• Daman and San displaced to peripheral areas •

.

The Naman (singular: Nama) settled in what is now Namibia from the south from the 11th century onwards. From the 17th century onwards, the OvaHerero advanced from the north-west. In the 1820s, groups from both peoples encountered each other in central Namibia.

The San peoples, who lived in small groups as hunter-gatherers following the game, were defeated in conflicts with the Naman, OvaHerero and OvaMbanderu. They retreated to rocky areas such as Brandberg or the Otavi Mountains, while others moved to areas on the edge of the Namib and Kalahari deserts.

The same applied to groups of the Daman (singular: Dama; dual, i.e. grammatical form for two: Damara). They too were found in small groups at the Brandberg and in the Otavi Mountains. Further areas were the Erongo Mountains, the Omaruru and Swakop Rivers, and the Kalahari region east of the Waterberg, also known as Omaheke.

More than the San, Daman groups also lived on the fringes of OvaHerero and Naman communities. Daman often work for OvaHerero, for example as cattle herders. Europeans also called them ‘Berg’ (Mountain) Dama(ra) at that time, to distinguish them from the ‘Cattle’ Damara, who were actually OvaHerero.

Sources:

• DHPS History Department 2020
• Henrichsen 2011
• Wallace 2011