Heinrich Schmelen

The Reverend

Johann Heinrich Schmelen
Personal details
BornJohann Hinrich Schmelen
(1776-01-07)7 January 1776
Kassebruch, Bremen-Verden
Died26 July 1848(1848-07-26) (aged 72)
Komaggas, Cape Colony

Johann Heinrich Schmelen (born Johann Hinrich Schmelen; 7 January 1776 – 26 July 1848) was a German missionary and linguist who worked in South Africa and South West Africa. Traveling through the area of today's northern South Africa and central and southern Namibia he founded the mission stations at Bethanie and Steinkopf and discovered the natural harbour at Walvis Bay. Together with his wife Zara he translated parts of the Bible into Khoekhoegowab (Damara/Nama) and published a dictionary.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.