Herero

Herero

Three Herero women.
Total population
240,000
Regions with significant populations
Namibia  Botswana  Angola
Languages
Herero as well as Portuguese in Angola, English in both Botswana and Namibia, and Afrikaans in Namibia
Religion
Both African Religion and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Bantu

The Herero are a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today. The majority live in Namibia, with the remainder living in Botswana and Angola. Most are employed as workers on large farms or earn their living as merchants or tradesmen in the cities. There is also a growing number of professionals.

The Ovaherero comprise several subgroups, including the Ovahimba, the Ovatjimba (not actually a tribal connotation, but a class one), the Ovambanderu and the vaKwandu, groups in Angola include the vaKuvale, vaZemba, Hakawona, Tjavikwa, Tjimba and Himba who regularly cross the Namibia/Angola border when migrating with their herds. During the colonial period, Europeans attempted to define these as separate ethnic groups, but the people consider themselves all to be Ovaherero. They speak Herero (Otjiherero), and partly Portuguese in Angola, English in both Botswana and Namibia, and Afrikaans in Namibia.

History

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Herero migrated to what is today Namibia from the east and established themselves as herdsmen. In the beginning of the 19th century, the Nama from South Africa, who already possessed some firearms, entered the land and were followed, in turn, by white merchants and German missionaries. At first, the Nama began displacing the Herero, leading to bitter warfare between the two groups which lasted the greater part of the 19th century. Later the two peoples entered into a period of cultural exchange.

During the late 19th century, the first Europeans began entering to permanently settle the land. Primarily in Damaraland, German settlers acquired land from the Herero in order to establish farms. In 1883, the merchant Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz entered into a contract with the native elders. The exchange later became the basis of German colonial rule. The territory became a German colony under the name of German South-West Africa.

Soon after, conflicts between the German colonists and the Herero herdsmen began. Controversies frequently arose because of disputes about access to land and water, but also the legal discrimination against the native population by the white immigrants.

Genocide

In 1904, those conflicts resulted in an uprising, known as the Herero Wars, by the Herero and Nama (interestingly, the uprising was planned in an exchange of letters among tribal leaders and some of these documents have been preserved). After a period of success for the well-equipped insurgents, the German Empire sent a military expedition corps of about 15,000 men under the command of Lothar von Trotha. The war and the subsequent genocide ordered by von Trotha resulted in the death of between 25,000 and 100,000 (possibly 65,000) Herero, about 10,000 Nama and 1,749 Germans, three quarters of the Herero are believed to have been killed.^[1] Since the insurgents had been ordered not to harm priests, clerics were falsely accused of collaboration and sometimes taken into custody.

At the 100th anniversary of the massacre, German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul commemorated the dead on site and apologized for the crimes on behalf of all Germans. But the Herero feel that an apology is not enough and they are demanding financial reparations. In 2004 there has been minor media attention in Germany on this matter.^[2]

Herero culture and language

Herero woman in traditional attire

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Ovaherero are a Bantu-speaking people; the Herero-speaking people were traditionally cattle-herding pastoralists and trekked from spring to spring with their huge herds. Herero land (Ehi Rovaherero) belonged to the community and had no fixed boundaries; it was everywhere Ovaherero could be found. Herero tradition revolves around cattle, since in Herero culture, a man without cattle is nothing. The Herero have a bilateral descent system, a person traces their heritage through their father's oruzo (plural: otuzo) and their mother's eanda (plural: omaanda) ^[3]. Chieftans had little power in Herero society, and since each group established itself independently from each other, these groups often raided one another. But when the nation faced an external threat from a common enemy, the various chiefs banded together.^{[citation needed]}

The Herero are not a homogeneous people. This is because the main group in central Namibia (called Herero proper) has been heavily influenced by Western culture during the colonial period, creating, thus, a mixture of the European and Herero cultures, that is a whole new identity. Even though the different groups share the same language, culture, and origin, their traditions differ sharply. The North-Western groups (such as Himba, Kuvale, and Tjimba) are more conservative, preserving cultural aspects that have been lost by the southern groups (Herero proper and Mbanderu). For example, the Southern Herero have traded in their leather garments for the type worn by Europeans in colonial times. The Southern Herero are involved in the economies of Namibia and Botswana, mostly as cattle breeders. The Kaokoland Herero and those in Angola have remained isolated and are still pastoral nomads, practicing limited horticulture.

The Herero language (Otjiherero) is a South-Central-Bantu language, part of the Niger-Congo family of languages.^[4] Otjiherero group of languages comprise many dialects, including Oluthimba or Otjizemba (Dialect of Angola), which differ mainly in phonology. Other dialects include Otjihimba and Otjikuvale; all the dialects differ from Standard Herero (Central), except Mbanderu which is the same as Standard Herero, but are mutually intelligible (that is, a Southern Herero can be understood by a North-Western Herero and vice-versa). Standard Herero is used in the Namibian media and is also taught in schools through-out the country.

Herero in fiction

A group of Herero living in Germany who were inducted into the German military during the Second World War play a major part in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow. The genocide under von Trotha plays a major role in another novel by the same author, V..

German author Uwe Timm's novel Morenga, set in German South-West Africa, also includes several Herero characters.

See also

• History of Namibia
• Herero Wars
• Herero massacre
• Herero language

Publications

• Rachel Anderson, Redressing Colonial Genocide Under International Law: The Hereros' Cause of Action Against Germany, 93 California Law Review 1155 (2005).
• Hans Schinz, Deutsch Südwest-Afrika, (Oldenburg and Leipzig, 1891)
• S. Passarge, Südafrika, (Oldenburg and Leipzig, 1908)

External links

The following links were last verified 24 June 2007.

• Atrocities committed on the Herero people during the suppression of their uprising in German South West Africa 1904-1907

References

Photographs

• Africa on the Matrix: Herero People of Namibia — Photographs and information.