Coloured People

It is estimated that there are about 80,000 coloured people residing in Namibia. The majority of those now living here were born in Namibia to coloured parents. Their origin in South Africa goes back to the days of early settlements at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa when many of the European men intermarried and interbred with Khoisan women and then subsequently workers from the East, brought to the Cape by the Dutch to help develop the remote outpost, as well as replenish ships sailing to and from the East.

In those days there were virtually no women of European descent and of marriageable age in the Cape or its hinterland, and as a result, men of European descent also interbred with the female offspring of the slave labourers from the East. Children born of slaves automatically became the property of the slave owner and thus it was that many of those born as a result of this miscegenation, were exposed to the Christian religion and the culture of their “owners”.

Most Coloured people have Afrikaans as their home language. Because their blood was said to be mixed or “coloured” they were accordingly classified as “Coloureds”, a name that remains until today.

Discrimination denied many of these people the right to participated freely in social and economic activities, as a result, many moved away from the Cape. Being ostracized as they were, the Coloured people developed their own culture.

Much of the success in the early development of the fruit growing, wine and textile, construction and fishing industries can be attributed to the invaluable contributions made by the Coloured people. Most of them in Namibia can trace their origins back to the Cape. There are, however, many whose ancestors are Namibian/European.