Damara (people)

Damara

Damara people in Damaraland, Namibia
Total population
200,000 (2011)
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Khoekhoe (coll. Damara)
Religion
Both African Religion and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Nama, Kwisi, Kwadi, Cimba

The Damara, plural Damaran (Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, literally Black people, German: Berg Damara, referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who make up 8.5% of Namibia's population. They speak the Khoekhoe language (like the Nama people) and the majority live in the northwestern regions of Namibia, however they are also found widely across the rest of the country. They have no known cultural relationship with any of the other tribes anywhere else in Africa, and very little is known of their origin. It has been proposed that the Damara are a remnant population of south-western Africa hunter-gatherers, otherwise only represented by the Cimba, Kwisi, and Kwadi, who adopted the Khoekhoe language of the immigrant Nama people.

Their name in their own language is the "Daman" (where the "-n" is just the Khoekhoe plural ending). The name "Damaqua" stems from the addition of the Khoekhoe suffix "-qua/khwa" meaning "people" (found in the names of other Southern African peoples like the Namaqua and the Griqua).

Prior to 1870 the hunter-gatherer Damaran occupied most of central Namibia they used to practice pastoralism with sheep and cattle, but were also agriculturalist planting pumpkins, corn, tobacco. The Damaran were also copper-smiths known for their ability to melt copper and used to make ornaments, jewelry, knives and spear heads out of iron. The Damaran just like the Sān believed in communal ownership of land meaning that no individual owned land as God had given land to everyone. Not to for one to own good grazing land and the other to scavenge for land but that everyone live in harmony. It was for this reason that many were displaced when the Nama and Herero began to occupy this area in search of better grazing. Thereafter the Damara were dominated by the Namaqua and the Herero, most living as servants in their households.