ABSTRACT
The agricultural potential of the Grootfontein district, with its abundant rainfall and plentiful "open fountains," was highly touted by the earliest colonial entrepreneurs, but development was hindered by the large concession companies. Shortly after the collapse of the Republic of Upingtoma, the official presence of the German colonial powers started to be felt in the northeast. The German farmers refused to pay them their wages; they said food and tobacco were enough for them. The Germans conceded that had they not been tipped off by the Nog'au Bushmen, Namagurub would probably have been successful. In 1911 the Germans finally managed to raid his very large werft, and when they set it alight, the werft exploded because of all the hidden gunpowder and bullets. The southern limit is formed by the northernmost werfts of the Hereros." The Nama-Herero War of 1904-1907 marked a watershed in Namibian history in more ways than one, and its impact on Bushmen was devastating.
