Namaqualand
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Namaqualand
(nəmä`kwəlănd) orNamaland
(nä`məlănd), region, c.150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km), SW Africa. It extends from Windhoek, Namibia, in the north to Northern Cape, South Africa, in the south and from the Namib Desert in the west to the Kalahari Desert in the east. The Orange River divides the region into Great Namaqualand (in Namibia) and Little Namaqualand (in Northern Cape). An arid region, Namaqualand is populated chiefly by the pastoral-agricultural Nama (also formerly called as Hottentots), who speak a KhoikhoiKhoikhoi, people numbering about 55,000 mainly in Namibia and in W South Africa. The Khoikhoi have been called Hottentots by whites in South Africa. In language and in physical type the Khoikhoi appear to be related to the San (Bushmen), i.e.
..... Click the link for more information. language. Near the Atlantic Ocean are extensive alluvial diamond beds; copper is mined in Little Namaqualand. Karakul pelts are a major export of the region.
Namaqualand
a high plateau in southwestern Africa, between the Cape Mountains in the south and the upper reaches of the Great Fish River in the north. Average elevations range from 1,000 to 1,200 m, with a maximum elevation of 2,202 m in the Karasberg massif. Southern Namaqualand, or Little Namaqualand, extends to the Orange River. It consists of a peneplain on a crystalline foundation with large deposits of copper ore around Okiep in the Republic of South Africa. In northern Namaqualand, or Namaland, the crystalline foundation is covered in the east by ancient limestone and quartzite forming steplike plateaus. Southern Namaqualand has a subtropical desert climate, and northern Namaqualand has a semidesert tropical climate. Sparse sclerophyll shrub vegetation and turf grasses are found in southern Namaqualand; in northern Namaqualand there are succulent deserts with aloe in the west and shrub deserts with acacias in the east. Migratory livestock raising is the chief occupation of the region’s inhabitants.