Heinrich Schmelen
English missionary
Quick Summary
Heinrich Schmelen was a missionary of the London Missionary Society who established the first mission station in southwestern Africa at Bethanie, Namibia, in 1814. He worked with the Nama people and the Oorlams, who were of mixed white and Khoekhoe ancestry. Schmelen's home in Bethanie is thought to be the oldest European dwelling in Namibia. He also made early attempts to create a written form of the Nama language.1
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