Kavango

The Bantu-speaking Kavango people, who are the main inhabitants of the area, comprise six different tribes. They practice dryland cultivation of cereals, as the irrigation potential of the river has not been utilized. Some cattle are also raised. The western part of the Caprivi Strip is inhabited…

…two-thirds are Ovambo, with the Kavango, the Herero, the Damara, and the Caprivian peoples following in population size. Other ethnic groups have much smaller populations. Afrikaners and Germans constitute two-thirds and one-fifth of the European population, respectively. Most ethnic Europeans are Namibian citizens, though some have retained South African citizenship.

To the east the related Kavango peoples had a somewhat similar but weaker state system. On the margins of Namibia—i.e., the Caprivi Strip in the far east and on the margins of the Kalahari—the local peoples and groupings were spillovers from southern Zambia (Barotse) and Botswana (Tswana).