[6] Some descendants of Khoikhoi communities, including the Nama, fled north of the colony and crossed the Orange River into German South West Africa (present day Namibia).

[7] In 1991, a part of Namaqualand (home of the Nama and one of the last true wilderness areas of South Africa) was named the Richtersveld National Park.

The traditional Nama dwelling – the |haru oms, or portable rush-mat covered domed hut – protects against the blistering sun, and is easy to move when grazing becomes scarce.

In 1863, he eventually led his people to Gibeon (south-central Namibia) where he developed a communialist society centered on cattle, trade and Christianity.

Like his father Moses followed Christian practices and worked closely with Johannes Olpp, a Protestant missionary affiliated with Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (Rhenish Mission Society, RMG) who arrived in Gibeon in 1868.

Moses supported Olpp's efforts to build a church and mission station, and also helped found an RMG school in the settlement.

[8] In June 1884 Hendrik Witbooi had taken over leadership from his father, and in that year he began the first of his several treks with his people north into central Damaraland in search of new settlement.

He had just resigned from his position in church as an elder a year before (1883), he styled himself as a biblical prophet and gained support of the most prominent families in Gibeon.

Hoornkrans was an important stronghold territory controlled by the Herero, powerful Bantu pastoralists community led by Chief Maharero.

However, a few months before the conflict began, Maharero had finalized a protection agreement with officials from the newly arrived German colonial administration.

These rivalries between the Nama people and other tribes posed a significant problem for the imperial government because the Germans' mandate for the colony was gradually being weakened.

Later that same year Louis Nels, a deputy officer to Göering wrote to Witbooi inviting him to participate in a conciliatory meeting between the various warring communities in Walvis Bay.

With this meeting German authorities had hoped to facilitate a peace treaty, however the Namaqua chief did not comply with the request but instead he wrote a letter in response telling Nels that he will not listen to him.

The Namaqua resistance provoked the German authorities to act decisively, after 1889 Germany's military presence in the colony began to grow exponentially.

Initially the German official tried to entice with an annual payment of five thousand marks if he would submit, however the Nama chief maintained his stand.

Though Witbooi and majority of his male soldiers escaped the encirclement, German troops killed nearly one hundred Namaqua women and children in their sleep.

In a series of running skirmishes that lasted for more than a year the Namaqua had great success, stealing horses and livestock from the German headquarters in Windhoek.

At the end of 1893 Theodor Leutwein replaced Von François, he was appointed to the colony to investigate the reasons for continuing failure to subdue the Nama people.

In July 1894 Leutwein asked for 250 troops, with the enlarged army he was able to defeat the Nama people who at the time had run out of ammunition; the English at the Cape and Walvis Bay had refused them assistance.

[12][13] Large herds of cattle were confiscated and Nama and Herero people were driven into the desert and in some cases interned in concentration camps on the coast,[14][15] for example at Shark Island.

[16] In the 1920s diamonds were discovered at the mouth of the Orange River, and prospectors began moving there, establishing towns at Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth.

They likewise descended from indigenous Khoikhoi but were a group with mixed ancestry including Europeans and slaves from Madagascar, India, and Indonesia.

The distinction between Namas and Oorlams has gradually disappeared over time to an extent where they are today regarded as one ethnic group, despite their different ancestries.

They are known for crafts which include leatherwork, skin karosses and mats, musical instruments (such as reed flutes), jewellery, clay pots, and tortoiseshell powder containers.

The long, flowing dresses were developed from the style of the missionaries in the 1800s, and this traditional clothing is today an integral part of the Nama nation's culture.

These huts, called haru oms in the Nama language, are made of reed mats woven neatly into a beehive shape.

It is a dwelling house for all seasons– it is cool and well ventilated in summer, it is naturally insulated by reed carpets in winter, and protected from the rain by the porous stems which swell with water.

Women and men take part in the making of it, in the collection of materials, in the preparation of the rugs, and in the assembly of the hut, in a very meticulous process which has remained a true Nama art.

Members of close relatives of the deceased person spend a week preparing the grave site, digging, and using flattened oil drums as sheets.

The yard at the bride's living place is prepared prior to the future husband's family's arrival; animal hides are laid out in the corners for the different groups to sit down and discuss.