The Ovambo people (), also called Aawambo, Ambo, Aawambo (Ndonga, Nghandjera, Kwambi, Kwaluudhi, Kolonghadhi, Mbalantu, Mbandja), or Ovawambo (Kwanyama), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily modern Namibia. They are the single largest ethnic group in Namibia, accounting for about half of the population. Despite concerted efforts from Christian missionaries to wipe out what they believed to be 'pagan practices', the Ovambo have retained many aspects of their traditional cultural practices. They are also found in the southern Angolan province of Cunene, where they are more commonly referred to as "Ambo".

The Ovambo consist of a number of kindred Bantu ethnic tribes who inhabit what was formerly called Ovamboland. In Angola, they are a minority, accounting for about two percent of the total Angolan population.

In the early 21st century, the Ovambo ethnic group numbered about 2 million people. They are predominantly of the Lutheran (97%) and traditional faiths (3%), the former having followed conversion by German missionaries.

Demographics

thumb|left|upright=0.75|Ovambo people distribution (approx).

The Ovambo people reside in the flat sandy grassy plains of north Namibia and the Cunene Province in southwestern Angola, sometimes referred to as Ovamboland.

Water courses, known as oshanas, irrigate the area. In the northern regions of Ovamboland, tropical vegetation is sustained by abundant but seasonal rainfall that floods the region, creating temporary lakes and islands. In dry season, these pools of water empty out. The Ovambo have adapted to the widely varying seasonal weather patterns with their housing, agriculture, and livestock practices.

The Ovambo people are a Bantu-speaking group. In Namibia, these are the AaNdonga, Ovakwanyama, Aakwambi, Aangandjera, Aambalantu, Ovaunda, Aakolonkadhi, Aakwaluudhi and Aambandja. In Angola, they are the Ovakwanyama, Aakafima, Evale and Aandonga. The Ovakwanyama are the largest sub-tribe.

History

The Ovambo started migrating to their current location around the 14th century from the Zambia region to the northeast.

In contrast to most ethnic groups in Africa, the Ovambo people were largely unaffected by Swahili-Arab and European traders before the 19th century. They were relatively isolated and had a low-density, pastoral and nomadic lifestyle.

When Germany established a colony in Namibia in 1884, they left the Ovambo people undisturbed. The Portuguese forces terrorized the local populations, massacring them, burning down villages and aggravating famine.

However, because of a labor shortage in the Police Zone and South Africa, in part because of the massacre of native Africans through such actions as the Herero and Nama genocide, the South African government allowed migrant wage labor. Numerous Ovambo people became migrant laborers in South African towns such as Cape Town and in the Police Zone. They were constrained by racial segregation and lived under highly restricted human rights.

The South African government declared the Ovamboland an independent province in 1973. But they appointed chiefs who were aligned with the South African government's policies. The Ovambo people rejected these developments. In 1975 the appointed chief minister of Ovamboland was assassinated. In conjunction with the armed SWAPO movement, Namibia and its Ovambo people gained independence from South Africa in 1990.

Religion

Traditional religion

The traditional religion of the Ovambo people is the primary faith of less than 3%. In the 21st century, most state Christianity as their primary faith. The Ovambo's traditional religion envisions a supreme being named Kalunga, with their rites and rituals centered around sacred fire. This is similar to religious traditions of many ethnic groups in southwestern Africa. The Kalunga cosmology states that the Supreme Being created the first man and first woman, who had a daughter and two sons. It is the daughter's lineage that created the Ovambo people. Their traditional beliefs are expressed through their matrilineal kinship system.

Christianity

thumb|A Lutheran church in [[Ongwediva.]]

Christianity arrived among the Ovambo people in the late 19th century. The first Finnish missionaries arrived in Ovamboland in the 1870s. They were Lutheran and influenced the conversion of Ovambo people to that Protestant faith. The Finnish missions influenced both religion and cultural practices. For example, the typical dress style of contemporary Ovambo women, which includes a head scarf and loose full-length maxi, was derived from those of the 19th-century Finnish missionaries.

The Ovambo now predominantly follow Christian theology, prayer rituals and festivities. Some traditional religious practices have continued, such as the use of ritual sacred fire. They also invoke their supreme creator Kalunga. Thus, the Ovamba have adopted a syncretic form of Christianity.

Most weddings, for instance, feature a combination of Christian beliefs and Ovambo traditions. Their traditional dancing is done to drumming (Oshiwambo folk music).

Society and culture

The traditional home is a complex of huts surrounded by a fence of large vertical poles linked by two horizontal poles on each side. The complex is a maze with two gates but it is easy to get lost within the homestead. Each hut generally has a different purpose, such as a Ondjugo (the woman of the homestead's hut) or Epata (kitchen area).

The Ovambo people lead a settled life, relying mostly on a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry.

thumb|left|Grasslands in rural Ovamboland.

Each Ovambo tribe had a hereditary chief who is responsible for the tribe. Many tribes adapted representation by having a council of headmen who run tribal affairs. Members of the royal family of the Owamboland are known as aakwanekamba, ovakwaluvala, ovakwamalanga, ovakwaanime, aakwanyoka and many more; only those who belong to this family by birth, through the maternal line, have a claim to chieftainship. The tribes figure their descent by a matrilineal kinship system, with hereditary chiefs arising from the daughter's children, not the son's. Polygyny is accepted, with the first wife recognized as the senior.

Ovambo clans

The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of the Ovambo according to T. E. Tirronen's Ndonga-English Dictionary. The table also contains information concerning the classification of noun class of the Proto-Bantu language for these words.

{| class="wikitable"

!width=220|Area

!width=130| Clan

!width=130|Dialect

!width=280|Location

|-

| Classes 9 (*ny > on-), 11 (uu-/ou-) || Class 2 (*wa-, a-) || Class 7 (*ki > oshi-) ||

|-

|O-ndonga || Aa-ndonga || Oshi-ndonga || Southern Ovamboland

|-

|Uu-kwambi || Aa-kwambi || Oshi-kwambi || Central Ovamboland Oshakati

|-

|O-ngadjera || Aa-ngandjera || Oshi-ngandjera || Central Ovamboland

|-

|Uu-kwaluudhi || Aa-kwaluudhi || Oshi-kwaluudhi || Western Ovamboland

|-

|O-mbalanhu || Aa-mbalanhu || Oshi-mbalanhu || Western Ovamboland

|-

|Uu-kolonkadhi || Aa-kolonkadhi || Oshi-kolonkadhi || Western Ovamboland

|-

|Ou-kwanyama || Ova-kwanyama || Oshi-kwanyama || Northern and Eastern Ovamboland, Southern Angola

|-

|E-unda || Ova-unda|| Oshi-unda|| Western Ovamboland, Epalela vicinity

|-

|O-mbadja || Ova-mbadja || Oshi-mbadja || Southern Angola, Shangalala region

|}

See also

upright|200px|right|Flag of Ovamboland

  • Herero people
  • Himba people
  • Nama people
  • Oorlam people

References

Bibliography

  • Karl Angebauer, Ovambo : Fünfzehn Jahre unter Kaffern, Buschleuten und Bezirksamtmännern, A. Scherl, Berlin, 1927, 257 p.
  • P. H. Brincker, Unsere Ovambo-Mission sowie Land, Leute, Religion, Sitten, Gebräuche, Sprache usw. der Ovakuánjama-Ovámbo, nach Mitteilungen unserer Ovambo-Missionare zusammengestellt, Barmen, 1900, 76 p.
  • Wolfgang Liedtke & Heinz Schippling, Bibliographie deutschsprachiger Literatur zur Ethnographie und Geschichte der Ovambo, Nordnamibia, 1840–1915, annotiert, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden, Dresde, 1986, 261 p.
  • Teddy Aarni, The Kalunga concept in Ovambo religion from 1870 onwards, University of Stockholm, Almquist & Wiksell, 1982, 166 p. .
  • Leonard N. Auala, The Ovambo : our problems and hopes, Munger Africana Library, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Cal.), 1973, 32 p.
  • Allan D. Cooper, Ovambo politics in the twentieth century, University Press of America, Lanham, Md., 2001, 350 p. .
  • Gwyneth Davies, The medical culture of the Ovambo of Southern Angola and Northern Namibia, University of Kent at Canterbury, 1993 (thesis)
  • Patricia Hayes, A history of the Ovambo of Namibia, c 1880-1935, University of Cambridge, 1992 (thesis)
  • Maija Hiltunen, Witchcraft and sorcery in Ovambo, Finnish Anthropological Society, Helsinki, 1986, 178 p. 
  • Maija Hiltunen, Good magic in Ovambo, Finnish Anthropological Society, Helsinki, 1993, 234 p. 
  • Matti Kuusi, Ovambo proverbs with African parallels, Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Helsinki, 1970, 356 p.
  • Carl Hugo Linsingen Hahn, The native tribes of South-West Africa : The Ovambo - The Berg Damara - The bushmen of South West Africa - The Nama - The Herero, Cape Times Ltd., Le Cap, 1928, 211 p.
  • Seppo Löytty, The Ovambo sermon : a study of the preaching of the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church in South West Africa, Luther-Agricola Society, Tampere (Finland), 1971, 173 p.
  • Giorgio Miescher, The Ovambo Reserve Otjeru (1911–1938) : the story of an African community in Central Namibia, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Bâle, 2006, 22 p.
  • Ramiro Ladeiro Monteiro, Os ambós de Angola antes da independência, Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Lisbon, 1994, 311 p. (thesis, in )
  • Language Map of Namibia