Hermanus van Wyk

van Wyk was born in 1835 to a mixed-race Baster family in the Fraserburg district in the Cape Colony, today South Africa. which at that time had largely been abandoned by the Nama people after they had been attacked by the Orlam Afrikaners in 1864.{{cite web ==Development of Rehoboth==

In 1870, Abraham Swartbooi of the Nama allowed the Basters to settle at Rehoboth for an initial payment of eight horses and an annual rent of one horse. They arrived at Rehoboth in October that year. They worked to repair and develop the existing infrastructure. Under van Wyk's leadership of the Kaptein's council, the Basters drafted a constitution (, literally ). By 1876, their community consisted of 800 people; they owned 20,000 sheep and between 2,000 and 3,000 cattle. Due to the relative wealth that the community had accumulated, van Wyk attempted to buy the land around Rehoboth from Swartbooi. An option on the land was granted at a price of £2,750, but Swartbooi would not sell the land just yet. When the Herero-Nama War of 1880 began, the Basters joined sides with Jan Jonker Afrikaner and the Nama under Swartbooi against the Herero. A Baster merchant group was killed by the Herero. In 1882, however, the Basters were attacked by their Nama allies. They defeated the attack but lost substantial numbers of livestock stolen in the attack and other raids. A small war memorial was erected along Church Street to commemorate the event. ==Protection treaty==

The Nama sold the land around Rehoboth to an agent for the Dorsland Trekkers but, before the Boers could settle there, the German Empire claimed German South-West Africa as a colony. On 15 September 1885, van Wyk and the Germans signed a "Treaty of Protection and Friendship"; this permitted the Basters to retain a degree of autonomy in exchange for accepting colonial rule. As this treaty contained no sale of land but rather a recognition that the territory occupied by the Basters was theirs, no money was changing hands in the deal.For a similar contract see {{cite book Hermanus van Wyk died in Rehoboth in 1905. The German colonial authorities did not approve a successor and instead established the Basterrat (). After the outbreak of World War I, in 1914 the United Kingdom took over the area as a British Protectorate, administered by South Africa beginning in 1915. Cornelius van Wyk was elected in 1914 to succeed Hermanus van Wyk. ==References==