Samuel Maherero (ca. 1854-1923) was the Supreme Chief of the Herero nation, who led his people in revolt against German occupation of Herero lands.

The scramble for Africa by the European powers at the close of the 19th century had tragic consequences for the Herero people of South West Africa. In its quest for a presence in southern Africa, the German imperial government claimed territory along the Atlantic Coast, north of British- and Afrikaner-settled South Africa, and south of Portuguese Angola. The Germans claimed it as German South West Africa (now the independent country of Namibia), and German interests vied for land with the cattle-herding Herero and Nama peoples of the territory. The settlers' demands for land and cattle and the ruthless policies of a German military leader resulted in the almost complete annihilation of the Herero people under the leadership of paramount chief Samuel Maherero.

In 1904, when...