Lüderitz, Namibia is a town on one of the best harbours on the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It was founded in 1883 when Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Pequeña and some of the surrounding land on behalf of Adolf Lüderitz, a hanseat from Bremen, from the local Nama chief. Lüderitz began its life as a trading post, fishing, and guano-harvesting town, but when diamonds were discovered in 1909 in nearby Kolmanskop, Lüderitz enjoyed a sudden surge of prosperity. Now the diamonds are mostly found elsewhere and offshore, so Lüderitz has reverted to its former self.
Lüderitz's harbour has a rock bottom and is very shallow, meaning that modern ships are not able to use the harbour. This has caused the centre of Namibian shipping to relocate to Walvis Bay. However, recently the addition of a new quay has allowed larger fishing vessels to dock at Lüderitz. Recently Lüderitz has re-styled itself in an attempt to lure tourists to the area, and there is a new waterfront shopping and office area.
Just outside of Lüderitz is the Kolmanskop Ghost Town. This previously bustling diamond town is now abandoned and fights a constant struggle with the sand dunes of the Namib desert.
On the 16 February 1907, Cornelius Fredericks died in a prison camp on a rocky, wind-swept outcrop off the coast of Luderitz known locally as ''Haifisch'' (Shark) Island.
In the annual report for Luderitz in 1906, an unknown clerk remarks that the ''Angel of Death'' had come to Shark Island.
In Luderitz the town's first cemetery was removed, erasing all traces of a prisoner-of-war cemetery - if indeed it ever existed.
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