Editing Karibib (section)

==History==
[[File:Karibib ende 19 jahrhundert.jpg|thumbnail|left|Karibib, ''Pontok'' – traditional house, at the end of the 19th century]]
[[File:Karibib stamp 1900.jpg|thumbnail|left|180px|Stamps for German South West Africa postmarked ''Karibib 1900'']]
Originally Karibib was a waterhole known to the [[Herero people|Herero]] under the name ''Otjandjomboimwe''.<ref>{{cite news | title=Windhoek?! Rather make that Otjomuise | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/16007/archive-read/Windhoek-Rather-make-that-Otjomuise | last=Menges | first=Werner | newspaper=[[The Namibian]] | date=12 May 2005 | archive-date=13 August 2021 | access-date=13 August 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813191207/https://www.namibian.com.na/16007/archive-read/Windhoek-Rather-make-that-Otjomuise | url-status=dead }}</ref> Expecting business opportunities arising from the railway construction between Swakopmund and Windhoek, Eduard Hälbich, merchant at [[Otjimbingwe]], bought the waterhole and 20,000 hectares of land surrounding it from Herero headman [[Zacharias Zeraua]]. The deal was finalised on 7 January 1895, the purchase price was 22,500 [[German gold mark|marks (ℳ)]], two ox wagons, and 742 pounds 5 shillings that Zeraua had incurred in debts in Hälbich's shop in Otjimbingwe.<ref name=Karibib>{{cite web
 |title       = Karibib
 |last        = Henckert
 |first       = Wolfgang
 |publisher   = Henckert Tourist Centre
 |date        = 16 March 2006
 |url         = http://www.henckert.com/karibib/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6%3Akaribib&catid=1%3Ahistory&Itemid=7&lang=en
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110711162341/http://www.henckert.com/karibib/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6%3Akaribib&catid=1%3Ahistory&Itemid=7&lang=en
 |archive-date = 11 July 2011
}}</ref>

Karibib began to grow quickly when on 30 May 1900 the railway construction reached the newly founded place. 1 June 1900 marks the day of the official foundation of Karibib at the occasion of the first train arriving from Swakopmund.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/57.htm
|last=Dierks
|first=Klaus
|author-link=Klaus Dierks
|title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1900
|access-date=17 November 2010}}</ref> The railway station was built, a medical practice, storage facilities, a prison, and living quarters were erected, and the population rose to 274. This development disadvantaged the settlement of Otjimbingwe; ox wagons that before would travel via Otjimbingwe on the [[Alter Baiweg]] (''Old bay path'') would now take the route through Karibib.<ref name=Karibib/>

In 1904 the place once again became important as a railway hub for ferrying troops in the [[Herero and Namaqua Genocide|Herero and Namaqua War]]. Its status was upgraded to that of a county, and governance was extended to include [[Omaruru, Namibia|Omaruru]]. At the end of the war in 1907, Karibib counted 316 white residents, and the remaining Herero land was expropriated and offered to white farmers. Karibib was declared a municipality in 1909, and Eduard Hälbich was its mayor.<ref name=Karibib/>

===Historic Buildings===
[[File:Roesemann-haus karibib namibia 2012.jpg|thumbnail|Roesemann Building (1900), one of Karibib's first structures]]
One of Karibib's oldest buildings is the Roesemannhaus / ''Roesemann's house'', erected in 1900 shortly after the town was founded. Other historic structures are the Wollhaus / ''Wool house (''1900) erected from local marble, the [[Karibib Railway Station|Railway station]] building (1901), the Kaiserbrunnen / ''Emperor fountain (1''906-1908) and the Christ Church (1910).<ref>{{cite news
|title=Karibib-Eine Bahnlinie verändert das Land
|trans-title=Karibib-A Railway Line Changes the Country
|language=de
|last=von Schmettau
|first=Konny
|date=28 February 2013
|work=[[Allgemeine Zeitung (Namibia)|Allgemeine Zeitung]]
|publisher=Tourismus Namibia monthly supplement
|page=9}}</ref>