Forgotten trek: the Amandelboom Basters’ displacement in South Africa

In the 19th century, the Amandelboom Basters, people of mixed Khoi and European ancestry living in the Karoo region of South Africa, were forced from their land and trekked over 1,000km to Rehoboth in present-day Namibia.

Elsa van Schalkwyk, a local historian, brought attention to this largely forgotten history, revealing a community that once prospered through livestock farming near the German Rhenish mission in Amandelboom, later renamed Williston.

Increasing pressure from Boer farmers and colonial land policies in the 1860s led to the Basters’ displacement because they could not afford to meet requirements for land surveying and registration. The Baster community sought a modern Christian identity, adopting practices like bible reading and carrying firearms, believing it would secure their protection under British rule. However, this assimilation did not shield them from racial discrimination and ultimately failed to secure their place within the colonial social order.

Researchers Vuyiswa Lupuwana and Simon Hall studied rock engravings and stone houses on Grootfontein farm, finding evidence that the Basters blended Victorian Christian and Khoi traditions in their lifestyle. Local NGO ROCS is now working to reclaim this history through a Heritage Day event in Williston, hoping to address unemployment and despair in the Amandelboom township by connecting young people to their heritage.

Dr Herbst’s unpublished doctoral thesis details how the Basters initially invited Rhenish missionaries seeking mediation and protection, but the missionaries underestimated the ecological and political challenges of the region, prioritizing a German agricultural model unsuitable for the Karoo’s arid climate. The story illustrates a tragedy of unfulfilled expectations, where a community’s attempts at integration were met with exclusion and abandonment.