Khomas

Khomas is the highland region around Windhoek, Namibia's capital and by far its largest city. Germany founded its colonial garrison town here in 1890, Herero and Nama prisoners of the 1904 to 1908 genocide were held and worked to death in a camp in the town, and the forced removal from the Old Location in 1959 helped push the independence movement towards armed struggle. Several of the memorials to this history stand within a short walk of each other in central Windhoek.

1. Before the 1840s

   Hot springs drew herders to the valley long before any town. The Nama called the place ǀAiǁGams (fire water) and the Herero Otjomuise (place of steam), both names for the springs. source

2. 1840s

   Jonker Afrikaner, leader of the Orlam (Khoekhoe-speaking groups who had moved north from the Cape), settled at the main spring in what is now Klein Windhoek and built a stone church for about 500 people. Rhenish missionaries Carl Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt arrived in 1842, but wars between the Nama and Herero later destroyed the settlement, and by 1873 little was left. source

3. 1890

   Germany declared its protectorate over South West Africa in 1884. On 18 October 1890 Major Curt von François of the Schutztruppe (the colonial army) laid the foundation stone of the fort now called the Alte Feste, choosing Windhoek as a buffer between the Nama and the Herero, with twelve strong springs for water. source

4. 1904 to 1908

   During the genocide of the Herero and Nama, Windhoek held one of the five main concentration camps, where prisoners, most of them women and children, were forced to build roads, railways and harbours and around half of all prisoners in the camp system died. source

5. 1915

   South African troops occupied Windhoek on 12 May 1915, during the First World War, ending German rule. A military government then ran South West Africa for five years. source

6. 1959

   After 1948 South Africa extended its apartheid laws to South West Africa. On 10 December 1959 police opened fire on residents of the Old Location protesting against their forced removal to the new township of Katutura, killing 11 and wounding 44. The shooting pushed leaders such as Sam Nujoma into exile, helped lead to the founding of SWAPO (the South West Africa People's Organisation), and 10 December is now Human Rights Day, a public holiday. source

7. 1975 to 1977

   South Africa hosted the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference in a German gymnasium built in 1909, to draw up self-government for South West Africa under South African control. SWAPO stayed away and the United Nations rejected the conference, but it led to the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, which won the 1978 elections. source

8. 1990

   Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990 after the South African Border War and elections in which SWAPO won 57% of the vote. Sam Nujoma was sworn in as the first president at a ceremony attended by Nelson Mandela. source

Language

Khomas speaks the whole country's languages. In the 2023 census Oshikwanyama, one of the Oshiwambo dialects, was the main home language in 21.0% of households, followed by Afrikaans (14.9%), Oshindonga (10.9%), English (10.4%), Otjiherero (9.6%) and Khoekhoegowab, the Nama and Damara language (8.7%). German was the home language of 1,551 households, most of them in Windhoek East. source

Katutura

Katutura, the township created by the forced removals, takes its name from an Otjiherero phrase usually translated as the place where we do not want to live. In 1962 its residents were Ovambo, Damara, Coloured, Nama, Herero and Mbanderu people, and today it is home to the Sam Nujoma Stadium and one of the city's two state hospitals. source

Herero dress

Herero women in traditional dress are an everyday sight on Windhoek's streets, among the office crowds in suits. source

German-speaking Windhoek

Many of Namibia's German speakers live in Windhoek, and the community keeps its own German-medium schools, churches and broadcasting, and Die Allgemeine Zeitung, Africa's only German-language daily. Afrikaans is still the city's everyday common language, although government works in English. source

Food

Some local bars and food stalls in Windhoek serve kapana (grilled beef), matangara (tripe) and mopane worms (caterpillars), with mahangu (pearl millet) on the side. source