1 2 “Everything is scorched by the burning sun”: Missionary perspectives and 3 experiences of 19th and early 20th century droughts in semi-arid central 4 Namibia 5 6 Stefan Grab1, Tizian Zumthurm,2,3 7 8 1 School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the 9 Witwatersrand, South Africa 10 2 Institute of the History of Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland 11 3 Centre for African Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland 12 13 Correspondence to: Stefan Grab (
[email protected]) 14 15 Abstract. Limited research has focussed on historical droughts during the pre-instrumental 16 weather-recording period in semi-arid to arid human-inhabited environments. Here we describe 17 the unique nature of droughts over semi-arid central Namibia (southern Africa) between 1850 18 and 1920. More particularly, our intention is to establish temporal shifts of influence and 19 impact that historical droughts had on society and the environment during this period. This is 20 achieved through scrutinizing documentary records sourced from a variety of archives and 21 libraries. The primary source of information comes from missionary diaries, letters and reports. 22 These missionaries were based at a variety of stations across the central Namibian region and 23 thus collectively provide insight to sub-regional (or site specific) differences in hydro- 24 meteorological conditions, and drought impacts and responses. Earliest instrumental rainfall 25 records (1891-1913) from several missionary stations or settlements are used to quantify hydro- 26 meteorological conditions and compare with documentary sources. The work demonstrates 27 strong-sub-regional contrasts in drought conditions during some given drought events and the 28 dire implications of failed rain seasons, the consequences of which lasted many months to 29 several years.