Samuel Maharero

Samuel Maharero (1856 – 14 March 1923) was a Paramount Chief of the Herero people in German South-West Africa (today Namibia) during their revolts and in connection with the events surrounding the Herero genocide. Today he is considered a national hero in Namibia.

Life

Maharero was son to Kamaharero (or Maharero), an important Herero warrior and cattle raider. Samuel Maharero went to the local Lutheran schools, where he was seen as a potential priest. When his father died in 1890, he gained the chieftainship in the area of Okahandja, although he did not gain much of his father's wealth and cattle according to Herero inheritance customs. Initially, he maintained fairly good relations with the German colonial administration under Theodor Leutwein. However, increasing problems, involving attacks by German farmers, economic difficulties and pests, and the use of Herero land for railroads, diminished relations.

Maharero secretly planned a revolt with the other chiefs against the German presence. The initial attacks in the revolt, begun on January 12, 1904, were successful and involved the killings of several German farmer families. Leutwein was replaced as military leader by Lothar von Trotha, who brought 15,000 troops and created a bounty of 5,000 marks for the capture of Maharero. The Herero fighters were destroyed at the Battle of Waterberg on August 11, 1904 and the remaining ones were driven into the deserts of the Omaheke Region.

Samuel

Samuel (/ˈsæm.juː.əl/;Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל, Modern Shmu'el, Tiberian Šəmûʼēl; Arabic: صموئيل Ṣamuil; Greek: Σαμουήλ Samouēl; Latin: Samvel; Strong's: Shemuwel), literally meaning "Name of God" in Hebrew, is a leader of ancient Israel in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. He is also known as a prophet and is mentioned in the second chapter of the Qur'an, although not by name.

His status, as viewed by rabbinical literature, is that he was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets who began to prophesy inside the Land of Israel. He was thus at the cusp between two eras. According to the text of the Books of Samuel, he also anointed the first two kings of the Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David.

Biblical account

Family

Samuel's mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah. Elkanah lived at Rama-thaim in the district of Zuph. His genealogy is also found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (1 Chron. 6:3-15) and in that of Heman, his great-grandson (ib. vi. 18-22). According to the genealogical tables, Elkanah was a Levite - a fact otherwise not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elkanah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging to Judah (Judges 17:7, for example).

Samuel (Raffi novel)

Samuel (Սամվել Samvel) is an 1886 Armenian language novel by the novelist Raffi. Considered by some critics his most successful work, the plot centres on the killing of the fourth-century Prince Vahan Mamikonian and his wife by their son Samuel.

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References

Samuel of Nehardea

Samuel of Nehardea or Samuel bar Abba (Hebrew: שמואל or שמואל ירחינאה) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the first generation; son of Abba bar Abba and head of the Yeshiva at Nehardea. He was a teacher of halakha, judge, physician, and astronomer. He was born about 165 CE at Nehardea, in Babylonia and died there about 257 CE. As in the case of many other great men, a number of legendary stories are connected with his birth (comp. Halakot Gedolot, Giṭṭin, end; Tos. Ḳid. 73a s.v. Mai Ikka). In Talmudic texts, Samuel is frequently associated with Abba Arika, with whom he debated on many major issues. He was the teacher of Rabbi Judah ben Ezekiel. From the little biographical information gleaned from the Talmud, we know that Samuel was never ordained as a Tanna, that he was very precise with his words (Kidd. 70), and that he had a special affinity for astronomy: one of his best known sayings was that "The paths of heaven are as clear to me as the pathways of Nehardea."

Maharero

Maharero kaTjamuaha (Otjiherero: Maharero, son of Tjamuaha, short: Maharero; c. 1820 – 7 October 1890) was one of the most powerful paramount chiefs of the Herero people in South-West Africa, today's Namibia.

Biography

Maharero, was born about 1820 at Okahandja. In 1843 he went with his father Tjamuaha to Windhoek to stay with Jonker Afrikaner, Captain of the Oorlam Afrikaners. Tjamuaha was an ally of Jonker Afrikaner until his death in 1861, albeit in a subordinate position. Maharero a leader of Ovaherero community in (1861-1890) was born in ca 1820 at Otjikune near Okahandja and he was the son of Tjamuaha and his chief wife Tjorozumo. He had several brothers and half-brothers, amongst them were Kavezeri, Kariteova, Kavikunua and Rijarua.

Like his father, Maharero became an ally of Jonker Afrikaner in 1843. As from 1863 onwards, he refused to accept the dominance of the Afrikaners and was recognized by both Herero’s and the European in the country as the representative of all the Hereros. Shortly afterwards he emerged as the first Herero paramount chief though his leadership was not uncontested. He sought to consolidate his position by marrying into all the important Hereros families and he apparently had over 60 wives by the time he was old.