|1900||The state railway from Swakopmund
reaches Karibib (the first train reaches Karibib on 01.06., this being the official
founding day of the town of Karibib).
The military fortress of Okaukuejo is built, and the Namutoni fortress is adapted for military purposes.
The first brewery is established in Swakopmund (Jauch ).
Facilities are set up for banking and money transfers between Germany and the colony.
Port installations in Lüderitz are expanded.
The Finnish Missionary Society establishes a mission station at Ontananga.
German geologists begin to map the geology of the country. They are the first to describe various occurrences of fossil fuels and bitumen in the Nama Basin which the local inhabitants used for lighting fires.
The Hanseatische Land-, Minen- und Handelsgesellschaft für SWA explores the copper mineralisation potential in the Rehoboth area. Copper deposits at Kamtsas, Gelkop, Duruchaus, Swartmodder and Neuras are investigated. Some production later develops at Swartmodder and Neuras. Also some gold is found in Neuras but no gold production is recorded before the outbreak of World War One.
An Englishman named Stanley pegs mining claims at Otjosonjati east of Windhoek.
The occurrence of oil seeps in rocks of the Nama Group is known to German geologists in the early days of this century. A first well is drilled by Südwest Petroleum Company near Berseba to a depth of 1 000 m, albeit with no success.
Kurt Dinter establishes a forestry station at Brakwater near Windhoek.
|16.01.||A post office is opened at Kubub.|
|01.02.||Post offices are opened at Marienthal (Tsaraxa-aibes) and Kuis.|
|18.02.||A post office is opened at Haris.|
|01.03.||A post office is opened at Hatzamas.|
|06.04.||The "Otavi Minen- und
Eisenbahngesellschaft (OMEG)" is founded in Berlin. The major shareholders are
the German Disconto-Gesellschaft and the South West Africa Company (SWAC). The
development of the rich copper deposits in the Otavi Mountains starts immediately. The
prospector is Christopher James.
A post office is opened at Hasis.
|01.07.||A post office is opened at Karibib.|
|21.07.||Some members of the "white" community send an address to the colonial authorities in Berlin in connection with a debate in the German Reichstag (Parliament) on the issue of caning as a form of punishment in the German colonies: "From time immemorial our natives have been used to laziness, brutality and stupidity. The dirtier they are the more they feel at ease. Any white men who have lived among natives find it almost impossible to regard them as human beings at all in any European sense. They need centuries of training as human beings; with endless patience, strictness and justice." This address bears vivid witness to the burgeoning racism within the "white" population of the territory. It crushes any efforts to win the confidence of the indigenous peoples and to make way for a peaceful development of the country.|
|01.08.||The state railway line reaches the station of Okatjimukuju, 209 km from Swakopmund.|
|10.09.||The Law for the Protection Areas (Schutzgebietsgesetz) from 17.04.1886 is amended. This amended law continues the dual legal system in SWA but does not make provision for the legal status of marriages between "natives" and "non-natives".|
|October||Erich Victor Carl August Franke
visits the Ovamboland Kings Kambonde kaMpingana of the Ondonga area and Ueyulu ya Hedimbi
of the Uukwanyama area. Uukwambi King Negumbo refuses to allow Franke to visit his
territory and threatens the Germans with war. Franke reports about growing native
resistance against the activities of the Finnish missionaries.
The Zesfontein Topnaars demand German protection against hostile invasions from Angola.
|End 1900||Missionary Viehe predicts that "local politics is heading towards getting all better land into the hands of Whites".|