Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group who reside in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama people (or Nama-Khoe people) are the largest group of the Khoekhoe people, many of whom have disappeared as a group. Many of the Nama clans live in Central Namibia and the other smaller groups live in Namaqualand, which today straddles the Namibian border with South Africa. The Khoisan peoples of South Africa and southern Namibia maintained a nomadic life since time immemorial. The Khoekhoe were pastoralists and the San people lived as hunter-gatherers. The Nama are a Khoekhoe group. They originally inhabited the Orange River in southern Namibia and northern South Africa. The early colonialists referred to them as Hottentots. Their alternative historical name, "Namaqua", stems from the addition of the Khoekhoe language suffix "-qua/kwa", meaning "place of" (found in the names of other Southern African nations like the Griqua), to the language name. In April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck, an official of the Dutch East India Company, arrived at the Cape of Good Hope with 90 people to start initial Dutch settlement at the request of the company. They found the indigenous settlers, called the Khoekhoe, there, who had settled in the Cape region at least a thousand years before the Dutch arrived. The Khoekhoe at the Cape practiced pastoral farming; they were the first pastoralists in southern Africa. They lived beside the San people, who were hunter-gatherers. The Khoekhoe had several Nguni cattle and small livestock which they grazed around the Cape. The region was well suited to their lives as pastoralists because it provided enough water for them and their livestock. Initially, when the Dutch made stops at the Cape of Good Hope, they were on their way to the Indonesian archipelago. While there, the Dutch were concerned with getting fresh produce and water for themselves.[4] In the Cape, Van Riebeeck initially attempted to get cattle, land, and labour from the Khoekhoe people through negotiation. However, when these negotiations failed, conflicts began to occur. The Dutch settlers waged wars against the Khoekhoe, seized their lands to construct farms for wheat and other produce, and forced many Khoekhoe people to work as labourers. Their livestock was also taken and they were denied access to grazing and water resources unless they worked for the Dutch settlers.
Nama, any member of a people of southern Namibia who constitute by far the largest Khoekhoe ethnic group, perhaps larger than all the others combined. They represent about one-eighth of the population of Namibia, and there are smaller groups in South Africa and Botswana. Their total population is about 230,000. They speak a Khoisan language notable for its great number of click sounds (click here for an audio clip of the Nama language). The Nama were formerly reasonably prosperous sheep or cattle pastoralists, but intertribal warfare and nearly continuous fighting with the Herero and the Germans from the 19th to the early 20th century decimated their numbers. Some Nama still graze sheep, cattle, or goats where the groundwater of their arid countryside is not too highly mineralized for their stock to drink; many more are migrant labourers on nearby farms herding sheep, tending gardens, or working in homes. Khoisan languages, a unique group of African languages spoken mainly in southern Africa, with two outlying languages found in eastern Africa. The term is a compound adapted from the words khoekhoe ‘person’ and saan ‘bush dweller’ in Nama, one of the Khoisan languages, and scholars have applied the words—either separately or conjoined—to refer to economic, social, physical, and linguistic features of certain aboriginal groups of southern and eastern Africa. Their most distinctive linguistic characteristic is the original and extensive use of click consonants, a feature which has spread through cultural and linguistic contact into a number of Bantu (Niger-Congo) languages—such as Xhosa, Zulu, and Sotho in South Africa and Gciriku (Diriku), Yei (Yeye), and Mbukushu in Botswana and Namibia—and into Dahalo, a Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) language of Kenya. The linguistic use of clicks, whether original or borrowed, is restricted to these few African languages, with one exception: Damin. This ritual vocabulary of the Lardil of Australia contains some words with clicks together with other peculiar sounds, but the use of clicks is limited, and they have a symbolic value in addition to their linguistic function. 
Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama People (or Nama-Khoe people) are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group, except for the Namas. Many of the Nama clans live in Central Namibia and the other smaller groups live in Namaqualand, which today straddles the Namibian border with South Africa. They represent about one-eighth of the population of Namibia, and there are smaller groups in South Africa and Botswana. Their total population is about 230,000. They speak a Khoisan language notable for its great number of click sounds (click here for an audio clip of the Nama language). The Nama were formerly reasonably prosperous sheep or cattle pastoralists, but intertribal warfare and nearly continuous fighting with the Herero and the Germans from the 19th to the early 20th century decimated their numbers. Some Nama still graze sheep, cattle, or goats where the groundwater of their arid countryside is not too highly mineralized for their stock to drink; many more are migrant labourers on nearby farms herding sheep, tending gardens, or working in homes. For thousands of years, the Khoisan peoples of South Africa and southern Namibia maintained a nomadic life, the Khoikhoi as pastoralists and the San people as hunter-gatherers. The Nama are a Khoikhoi group. The Nama originally lived around the Orange River in southern Namibia and northern South Africa. The early colonialists referred to them as Hottentots. Their alternative historical name, "Namaqua", stems from the addition of the Khoekhoe language suffix "-qua/khwa", meaning "people" (found in the names of other Southern African nations like the Griqua), to the language name. From 1904 to 1908, the German Empire, which had colonised present-day Namibia, waged a war against the Nama and the Herero (a group of Bantu pastoralists), leading to the Herero and Namaqua genocide and a large loss of life for both the Nama and Herero populations. This was motivated by the German desire to establish a prosperous colony which required displacing the indigenous people from their agricultural land. Large herds of cattle were confiscated and Nama and Herero people were driven into the desert and in some cases interned in concentration camps on the coast, for example at Shark Island. Additionally, the Nama and Herero were forced into slave labour to build railways and to dig for diamonds during the diamond rush. In the 1920s diamonds were discovered at the mouth of the Orange River, and prospectors began moving there, establishing towns at Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth. This accelerated the appropriation of traditional lands that had begun early in the colonial period. Under apartheid, remaining pastoralists were encouraged to abandon their traditional lifestyle in favour of village life. 
Lauded as fearsome fighters in precolonial times, they routinely fought wars with the neighbouring Herero over fertile grazing grounds dotted across parts of central Namibia. Some of these skirmishes dragged on for a large part of the 1800s. With this feisty trait in mind, it’s unsurprising that the Nama rose not once, but twice, in armed rebellion against German colonial rule. From 1904 to 1907, the Germans, who had colonised present-day Namibia, waged war against the Nama and the Herero (a group of Bantu pastoralists), leading to the Herero and Namaqua genocide in which they killed at least 80% of the Nama and Herero populations. The Nama are the only true descendants of the Khoekhoe left in Namibia. As pastoral nomads, the Nama traditionally had little need to build permanent structures. Their beehive-shaped rush-mat houses were ideally suited to their lifestyle. The concept of communal land ownership still prevails with all tribes, except for in just two tribes. Today most Nama live in permanent settlements. They have adopted western lifestyles and the Christian religion, and work within the formal economy. The Nama have much in common with the San. They are comparatively light in colour and generally short in stature, with certain distinctive characteristics, such as the women’s small and slender hands and feet. They also share their linguistic roots with the San, speaking with distinctive clicks. Aside these, the culture of the Nama people are quite distinct. Nama people have a natural talent for music, poetry and prose. An example of a traditional dance is the well-known Nama stap. Numerous proverbs, riddles, tales and poems have been handed down orally from generation to generation. Nama praise poems range from impromptu love songs and formalised praise of heroic figures, to songs of the animals and plants in their environment. Nama women are highly skilled in needlework. Their embroidery and appliqué work, regarded as a traditional art form, consists of brightly coloured motifs inspired by the rural environment and lifestyles of the Nama people. The traditional patchwork dresses that the Nama women wear are especially typical. The traditional dress of Nama women consists of long, formal dresses that resemble Victorian traditional fashion. The long, flowing dresses were developed from the style of the missionaries in the 1800s, and this traditional clothing is today an integral part of the Nama nation’s culture. This influence on the dressing is due to the fact that most of the indigenous people have largely abandoned their traditional religion through the sustained efforts of Christian (and now Muslim) proselytisers. The majority of the Nama people in Namibia today are therefore Christian while Nama Muslims make up a large percentage of the Namibia’s Muslims. The white flag indicates marriage arrangements are in place. Namas have a complicated wedding ritual and this is one of the cultures of the people that have remained sustained. The Nama people have remained an integral part of Namibia, an interesting set of people who you should get to see.
The Nama tribe, who call themselves the Red Nation, /Awakhoen, are the only true descendants of the Khoekhoe in Namibia. They originally lived in the northern part of the Cape Province, where they adopted the use of horses from the European settlers, living as nomads defending their territories against invaders seeking pasture. In the nineteenth century, they were already living south and north of the Orange River when Jager and Jonker (father of Jan Jonker) crossed it with the Afrikaner tribe. The Afrikaners and four other Nama tribes represented the so-called Oorlam group. Pushed continuously northwards by a rapidly advancing white farming community and led by the famous Jan Jonker Afrikaner, the Nama settled in the southern and central areas of the country. Today the differentiation between Nama and the Oorlam is merely of historical significance. When Herero migrating from the north intruded into Nama pasturelands, a fierce and prolonged battle developed between these two groups. The conflict was brought to an end by German colonial forces in the late 1800s, and home areas including Berseba, Gibeon (Krantzplatz), Bondels, Sesfontein, Soromas and Warmbad were offered to the Namas. Today the concept of communal land ownership still prevails among the Nama tribes, with the exception of the =|Aonin or Topnaars of the Kuiseb environs, whose !nara fields are the property of individual lineages. Traditionally, as pastoral nomads, they had little need for permanent structures, their beehive-shaped rush-mat huts providing such shelter as they required. There are several similarities between the Nama and the San (Bushmen). The Nama are generally short in stature and comparatively light in colour, with certain characteristic features, such as the small, slender hands and feet of the women. They also share linguistic roots with the San, speaking with the distinctive click sounds. The Nama have a substantial oral tradition. Numerous proverbs, riddles, tales and poems have been handed down from generation to generation, the poems ranging from love songs and praise of heroic figures, to songs of the animals and plants in the environment. They also have a natural talent for music and dance. An example of a traditional dance is the well-known Nama stap. Traditionally the Nama people were hunter-gatherers and also pastoral herders breeding cattle, goats and sheep. It was the Nama who introduced fat-tailed sheep to Namibia. Nama women have an inborn talent for creative needlework and embroidery and several co-operative projects have been initiated in the south to promote and market their handiwork. Another craft typical of the Nama people is the kaross or blanket made from skins sewn together, formerly worn by Khoesan and other African people, and nowadays used as a bed or floor covering. 
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