) |
Gross Barmen is a historic settlement and a recreational spa in central Namibia. It is situated on the District Road 1972, 25 km south-east of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region. Its close proximity to the capital Windhoek makes it a popular weekend destination for locals.
Originally known as Otjikango (Otjiherero: "large fountain"), the site was inhabited by the Herero people. When Wesleyan missionaries arrived in Windhoek in 1844 at the invitation of Jonker Afrikaner, Rhenish missionaries Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt, already resident there since 1842, feared conflict and moved on to Otjikango. Here they established the first Rhenish mission station to the Herero in late 1844. They named the place Barmen after the town Barmen (today part of Wuppertal) in Germany where the headquarters of the Rhenish Missionary Society were located. The ruins of the missionary house are still visible.
At that time the road network in South West Africa was being developed under the supervision, and at the initiative, of Jonker Afrikaner. 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 to Walvis Bay. This route developed into an important trade connection between the coast and Windhoek and was in use until 1900, when the railway line from Swakopmund was commissioned.
The mission station was operational until the start of Herero War in 1904, but was destroyed by Herero insurgents. The settlement also had a police station at that time, and a military fort which was demolished during the uprising. The village was destroyed by burning by German colonial troops under the command of Leutnant Eugen Mansfeld on 17 February 1904.
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Wikipedia