Introduction
Settlement in Namibia
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Town in ǁKaras Region, NamibiaKeetmanshoop
ǂNūǂgoaesSwartmodderTownKeetmanshoop MunicipalityClockwise from top: Keetmanshoop church, Keetmanshoop airport, Colonial ruins, Aerial view of Keetmanshoop, Colonial post office
Coat of armsNicknames: Die Twaalf, Kaitie, Keetmaro, TwaalflettersMotto: Laborando vincimus
Meaning: We win by labourKeetmanshoopLocation in NamibiaShow map of NamibiaKeetmanshoopKeetmanshoop (Africa)Show map of AfricaCoordinates: 26°34′43″S 18°8′0″E / 26.57861°S 18.13333°E / -26.57861; 18.13333Country NamibiaRegionǁKaras RegionConstituencyKeetmanshoop Urban and Keetmanshoop RuralEstablished14 April 1866Government • TypeMunicipality • MayorFrancis Melody Swartbooi (LPM) • Deputy MayorMacDonald Hanse (LPM)Population (2023) • Total27,862Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)Postal code9000Area code063ClimateBWh
Keetmanshoop is the administrative capital of the ǁKaras Region in southern Namibia. It is named after Johann Keetman [de], a German industrialist and benefactor of the Rhenish Mission in the town. Keetmanshoop had a population of 27,862 people in 2023.
History
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Stamps for German South West Africa postmarked Keetmanshoop 1899
Before the colonial era as from 1810, the settlement was known as ǂNūǂgoaes, the Nama name given it by Kaptein Hendrik Tseib of the Kharo!oan or !Khara|gôan aka the Tseis, one of fourteen tribes of the indigenous Namakhoen or Nama of Namibia. The Afrikaans translation is Swartmodder. Both names mean "(place of) black mud" and refers to the presence of a spring which was rich in surface iron deposits in the area. Gaob Hendrik Tseib discovered the spring in 1808 near the Leeurivier about 40 km northeast of the Kharo!oan settlement when he and a few of his horsemen and four dogs went on a hunting expedition. The first white settler, Guilliam Visagie, arrived here in 1785. When in February 1850 the Kharoǃoan clan (Keetmanshoop Nama) split from the Red Nation, the main subtribe of the Nama people, they settled permanently in the area. In 1860 the Rhenish Missionary Society founded a mission there to christianise the local Nama people. The first missionary, Johann Georg Schröder, arrived in Keetmanshoop on April 14, 1866, which is now marked as the founding date of Keetmanshoop. The mission station was named after the German trader and director of the Rhenish Missionary Society, Johann Keetman [de], who supported the mission financially, although he never actually visited the place himself.
