Keetmanshoop
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Keetmanshoop ǂNuǂgoaes Swartmodder |
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| City | ||
Keetmanshoop church
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| Motto: Laborando vincimus | ||
 Keetmanshoop
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| Coordinates: 26°34′43″S 18°8′0″E / 26.57861°S 18.13333°ECoordinates: 26°34′43″S 18°8′0″E / 26.57861°S 18.13333°E | ||
| Country |
 Namibia
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| Region | ǁKaras Region | |
| Constituency | Keetmanshoop Urban | |
| Established | 14 April 1866 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Gaudentia Kröhne | |
| Population (2011) | ||
| • Total | 20,977 | |
| Time zone | South African Standard Time (UTC+1) | |
| Climate | BWh | |
Keetmanshoop is a city in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and benefactor of the city.
The town is situated in a semi-arid area, normally receiving an annual average rainfall of only 152 millimetres (6.0 in), although in the 2010/2011 rainy season 254 millimetres (10.0 in) were measured.
Before the colonial era, the settlement was known as ǂNuǂgoaes or Swartmodder, both of which mean "Black Marsh" and indicated the presence of a spring in the area. The first white settler, Guilliam Visagie, arrived here in 1785. When in February 1850 the Kharoǃoan clan (Keetmanshoop Nama) split from the Red Nation, the main subtribe of the Nama people, they settled permanently here. In 1860 the Rhenish Missionary Society founded a mission there to christianise the local Nama. The first missionary, Johann Georg Schröder, arrived in Keetmanshoop on April 14, 1866, which is now marked as the founding date of Keetmanshoop. The mission station was named after the German trader and director of the Rhenish Missionary Society Johann Keetman who supported the mission financially. He never actually visited the place himself.
Keetmanshoop has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with long, very hot summers and warm winters. The annual average rainfall is only 159 mm (6 in). Keetmanshoop is one of the sunniest places year-round on the planet with a mean sunshine duration over 3,870 h yearly or 10.7 sunny hours daily or well above 87% of the time. The annual mean temperature is 21.1 °C (70.0 °F) with a mean annual high of 28.8 °C (83.8 °F) and a low of 13.3 °C (55.9 °F). The climate is characterized by sunshine and dryness as well as moderate heat all year long.
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