Who the Nama are
Wikipedia describes the Nama (also Namaqua in older sources) as the largest group of the Khoekhoe, living mainly in Namibia, with communities in South Africa and Botswana. They traditionally speak Nama (Khoekhoegowab), of the Khoe-Kwadi family, and many also speak Afrikaans. The article gives about 230,000 people in total, with 112,156 Nama in Namibia at the 2023 census, and it carries several “citation needed” and update tags.
History as the article tells it
It says the Nama originally lived along the Orange River and that, after Dutch settlement at the Cape began in 1652, conflict over land, livestock and labour pushed Khoekhoe groups east and north, with some Nama crossing into what became German South West Africa. It names Jager Afrikaner (a settlement in the late 18th century), Jonker Afrikaner (Oorlam-Nama communities moved to the Windhoek area in the 1820s) and Hendrik Witbooi, who took over leadership in 1884 and later resisted German colonial forces. The Oorlam, people of mixed ancestry who entered Namaqualand in the early 1800s, are said to have assimilated into Nama culture over about two centuries. From 1904 to 1908 Germany waged a war on the Nama and Herero that the article describes as genocide, with cattle confiscation, forced displacement and internment in camps such as Shark Island.
On the South African side, the article says diamond discoveries in the 1920s accelerated the loss of traditional lands, that part of Namaqualand became the Richtersveld National Park in 1991, and that ancestral lands were returned to community ownership in 2002. The last two statements carry the article’s own tags, so please check them against the Richtersveld land-claim record.
Sub-groups
The article lists about ten, including the ǀKhowesen (Gibeon), descended from Witbooi; the Khaiǁkhaun (Red Nation) at Hoachanas; the ǃGamiǂnun (Bondelswarts) at Warmbad; the ǂAonin (Topnaars) at Utuseb and Rooibank; the ǃKharakhoen (Fransman Nama) at Gochas; the Swartbooi Nama; and the Keetmanshoop Nama, which it says split from the Red Nation in 1850. It describes the portable reed-mat house, the haru oms (matjieshuis), still used in the Richtersveld.
What we have not read
We have not read the scholarly works the article cites (for example Blacker, Gewald and Marquardt), and we have not found a South African Nama account of the Richtersveld communities. Nama sub-groups here are the article’s own list; we do not know how many of those names are in use among South African Nama.
Izithakazelo and totem
We have found no recorded praise or totem system for the Nama, so we are printing none. If you are Nama and want your family or community history recorded here, with your permission and credited to you, we would like to hear from you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Nama people (several tags; some sources are tourism sites)
See also Griqua, Korana and Xam.
Are you Nama? Tell us your family’s or community’s history and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.