User talk:Juikk

Often I google and search on Wikipedia for material related to the Damara. I unfortunately only gain input from people who are non Damara who assume to know something about our history. No one to date can pinpoint a specific date or just even specific year on which the Damara entered the Namibian territory. To this end I initiated a centralized effort at gathering input to help rectify the history of the Damara tribe of Namibia from various speakers of this unique click language: below is an account from Mr Abner Xoagub - This centralised space of gathering information is a stepping stone toward having the correct version of the Damara history documented in this modern era of a digitally united world:

╪Nūkhoen [Damaran] the original inhibitants of Namibia with the San:

There is a diversity of original peoples in Namibia. The most famous, San (also called Bushmen) are generally assumed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region comprising today's Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The San were hunters and gatherers with a nomadic lifestyle. The most important part of their diet consisted of fruits, nuts and roots, but they also hunted different kinds of antelopes.

Over time, many different ethnic groups of immigrants settled in Namibia.

Khoisan immigration - the Nama and Damara - ╪nukhoen

Until about 2,000 years ago the original hunters and gatherers of the San people were the only inhabitants in Namibia. At this time the Nama (also known as Namaqua), the Khoikhoi and the Hottentots settled around the Orange River in the south on the border between Namibia and South Africa where they kept herds of sheep and goats.

Both the San and the Nama were Khoisan peoples, and spoke languages from the Khoisan language group.

Damara - Settle in Namibia: Orange River in the South to Kunene and Kavango in the North.

In the 9th century Damara (also known as Bergdama or Berg Damara), ╪nukhoen - "Dark of Complexion" their skin colour was darker then the San, Hottentots and Namaqua Khoisan group, entered Namibia. It is unclear where they came from, but they settled in the grasslands in central Namibia, known as Damaraland. From the 9th century to the 17th the ╪nukhoen were living in Namibia.

Bantu immigration - the Herero

During the 17th century the Herero, apastoral, nomadic people keeping cattle, moved into Namibia. They came from the east African lakes and entered Namibia from the northwest. First they resided in Kaokoland, but in the middle of the 19th century some tribes moved further south and into Damaraland. A number of tribes remained in Kaokoland: these were the Himba people, who are still there today. The Herero were said to have enslaved certain groups and displaced others such as the San to marginal areas unsuitable for their way of life.

It's is obvious that modern history of the 19th century cannot and will not truly tell the story of the ╪nukhoen - Damaran. We do have a major task to research and write our history from the 9th to 19th century. In fact we need to write our history for the past ten centuries.

By Mr Abner Xoagub. More on the writer profile to follow