Damara
With the Nama and the Bushmen, the Damara are among the first inhabitants of the country, speaking the same Khoi, the famous click language. A hunting people, the Damara are today essentially cattle breeders. Traditional enemies of the Nama and Herero, they had supported the German colonial forces, notably in Waterberg during the Herero revolt at the beginning of the last century. Rewarded for their loyalty, the colonial authorities gave them a large territory in northern Namibia, Damaraland, along the Skeleton Coast. Today, a quarter of them still live in this territory, the rest of the Damara work on farms and in mines. They make up just over 7% of the population. Damara women dress in the same Victorian dresses as Herero and Nama women.
Herero
Traditionally cattle breeders like the Damara, the Herero make up 7% of the population, one of the largest ethnic groups in Namibia after the Owambo and Kavango. The Herero women do not go unnoticed with their voluminous Victorian dress and bowler hats, which have characterized them since the late 19th century. In 1904, the Herero and Nama launched a major revolt against the occupation of their territory by German colonial troops. The bloody repression led to the battle of Waterberg, where more than three quarters of the Herero population was massacred (about 80,000 dead). The few survivors took refuge in the Kalahari desert or in neighboring Botswana. In 2001, a Herero association based in Washington in the United States sued the German state for genocide. The lawsuit was unsuccessful, but it had the merit of revealing to the world the massacre of the Herero by the German colonial army. In 2004, the German government apologized to the Herero people, acknowledging the moral and historical responsibilities of its country. It was not until 2021 that the German government officially recognized the genocide of the Herero and Nama people and paid 1.1 billion euros in compensation.
Himba
Sharing the same ethnic origin as the Herero, the Himba have left the harshness of the Kalahari desert for Kaokoland in North Kunene to occupy the only available land, which is a little less inhospitable but arid and mountainous. Representing less than 1% of the population, the Himba are a nomadic people, mostly herders and their livestock often represent their only wealth. Icons of the country, Himba women are the most photographed because of their tradition of covering their skin and hair with red earth to protect themselves from the sun and insects.
Basters
These descendants of the Nama people and the first Cape Town settlers who arrived in the 17th century speak Afrikaans. The first Basterd or mixed-race children were rejected by the white and black communities in the Cape Colony. Proud to be grouped together in the Coloureds, they regrouped a little to the north, away from the settlers, developing their own social and cultural identity. To avoid confrontation with the Cape settlers, the Basters crossed the Orange River around 1860 and founded Rehoboth in 1871, setting up their own system of governance around a head of state(Kaptein) and a legislative assembly(volksraad). Their support for German colonial troops during wars against other tribes brought them several privileges. The South Africans used them to dominate by offering them an autonomous status in Rehoboth, thus forcing the division of the Basters with the other black races. Today, the Basters, even if they represent only 2% of the population, keep a strong identity.
Bushmen/San
Although they make up only 3% of the total population, the Bushmen are known worldwide for having long been perceived as the first people on the African continent, if not of humanity. Archaeological research in the Kalahari has revealed a human presence for over 40,000 years. They are the originators of the click language (Koisan), recognized as one of the most phonetically complex. Today, the Bushmen and San live in the west of the country in the great Kalahari Desert. They are also found in Botswana and in small numbers in Angola.
Caprivians
Originally Bantu, the Caprivians inhabit the fertile, swampy land between the Zambezi and Chobe rivers in the far east of the Zambezi (formerly Caprivi Strip), in the northeast of the country. They have the richest land in the country for agriculture, but it is still little or not exploited at all because of the war that took place on these lands between Angola and South African troops. It is still one of the least developed regions of the country. With 4% of the population, the Caprivians live, like their ovambo and kavango neighbors, from market gardening, livestock and fishing.
Nama
Also called Hottentot, the Nama are close to the Bushmen and San, the country's original inhabitants, traditionally sharing the same click language (Khoisan), light skin and hunting as a way of life. Representing 5% of the population, they live mainly in Damaraland and north of Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia, where they work on large farms. Nama women dress in the same traditional Victorian style as Herero women.
Ovambo
By far the most numerous group with more than half of the population. Its language, Oshivambo (also called Ambo or Vambo), is of Bantu origin. Essentially traders, the Ovambo traditionally live in the far north of the country, near Angola, called Ovamboland, the most fertile region of the country that receives the main rains that flow into Namibia. Before independence, the high population density near socialist Angola disturbed the South African administration, which invested heavily, hoping to create a focus of resistance against the revolutionary ideas of neighboring Angola. This policy proved to be counterproductive as Owamboland became the main stronghold of SWAPO during the war of independence. Due to the influx of refugees fleeing the civil war in Angola and the strong anti-South African sentiment, the region will experience strong migratory pressure and will be abandoned to itself by Pretoria. After independence, the region will attract significant investment to catch up on its development.
Kavango
They share the same name as the Okavango River that separates Namibia from Angola. They share with the Ovambo the fertile part of the country. Many of them lived in Angola before moving to Namibia during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s. Doubling their numbers in the country, the Kavango are now the second largest tribe in the country. Culturally close to the Owambo, they are generally involved in fishing and agriculture.
Coloured
The term Coloured is used in South Africa and Namibia to describe people from mixed white and black unions. These people have built a strong identity and are distinct from the white and black communities. Speaking mainly in Afrikaans or sometimes in English, they live in the urban areas of Windhoek, Keetmanshoop or Lüderitz. In Walwis Bay, they are mostly active in the fishing industry and in the south of the country, they are farmers.
White Namibians
The Germans were the first white inhabitants to settle in Namibia. After opening trading posts in the port of Lüderitz in 1884, the Germans gradually established a Germanic colony attracting more and more adventurers. At the same time, the Boers of the Cape, fleeing from the British and conquering the new lands of the north, came under their control in 1906. After the First World War and the defeat of the German Empire, Namibia came under the control of South Africa. Many Boers joined this "new" country.
Other Europeans settled there, notably Anglo-Saxon missionaries, traders, adventurers and game hunters. The vast majority of these white Namibians now live in urban areas, in the center or south of the country, and run practically the entire economy of Namibia and of course the entire tourism sector. They have owned the majority of Namibia's land since colonization, and are now frowned upon by the black population, who would like the Namibian government to redistribute the land more equitably.
Languages
English is the official language, but it is still spoken by only a small percentage of the population, as Afrikaans was the common language before 1990 (and still is today). German continues to be the mother tongue of many Namibians of Germanic origin. The African populations of Namibia are either of Bantu origin (Oshivambo, Herero, Caprivians) or of Khoisan origin (Nama, Damara, San). The Khoisan languages are characterized by their famous clicks. Among the Bantu populations, several tribes exist within the same people and often speak very different dialects. For example, there are more than eight different Ovambo dialects. The Herero speak a language characterized by the many "o's" at the beginning of words and found in place names such as Omaruru and Okahandja. Afrikaans is quite widespread because it was compulsory in schools from 1947 to 1989, just before independence, and is still used as a language of communication between whites and blacks in remote areas, or between whites and their employees, especially on farms. In the tourism sector, almost everyone speaks English, each with their own accent.
