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Rehoboth, Namibia

 

 
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Rehoboth, Namibia
 
 
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Rehoboth is a town in central Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
. Located on the B1 road
B1 road (Namibia)

File:Nationalstra?e B1.pngFile:Namibia B1.JPGThe B1 is one of the most important roads in Namibia, passing through the centre of the country in a north-south direction....
, 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek
Windhoek

Windhoek is the Capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in the central Khomas Region, and had a population of 233,529 in the 2001 census but is now believed to be over 296,000 in 2008....
, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with sparse rainfall, but with several natural hot-water springs. In 2005, it had a population of 21,378. Geo-coordinates: .

nistratively, Rehoboth is classified as a town with its own council of 7 elected individuals.

Public amenities include a public hospital, primary and secondary schools and a district court with resident magistrate.

Rehoboth is divided into seven neighbourhoods, called blocks.






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Rehoboth is a town in central Namibia
Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
. Located on the B1 road
B1 road (Namibia)

File:Nationalstra?e B1.pngFile:Namibia B1.JPGThe B1 is one of the most important roads in Namibia, passing through the centre of the country in a north-south direction....
, 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek
Windhoek

Windhoek is the Capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in the central Khomas Region, and had a population of 233,529 in the 2001 census but is now believed to be over 296,000 in 2008....
, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with sparse rainfall, but with several natural hot-water springs. In 2005, it had a population of 21,378. Geo-coordinates: .

Administration

Administratively, Rehoboth is classified as a town with its own council of 7 elected individuals.

Public amenities include a public hospital, primary and secondary schools and a district court with resident magistrate.

Rehoboth is divided into seven neighbourhoods, called blocks. The oldest part of the town is blocks A, B and C, whereby block B contains most public services and shops. Block D is home to the wealthiest inhabitants of the town. Block E is the poorest neighbourhood and was originally (under Apartheid) designated for blacks. Blocks F,G and H are the newest neighbourhoods.

The Oanob Dam
Oanob Dam

Oanob Dam is a dam outside of Rehoboth, Namibia, Hardap Region, Namibia. Located 7km outside of Rehoboth, it dams the Oanob River and provides the town with a majority of it's water....
, approximately six kilometres from Rehoboth, supplies the town with fresh water. The majority of the population consists of Basters.

History


In prehistoric times the area of the present day Rehoboth town was inhabited by Nama
Namaqua

Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group, except for the Namas....
 (Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama language orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, who were the native Black Africans of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen ....
) groups who called it !Anis meaning smoke; referring to the cloud of condensed water vapour hanging over the hot springs in the morning.

The missionary Heinrich Kleinschmidt of the German Rhenish Missionary Society named the place Rehoboth in 1845, when a mission was established among the resident Nama (Khoikhoi). In 1864, the Nama, as a result of war, abandoned the area.

In 1870, the Basters, who had migrated out of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony

The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by French Revolution, so that the French revolutionaries could not take possession of...
 in 1868 moved into the territory and were granted permission to settle at Rehoboth by the participants of the peace conference of Okahandja on 23 September 1870. In a few years, the Basters were closely linked to the town of Rehoboth and became identified as Rehoboth Basters or Rehobothers. The population increased rapidly from an initial number of 333 in 1870, 800 in 1874 and 1500 by 1885. The growing Baster population settled in the surrounding areas, which would become known as the Rehoboth Gebiet (meaning ‘area’).

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