Inhabitants of the Republic of Namibia vary from hunter-gatherers, herders and farmers to an urban population consisting of traders, civil servants, industrialists and individuals in a wide diversity of professions, belonging to many different cultural and ethnic groups.
1. Himba
- The ancient tribe tall,slender and beautiful herders. They have live in scattered settlements since 16th century.
- The famous tribe of red people in Northern Namibia
- They are descendants of the Herero.
- Clothes, hairstyle and jewellery are all of significant and are part of their traditional culture
- Himba women do not wear a lot of clothes. To protect themselves from the sun they make a paste of butter fat, orchre and herbs to put on their skin. That is why their skin looks red.
2. Owambo
- Largest group of people in Namibia
- They cultivate maize, sorghum, beans, melons, onions and mahango.
- They fish when the low lying areas fill with water from Angola.
- They are traders and they've got shops and food markets in their community
- group of tribes in Northern Namibia and Southern part of Angola.
- total population 70000 half of the population of the country.
- There are eight tribes in this group
* Kwanyana * Ngandjera * Eunda
* Kwambi * Naongo * Nkolonkadhi
* Mbalanhu * Kwaluudhi
( Kwanyana and Ndongo are the two largest tribes )
3. Bushman/San
- are the original inhabitants of Southern Africa
- the total population is 27,000
- this hunters-gatherers lives in the east of the country and Kalahari Desert in Botswana
- they hunt different species of antelopes
- daily food is composed of fruits, berries and roots of the desert
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4. Damara
- the oldest cultural group next to San
- approximately 90,000 people
- they cultivate corns and vegetables
5. Kavango
- they are related to Owambo.
- the population is approximately 140,000
- the Kavango are river people
- they live near Okavango river,traditional living from fishing, cattle farming and cultivating sorghum, miller and maize
- they are famous for their expressive wood carvings