Migration and settlement in Ovamboland 1600-1900

Abstract

Abstract provided by author:

In conclusion, the study looks at the question as to what historical relevancy Ovambo oral tradition contains, drawing its conclusion from the oral data used in this study. It includes a bibliography, illustrations, maps and appendices

In this study, the term Ovamboland will refer to any Ovambo speaker, regardless, of his geographical location. During the scramble for Africa at the end of the last century, the region inhabited by the Ovambos was divided into several political units, ruled by independent kingdoms. With the advent of colonialism especially after the First World War, most Ovambos became subjects of the Portuguese and South African colonies respectively, bringing the region for the first time under direct colonial control in 1917. In 1974 the former Portuguese colony Angola became independent, thus leaving the majority of the Ovambo people under South African colonial occupation

The study is based, apart from missionary-recorded data mentioned above, on archival materials, travellers' accounts, early ethnographic studies and relevant research literature