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The Namibia culture, like its people is diverse; ranging from the pastoral Himba in worthwest, to the San in the east. Tall of stature, Himba men somewhat resemble the Masaai of East Africa, while the women cover their bodies in red ochre. Culturally, they form part of the Herero cultural group. The San no longer pursue an exclusively hunter-gatherer existence, but are struggling to adapt to a new way of life.
The major Namibia culture groups are the Owambo (that I am part of) which consists of eight cultural groups, the Kavango consisting of five cultural groups, Damara, Nama and Herero.
Smaller groups include the Mafwe and Masubia of Caprivi, the Basters, Coloureds, Tswana and Whites of European descent.
Pre-Colonial Namibia
The major ethnic lines of descent in Namibia today were represented in a generally much more discrete lines of descent in pre colonial Namibia. In the 1870s, the Herero, Nama and Damara social formations occupied the central plateau areas: the Hereros to the north, the Nama to the south and Damara in the center. Some of the Damara lived interspersed with the Herero and Nama groups; others lived independently in the Erongo Mountains and other remote areas.
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The Herero had migrated to the Kaokoveld area in the northwest at one time but moved further south and east, across the country from the coast to Gobabis. Some Hereros remained in the Lake Ngami area of present day Botswana.
The Ovambo speaking people were historically organised in fairly distinct cultural subgroups among whom the Kwanyama and Ndonga are major representatives. Traditionally, they have lived in the middle Kunene River region and further south Namibia. Ovambo were in the habit of crossing the river relatively freely until the South African government closed the border with Portuguese ruled Angola after the First World War.
To the east of Ovamboland are the Kavangos who have for a long time have occupied the Okavango River area and the Caprivians who occupy the Caprivi strip.
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Linguistically, the Herero, Ovambo and Kavango and Caprivian people speak the Bantu sub-branch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages.
The San, Kung, Nama and Damara people speaks a language which belongs to the northern and central branches of the Khoisan family.
Nambia Culture is very rich and captivating, much similar to the Dubai culture.
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