Baster, (from Afrikaans baster, “bastard,” or “half-breed”), member of an ethnically mixed group in Namibia and northwestern South Africa, most of whom are descendants of 17th- and 18th-century Dutch and French men and indigenous Nama (Khoekhoe) women of southwestern Africa. They speak a language that is primarily Afrikaans and follow a Western way of life. In the early 21st century they numbered about 40,000.
The Basters were originally seminomadic pastoralists and hunters who gradually settled as pioneers in the northwestern frontier areas north of the Cape Colony. Largely through missionary work during the 19th century, they coalesced into fiercely independent, autonomous communities that maintained their identities even after being incorporated into the Cape Colony. Others moved farther north into what is now Namibia in the late 1860s because of pressure from Boer settlers and eventually established a settlement that became known as Rehoboth. With the independence of Namibia, the Basters (who had relatively privileged status under South African rule) sought greater autonomy, but they were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, they maintain a strong sense of group identity.
The Rehoboth community remains the largest group of Basters. They practice subsistence farming and keep cattle and sheep, but they also rely heavily on the remittances of migrants who work in Windhoek as skilled artisans, in Walvis Bay as labourers or fishermen, and in the diamond mines near the Orange River mouth at the South African border.