Windhoek, Namibia

Windhoek is the capital of the Republic of Namibia and that nation's political, economic, and cultural center. Founded in the nineteenth century as the administrative seat of German colonial authority in South Africa, Windhoek has enjoyed a reputation as one of the cleanest and most modern capitals in Africa. Just over a century old and located in the heart of a sparsely populated nation, Windhoek has not had to contend, until recently, with the large-scale rural-to-urban migrations that have overwhelmed many other African cities. Now that such a trend is also underway in Namibia, government officials are seeking ways to expand infrastructure and services to accommodate Windhoek's new arrivals while creating incentives for people to remain in their rural homelands.

Landscape

Windhoek is located in a broad valley in Namibia's central Khomas region. It lies some 350 kilometers (217 miles) east of the Atlantic Ocean coastline and is bordered on the north by the Eros Mountains and on the south by the Auas Mountains.

The city's main thoroughfare, Independence Avenue, runs the length of the city, from the suburb of Ausspannplatz in the capital's southern end up to the former township of Katutura at the city's northern limits. The central business district is the commercial heart of the city. It features modern, upscale businesses as well as traditional open-air markets.

Windhoek's industrial base is concentrated on the fringes of the city. The majority of the capital's population resides in densely populated suburban communities located beyond these industrial zones. One of these, Katutura, was a so-called Black township until Namibia's 1990 independence from South Africa, which had imposed apartheid, or policies to ensure racial separation. Once these segregationist policies were lifted, Windhoek became a magnet for large numbers of mostly rural, low-income migrants in search of economic opportunity. Many of these new arrivals created informal settlements in and around Katutura.

This rapid, unplanned expansion placed a severe strain on Windhoek's infrastructure and resources. Around a third of the capital's residents live in shantytowns that have pushed the city's boundaries steadily outward. Basic services to provide potable water and municipal trash collection and sewage disposal are lacking in most of these makeshift neighborhoods.

Windhoek has a hot and dry climate, although the capital's altitude of 1,650 meters (5,413 feet) has a moderating effect on temperatures. The monthly average temperature in July is 12.3 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit) and in January from 23.5 degrees Celsius (74.3 degrees Fahrenheit). With an monthly rainfall averages of 0 to 84.5 millimeters (0 to 3.3 inches), the city depends upon reservoirs located well outside the capital for almost three-quarters of its water supply. However, the scarcity of rainfall helps to preserve the capital's older structures in the arid climate.

People

With a population of 477,000 (2023 estimate), Windhoek is of modest size compared to most African capitals. The influx of migrants to Windhoek from Namibia's rural areas, however, has increased steadily since Namibia declared its independence from South Africa in 1990. With an annual population growth rate of 3.9 percent between 2011 and 2016, the capital region experienced a severe strain on its resources in the early twenty-first century that had government officials looking for ways to slow such unsustainable growth. By contrast, the country's population growth rate was 1.82 percent in 2022.

Windhoek is home to a variety of ethnic groups whose diversity is representative of Namibian society as a whole. These include the Herero, Ovambo, Damara, Namas, Caprivian, Ovahimbas, Tswanas, Kavangos, San, and Baster peoples. Pockets of British, German, and Portuguese communities are also found in the capital.

A large majority of the country's inhabitants are Christian, although Windhoek also has a small minority who hold indigenous beliefs. While English is Namibia's official language, many of the capital's residents also speak Afrikaans. The large-scale influx of rural populations has made various indigenous languages common as well.

Economy

Namibia's rich mineral and fishery resources form the backbone of the nation's economy, with agriculture and tourism also making modest contributions. Diamonds alone account for half of the revenue generated by mining exports, and diamond cutting and polishing operations play a key role in Windhoek's local economy. Windhoek's economy also revolves around the city's role as a major trading center that includes rail and highway links to the Republic of South Africa.

The industrial sector in and around Windhoek processes meat and food, produces beer and bottled beverages, and manufactures plastics as well as some aluminum and steel products, textiles and clothing, and chemicals. Construction, trade, finance, transportation, professional services, tourism, and entertainment are other major economic drivers in the capital.

In recent years, the government has undertaken efforts to expand the tourism sector. Although the primary destinations of the nearly 1.5 million visitors—many of them South African or German—to Namibia each year are national parks and other natural attractions outside of the capital, nearly all tourists pass through Windhoek en route to these destinations.

Landmarks

Windhoek proper is a blend of contemporary commercial buildings and German colonial-era structures. German colonial dominance, which lasted in Windhoek from the late nineteenth century up until World War I, has left a lasting imprint on the capital's architecture. Castles built in a neo-Gothic style sit on three of the hills overlooking the capital.

One of Windhoek's most notable attractions is the Heroes' Acre, a symbol of national unity that was constructed in 2002 to help promote solidarity among the various ethnic groups in Namibian society. The monument consists of an obelisk, an Unknown Soldier statue, an eternal flame, and a pavilion that provides a panoramic view of the capital, and houses 174 graves.

Other notable Windhoek landmarks include the Christuskirche (Christ Church), a neo-Romanic Lutheran church built in 1910, whose stained glass windows were a gift of the German emperor William II; das Reiterdankmal, an equestrian bronze statue unveiled in 1911 to honor those killed in Namibia's colonial wars of the early twentieth century; the State House, built in 1959, which serves as the official residence of Namibia's president; the Tintenpalast, built in 1913, which houses the Namibian parliament; the Alte Feste (Old Fortress), completed in 1892, making it one of Windhoek's oldest buildings, and which houses Namibia's state museum; and the Owela Museum, which focuses on Namibia's natural and ethnographic history.

History

The site of present-day Windhoek had historically been a flash point of conflict between two indigenous groups, the Namas and the Herero. The local hot springs made the site attractive to these groups, as well as to Afrikaner missionaries and settlers, one of whom is said to have named the area Winterhoek after their South African birthplace. There are other explanations of the origins of the capital's name, including one in which Windhoek is a derivation of an Afrikaans phrase translated as "windy corner." Modern Windhoek—an earlier settlement on the site had been destroyed in the course of indigenous ethnic conflict—traces its founding to 1890, when work began on the Alte Feste (Old Fortress). A steady flow of settlers from the local area, as well as larger number of South African and even more German expatriates, spurred Windhoek's steady development. By the early twentieth century, businesses had sprung up along the city's main thoroughfare, known at that time as Kaiser Street.

German forces began a colonial occupation of Windhoek in 1885. Seven years later Windhoek officially became the capital of Germany's imperial claims in southwestern Africa. The German occupation lasted until World War I, when South African troops took control of the city. Windhoek's German legacy, however, is still strongly reflected in Windhoek's place names, culture, and cuisine.

Although Windhoek continued to grow in both area and population throughout the twentieth century, it remained under South African administration until 1990, when it was proclaimed the capital of the newly independent nation of Namibia. The declaration of Namibian independence, and the subsequent abolition of apartheid-influenced restrictions, attracted significant foreign investment to Windhoek. This inflow of capital helped finance the modernization of the capital's infrastructure, which, in turn, bolstered the local economy and spurred the rapid expansion of Windhoek's suburbs, factors that define the city in the early twenty-first century.

In the early twenty-first century, drought has been a significant problem for Namibia, resulting in a nationwide state-of-emergency declaration in 2016 and water shortages even in Windhoek. The city's Goreangab water-recycling facility, constructed in 1968, subsequently became a model for other such sanitation systems in the 2010s as drought and water shortages hit developed countries as well.

In 2018, Windhoek hosted a ceremony marking Germany's repatriation of Herero and Nama remains from the 1904–8 genocide against tribespeople who protested German land seizures. The two countries also entered into historic talks over potential reparations and land redistribution within Namibia.

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