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Namibia Holiday & Travel - People of Namibia |
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THE PEOPLE OF NAMIBIA
Based on the latest official census (2001) and the growth rate of 2.6% over the last 15 years, Namibia’s population stands at an estimated 2.3 million in 2010. Spread over a vast surface area of 824 269 km2, with large areas consisting of desert or semi-desert with low rainfall, scarce water resources and poor soil fertility, the country’s comparatively small population has one of the lowest densities in the world. Growth rates in towns and cities are much higher than in rural areas because of urbanisation. The next official population census is planned for 2011.
Namibia has a rich ethnic diversity and cultural heritage. Inhabitants vary from hunter-gatherers, herders and farmers to an urban population of semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled people, including traders, industrialists, civil servants and individuals providing professional services.
Notable examples of Namibia’s diverse cultural groups are Herero women in distinctive Victorian-style dresses; the Nama and Damara who speak with intriguing click sounds; Himba women with their intricate hairstyles and ornamental copper necklaces and anklets; and the San (Bushmen), the last representatives of the hunter-gatherer tradition. For information on the culture, crafts and traditional lifestyles of the various groups.
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 The Caprivians
Just under 80 000 people live in East Caprivi, which borders on Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana.
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The Coloureds
Today people of mixed descent are an integral part of most populations throughout Africa, but because of the nature of their descent, they are sometimes not integrated into any of the other cultural groups.
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 The Damara
The origins of the Damara people are an enigma to anthropologists.
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 The Herero
The Herero are a pastoral cattle-breeding people who migrated to Namibia several centuries ago.
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 The Himba
The Himba, Tjimba and other Herero people who inhabit Namibia’s remote north-western Kunene Region are loosely referred to as the Kaokovelders.
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 The Kavango
Forming the border between Namibia and Angola for more than 400 km is the Okavango River, lifeline of the Kavango people, who make a living from fishing, cattle farming and cultivating sorghum, millet and maize on the wide fertile plains on either side.
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 The Nama
The only true descendants of the Khoekhoe in Namibia are the Nama, whose ancestors originally lived north and south of the Orange River.
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 The Topnaars
Described by anthropologists as the modern descendants of the oldest population group in Namibia, the Topnaars are a hardy group of Khoesan people who have lived on the banks of the Kuiseb River for many years.
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 The Owambo
The people referred to collectively as the Aawambo live in central northern Namibia and southern Angola.
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 The Rehoboth Basters
The history of the Rehoboth Basters goes back to the settlement of the first Dutch colonists under Jan van Riebeeck, who landed at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
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 The San
The earliest known inhabitants of Nami-bia are the San (Bushmen), who belong to the Khoesan peoples.
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The Tswana
Numbering approximately 8 000, the Tswana are the smallest cultural group in Namibia.
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The Whites
Approximately 100 000 Namibians of European descent currently live in Namibia, of whom about two-thirds speak Afrikaans, one quarter German and the rest mostly English, and to a lesser extent, Portuguese.
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