Category German Immigrants to South Africa

Question

I was contacted to resolve this but need help please 

How do we navigate Categories for our German Immigrants 

German Immigrants did not only come to the Cape but could also be found in Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State 

To map out every "country name change" will IMHO cause a lot of mistakes but if you recommend this we will need 3 for the Cape  5 for Natal  3 for the Transvaal and 4 for the Orange Free State to replace the current Cape of Good hope   as can be seen here https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Dutch_Cape_Colony%2C_Immigrants_from_Holy_Roman_Empire

What should we do about the wording South Africa in the current category Do we keep it simple or do we create many different categories (15)  for the period before 1910   

 

I will appreciate your expert opinion if you don't mind helping out  please

Can we keep it simple with  only 2?

South Africa for the country

and  South Africa before 1910 and South Africa after  1910   in the To entry   line  of the  present category? 

 

 

 

Comments

Hi Ronel

In the Cape of Good Hope project we used this 

• [[Category:German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope]]

You know Im not good with this. Can we ask Ales to change it.

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Susanna, the problem is that this category with this naming does not fit into the approved system of migration categories. So you need to change something at it. I worked with the German part of that category now for a few weeks, and from what I see, the category could look like "(whatever South Africa Project decides), Immigrants from Holy Roman Empire". Seeing the German part of the category that would fit.
When you decided how the South Africa Project wants to organize its migration categories, I can send you a link to a very helpful Space Page that shows in a few steps how to rename a category. Feel free to send me a message about it.

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Just my 2c.

We have to keep in mind that most of the german immigrants in the period 1652 - 1806 were our progenitor. And for that reason protected under our project. 

Cape of Good Hope Stamouer-Progenitor 1652-1805 Project (wikitree.com)

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Good point Susanna.

The progenitor profiles are project protected.

I expect that it should be fairly easy to make a migration category to replace "German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope" and fit inside the new rules.

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Another point: Renaming the category does not change the protectedness of the profiles. They stay protected under the COGH-project. The "box" where the German immigrants are in stays the same, it only gets a new label.

Answer 1

In Germany we seperated the migration categories in 4 sections, simpifying it a bit:

Holy Roman Empire, Emigrants for emigrants before 1806. In the second level we can create categories for particular territories if wanted.

German Confederation for the time from 1806 until 1870. We skip there the time of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806-1813) and the time of the North-German Confederation (1868-1870).

German Empire for the time from 1871 to 1945. We don't distinguish if people emigrated before the World Wars or between or during them.

Germany for the time from 1945, skipping the time after WWII, when the Allied occupied Germany until the (de facto) two Germanys got their constitutions in 1949.

Comments

Thank you for all the information Jelena

It is much appreciated

Answer 2

Hi Ronnel,
Thank you for asking this question.

The problem is that the Migration Category Structure was formally changed a few years ago. It is very focussed on emigration from one place to a different place to settle. The existing migration category "German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope" was created before and today it does not fit the new system.

I am looking at this problem from the perspective of the Germany Project. I agree with all of the comments that Jelena has made.

It is important to keep the number of categories as small as possible. It is a good idea to consolidate different countries and regions as much as possible. I have seen a good example of this type of consolidation:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Transvaal_pre_1910

I am very interested in this discussion and have more ideas.

Comments

Thank you Steve for making contact and sharing your expert advise

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Thanks. 

I agree with Jelena that the replacement category should be "(whatever South Africa Project decides), Immigrants from Holy Roman Empire". The Holy Roman Empire aimed to consolidate German speaking regions and should cover almost all German Emigrants.....

The final decisions should be made by the South Africa Project. I can offer advice. I think that it is a good idea to use the administration entities described in:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:South_Africa%2C_Historic_Places

Answer 3

Hi Ronel,

As a suggestion I have created a new migration category https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Migrants_from_Prince-Bishopric_of_Osnabr%C3%BCck_to_Dutch_Cape_Colony

Immigration to the Dutch Cape Colony is now located under the existing category "South Africa, Historic Places". Can you review this example with the South Africa Project? If it is not satisfactory then it can be easily modified.

Kind regards, Steve.

Comments

Thank you Seve

Will ask the team and get back to you asap

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If we are going to use random names for Cabo de Goede Hoop like Dutch Cape Colony, maybe we should really make an effort and do it properly. Lets rename Natal and call it the British Port Colony, or lets call London the British River settlement. Maybe we can call Transvaal the Boer Highland Settlement.

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Thank you Louis.
At this stage the category names are easily changed

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Hi Steve

I pm you  ( not allowed here = to many word for this conversation box ) with the suggestion  to take into consideration

Thank you for your  commitment

Answer 4

Just FYI: I finished the work on the German parts of the profiles in that category. I formatted the locations the best I could. When there were several possibilities and no further information about the German location in the profile, I added a research note usually with a link to the German Wikipedia-disambiguation site. And whereever I found the place I added a German location categoy.

Comments

Excellent work Jelena!

I am discussing the answer to the original question with Ronel. The basic structure to replacing "German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope" is clear to me. Still ironing out details.

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Thanks Jelena

Much appreciated  and thank you for your patience with us

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Thank you Steve for helping out

Answer 5

Hi Ronel,
I have followed your advice to use "Cabo de Goede Hoop" to consolidate the many European settlements in Southern Africa between 1652 and 1806.

I propose to move the profiles from the obsolete
[[Category:German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope]] to a new category https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Cabo_de_Goede_Hoop%2C_Immigrants_from_Holy_Roman_Empire .

This category is mostly written in English but I have used 'Google Translate' to write some of it in Afrikaans. It has a parallel language category in English  [[Category: Dutch Cape Colony, Immigrants from Holy Roman Empire]].

There was not a country "South Africa" before 1910. I have leant heavily on the good work to consolidate many nations and colonies in https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:South_African_Place_Categorisation_v.II

In the migration category structure "South Africa, Historic Places" (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrika, Historiese Plekke) is identified as a "Country".

In the future, the Holy Roman Empire, may be subdivided into smaller divisions and profiles moved down. One example is:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Migrants_from_Prince-Bishopric_of_Osnabr%C3%BCck_to_Cabo_de_Goede_Hoop

I now invite any comments or questions,

Kind regards, Steve.

Answer 6

The problem [[Category:German Emigration to Cape of Good Hope]] has gone. I have renamed the category with a large number of Wikitree profiles to: 
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Cabo_de_Goede_Hoop%2C_Immigrants_from_Holy_Roman_Empire.

This has been complex. I believe the change is consistent with Cape of Good Hope Stamouer-Progenitor 1652-1805 Project (wikitree.com) but it should to be reviewed.

If any problems or questions appear please contact me by Personal Message.         
Steve Thomas.

Comments

Thank you Steve

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no worries. happy to help.