Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of South West Africa, which later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bordered roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, and the Windhoek region in the south.

Damaraland
1980–1989
Flag of Damaraland
Flag
Location of Damaraland (green) within South West Africa (grey).
Location of Damaraland (green) within South West Africa (grey).
Map of the bantustan.
Map of the bantustan.
StatusBantustan
Second-tier authority (1980-1989)
CapitalKhorixas
Common languagesKhoekhoe
Herero
English
Afrikaans
German
History 
• Self-government
1980
• Re-integrated into Namibia
May 1989
CurrencySouth African rand
Preceded by
Succeeded by
South West Africa
Namibia
Allocation of Land to bantustans according to the Odendaal Plan. Damaraland is central west.

Administrative history

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Rugged Landscape of Damaraland

Bantustan

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In the 1970s the name Damaraland was chosen for a bantustan, intended by the apartheid-era government to be a self-governing homeland for the Damara people. The bantustan Damaraland was situated on the western edge of the territory that had been known as Damaraland in the 19th century.

Representative authority (1980-1989)

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Following the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference the system of Bantustans was replaced in 1980 by Representative Authorities which functioned on the basis of ethnicity only and were no longer based on geographically defined areas.

The Representative Authority of the Damaras had executive and legislative competencies, being made up of elected Legislative Assemblies which would appoint Executive Committees led by chairmen.

As second-tier authorities, forming an intermediate tier between central and local government, the representative authorities had responsibility for land tenure, agriculture, education up to primary level, teachers' training, health services, and social welfare and pensions and their Legislative Assemblies had the ability to pass legislation known as Ordinances.[1]

Transition to independence (1989-1990)

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Damaraland, like other homelands in South West Africa, was abolished in May 1989 at the start of the transition to independence.

The name Damaraland predates South African control of Namibia, and was described as "the central portion of German South West Africa" in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.[2]

Leadership

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Official Gazette
  2. ^ "Damaraland" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 783.
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