Every town in the world has a name. Sometimes it is very interesting to find out exactly how that town got its name. What is the meaning behind the name, or who or what it was named after? Some of these places, you will visit while on a Namibia tour, so it’s always nice o have a little historical information.
Windhoek
Windhoek has had at least seven names over the years. The nomadic Khoekhoe people called the area “Aigams” which means hot springs. This is the same name the Herero People gave it but in their language, it was called “Otjomuise”. Both are with reference to the hot springs that can be found in the city centre today. In 1836, English explorers arrived and on finding the hot springs once again gave the area a name relating to that, calling it “Queen Adelaide’s Bath”. After that, the Renish Missionaries arrived and it was known as “Concordiaville”. Captain Jonker Afrikaner moved to the area in 1844. He was from the Tulbagh area in South Africa and it is believed he named it “Windhoek” after the Winterhoek mountains where his ancestors originated from. With the German colonization in 1890, it was called the German version, “Windhuk”, but when the country fell under South African rule in 1920, the town became Windhoek and it remained that way even after the country’s independence in 1990.
Luderitz
In 1487 Bartolomeu Diaz sailed into the bay and named the area “Angra Pequena”, which is Portuguese for “Small Bay”. A stone statue was erected there and that can still be viewed today. In 1883 Heinrich Vogelsang purchased Angra Penquena and some of the surrounding area on behalf of Adolf Luderitz. Adolf Luderitz took off on an expedition to the Orange River in 1886 and simply never returned. Angra Pequena was then renamed “Luderitzbucht”, meaning Luderitz Bay in honour of Adolf Luderitz. Today this Bavarian Style city is not what you would expect to find on the coast of Namibia.
Swakopmund
Swakopmund’s original name is derived from the word “Tsoakhaub”. This is the name given to the area by its original inhabitants the Nama. The Original people of Namibia would build their settlements close to a water source. The name Tsoakhaub means “Excrement Opening”, accurately describing the river when in flood. When the river was in flood the water would bring down masses of mud, vegetation, trees and often animal corpses. Europeans changed the name to “Swachaub”, and since 1896 the name became Swakopmund.
Grootfontein
Grootfontein directly translated means “Big Spring”. The town was actually first named by the original inhabitants of the area, the Herero people. They called the area “Otjivanda” which means “Place of the Leopards”. The San people called it “Gei-/ous” with translates to “Big Spring”. The big spring that is being referred to is actually a large hot spring that is located close to Grootfontein. Part of the Dorsland Trekker, back in 1885, 40 Boer farmers settled at Grootfontein after trekking into Angola. Angola fell under Portuguese control and they moved back to Grootfontein and named the area the Republic of Upingtonia.