Khowesen

Khowesen belongs to the dry southern Namibian country near the Karas ranges and the western margins of the Kalahari. Sparse rainfall, scattered water, and seasonal grazing shape the possibilities of settlement and movement. Pastoral households can use resources spread across broad areas, while hunting and gathering provide additional foods and materials. Knowledge of springs, routes, and changing conditions is essential in a landscape whose productive places may be widely separated. In the wider southern Namibian region, Nama pastoral communities organized life around livestock and relationships of kinship and access to resources. From the late eighteenth century, Oorlam groups moved north from the Cape across the Orange River, bringing new connections and political pressures to Nama country.