View source for Utuseb

{{Contains special characters|Khoekhoe}}
'''Utuseb''' is a small [[List of villages and settlements in Namibia|settlement]] in the [[Erongo Region]] in western central [[Namibia]]. It is situated in the [[Namib Desert]], approximately {{Convert|40|km}} from [[Walvis Bay]] on the banks of [[Kuiseb River]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.newera.com.na/2014/09/02/topnaar-must-use-dividends-to-buy-homes/
|title=Topnaar must use dividends to buy homes
|date=2 September 2014
|newspaper=[[New Era (Namibia)|New Era]]}}</ref> Utuseb has approximately 700 inhabitants and belongs to the [[Walvis Bay Rural]] electoral constituency. The people living here belong to the ǂAonin (Southern [[Topnaar people|Topnaar]]) community, a subtribe of the [[Nama people]].<ref name="police station">{{cite news
|url=http://www.newera.com.na/articles/50037/Rural-community-wants-police-station
|title=Rural community wants police station
|last=de Klerk
|first=Eveline
|date=25 January 2013
|newspaper=[[New Era (Namibia)|New Era]]}}</ref>
==History==
[[Topnaar people|Topnaars]] began settling in the area of Walvis Bay and along the Kuiseb River during the start of the 19th century. They first occupied the area at the mouth of the [[Swakop River]], today the city of [[Swakopmund]], and moved south beyond Walvis Bay to the Kuiseb mouth between 1820 and 1830. A small faction moved upriver to [[Sandfontein]] but was attacked and driven away by warriors of the [[Red Nation (Namibia)|Red Nation]]. They receded to [[Rooibank]] (''Scheppmannsdorf'' during [[German Empire|Imperial Germany's]] colonial rule of South-West Africa).{{sfn|Moritz|1997|pp=4-5}}
Missionary [[Heinrich Schmelen]] and [[Tribal chief|Captain]] [[Amraal Lambert]] of the Kaiǀkhauan ([[Khauas Nama]]) visited the [[Topnaar people|Topnaar]] around 1824 or 1825 while searching for a hospitable place at the coast to improve logistics for the support of the missionaries in the hinterland.{{sfn|Vedder|1997|pp=197–199}}
The place was originally called ''Iduseb'' ([[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]]: ''people want to live there but there is no water'') but as its spelling and pronunciation changed, so did the meaning of the name: ''Utuseb'' in Khoekhoe means ''something half-round that is situated in a round area''.{{sfn|Moritz|1997|p=23}}
A memorial stone of the [[Topnaar people|Topnaar]], the ''Ebenesser ǁHaibeb Gedenksteen'' ([[Afrikaans]] and Khoekhoe: ''Captain ǁHaibeb Memorial Stone'') is situated in the settlement. It was erected in 1982 and bears the inscription "So far the Lord has helped", as well as the symbols for the ǂAonin (a palm tree) and the Hurinin (a fish).{{sfn|Moritz|1997|p=23}}
==Economy and infrastructure==
The settlement is home to JB Brandt Primary School,<ref name="police station"/> a boarding school established in 1978.{{sfn|Moritz|1997|p=23}}
Utuseb has no [[Water supply and sanitation in Namibia|improved water and sanitation]] and is not electrified. Cell phone reception is very poor. The school owns the settlement's only land line telephone.<ref name="police station"/> Residents rely on harvesting [[ǃNara melon]]s, their primary staple food,<ref name="kruger">{{Cite web |title=Nara Plant, Acanthosicyos horrida, Namibia |url=http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_nara_plant.html |publisher=Siyabona Africa, Kruger Park Safaris |access-date=2011-06-23| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110609101444/http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_nara_plant.html| archive-date= 9 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> on livestock farming, and old-age grants. ǃNara products are also sold to tourists in Walvis Bay.
==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}
===Literature===
* {{cite book
|last=Moritz
|first=Walter
|title=Verwehte Spuren in der Namibwüste - Alte Ansiedlungen am Kuiseb
|trans-title=Withered Traces in the Namib - Old Settlements on the river Kuiseb
|language=German
|year=1997
|publisher=Typoprint
|location=Windhoek
|isbn=99916-750-0-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Vedder
|first=Heinrich
|authorlink=Heinrich Vedder
|title=Das alte Südwestafrika. Südwestafrikas Geschichte bis zum Tode Mahareros 1890
|trans-title=South West Africa in early times: being the story of South West Africa up to the date of Maharero's death in 1890
|language=German
|year=1997
|edition=7th
|publisher=Namibia Scientific Society
|location=Windhoek
|isbn=0-949995-33-9
}}
===Videos===
*{{YouTube|ymyhjQ50M2A|'HURININ People of the Sea' - The Topnaar people’s search for human rights and recognition}}
[[Category:Populated places in the Erongo Region]]
[[Category:Nama people]]