The Herero Tribe were originally a tribe of graziers living in the region od modern Namibia. Formerly Namibia was called German South West Africa and the area occupied by the Herero was known as Damaraland.
During the Colonization period the British made it clear that they were not interested in the territory so in August 1884 it was declared a German Protectorate, at that time the only overseas territory deemed suitable for white settlement that had been acquired by Germany. From the outset there was resistance by the Hottentot to the German occupation although a sort of peace was worked out in 1894. In that year von Leutwein became Governor of the territory and it entered a period of rapid development.
White settlers were encouraged and settled on land appropriated from the natives which caused a great deal of discontent. In 1903 some of the Hottentot and Herero Tribes rose in revolt and began to massacre German settlers. Troops were sent from Germany to re-establish order but only succeeded in dispersing the rebels. In October 1904 General Von Trotha issued instructions that every male Herero, armed or not, should be killed and the women and children were to be driven into the desert. As soon as the news of this order reached Germany it was repealed but by this time the rest of the native population was in full scale revolt. Some sixty German settlers were killed in one area while the British and Boer farmers were left alone.
It took until 1908 to fully re-establish German authority over the territory by which time some 100,000 Africans had been killed. At the height the campaign some 19,000 German Troops were involved.
At about the same time diamonds were discovered in the territory and this did much to boost its prosperity. However it was short lived. The country was annexed by the South Africa in 1915 during World War I, see South West Africa Campaign
