Oorlam people
Coloureds, Griqua |
The Oorlam or Orlam people (also known as Orlaam, Oorlammers, Oerlams, or Orlamse Hottentots) are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony (today, part of South Africa) to Namaqualand and Damaraland (now in Namibia).
Oorlam clans were originally formed from
History
Beginning in the late 18th century, Oorlam communities migrated from the
Emerging from populations of Khoikhoi servants raised on Boer farms, many of them having been orphaned and captured in Dutch commando raids, Oorlams primarily spoke a
However, after two centuries of assimilation into the Nama culture, many Oorlams today regard Khoekhoe (Damara/Nama) as their mother tongue. The distinction between Namas and Oorlams has gradually disappeared, such that they are regarded as a single ethnic group, despite their differing origins.[5]
Clans
The Orlam people comprise various subtribes, clans and families. In South Africa, the Griqua are an influential Oorlam group.
The clans that migrated across the Oranje into South West Africa are, in order of their time of arrival:
- The ǀAixaǀaen (Orlam Afrikaners), the first group to enter and permanently settle in Namibia. Their leader Klaas Afrikaner left the Cape Colony around 1770. The clan first built the fortress of ǁKhauxaǃnas, then moved to Blydeverwacht, and finally settled at Windhoek.[6]
- The ǃAman (Bethanie Orlam) subtribe settled at Bethanie at the turn of the eighteenth century.[7]
- The Kaiǀkhauan (Khauas Nama) subtribe formed in the 1830s, when the Vlermuis clan merged with the Amraal family.[7] Their home settlement became Naosanabis (now Leonardville), which they occupied from 1840 onward.[8] This clan ceased to exist after military defeat by Imperial German Schutztruppe in 1894 and 1896.[9]
- The ǀHaiǀkhauan (Berseba Orlam) subtribe formed in 1850, when the Tibot and Goliath families split from the ǃAman to found Berseba.[7]
- The
Notable Oorlam people
- Oude Ram Afrikaner
- Klaas Afrikaner
- Jager Afrikaner
- Jonker Afrikaner
- Christian Afrikaner
- Jan Jonker Afrikaner
- Hendrina Afrikaner
- Amraal Lambert
- Kido Witbooi
See also
- Oorlams creole
- Coloured
- Griqua people
- Basters
- Nama people
- Khoikhoi
- Goffal
Notes
- ^ "Slavery in the Cape". Institute for the Study of Slavery and its Legacy – South Africa. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ J. D. Omer-Cooper, History of Southern Africa (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1987), 263; Nigel Penn, "Drosters of the Bokkeveld and the Roggeveld, 1770–1800," in Slavery in South Africa: Captive Labor on the Dutch Frontier, ed. Elizabeth A. Eldredge and Fred Morton (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994), 42; Martin Legassick, "The Northern Frontier to ca. 1840: The rise and decline of the Griqua people," in The Shaping of South African Society, 1652–1840, ed. Richard Elphick & Hermann Giliomee (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan U. Press, 1988), 373–74.
- ^ Omer-Cooper, 263-64.
- ^ Legassick, 368-69; Penn, 42.
- ^ Malan, Johan S (1998). Die Völker Namibias [The Tribes of Namibia] (in German). Windhoek, Göttingen: Klaus Hess. pp. 120–121.
- ^ Dierks, Klaus. "Biographies of Namibian Personalities, A". Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-515-06872-7.
- ^ Dierks, Klaus. "Biographies of Namibian Personalities, L". Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- ^ Shiremo, Shampapi (14 January 2011). "Captain Andreas Lambert: A brave warrior and a martyr of the Namibian anti-colonial resistance". New Era. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
Further reading
- Kienetz, Alvin (1977). "The Key Role of the Orlam Migrations in the Early Europeanization of South West Africa (Namibia)". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 10 (4). Boston University African Studies Center: 553–572. JSTOR 216929.