Berseba

Berseba is a village in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia and the district capital of the Berseba electoral constituency. It is situated 100km north-west of Keetmanshoop near the Brukkaros Mountain, a famous tourist destination.HistoryThe first people to permanently settle at this place, then known under its Khoikhoi name ǃAutsawises, were a group of Khoi herder clans from the Cape Province, driven across the Orange River by encroaching European settlers and the law enforcement of the Dutch East India Company. They arrived in the area of Berseba in 1812. In 1850 their patriarch Paul Goliath established himself as independent leader of this community that subsequently became known as the Berseba Orlam (Nama: ǀHai-ǀkhaua).The foundation of Berseba is recorded on 17 October 1850 when Rhenish Missionary Samuel Hahn founded the missionary station and gave it a biblically inspired name. In 1857 a church was built.PeopleSince the establishment of the chieftainship of the Berseba Orlam it been held by the Goliath and Isaak clans who often were in dispute about the succession. In the 1960s the two clans split over the leadership issue and only reunited in April 2010., Kaptein Johannes Isaak is the traditional leader of the ǀHai-ǀkhaua.