Nkurenkuru
Encyclopedia
Nkurenkuru is a town on the south-western banks of the Kavango River in the Kavango Region, Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

, 140 km west of Rundu
Rundu
Rundu is the capital of the Kavango Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola on the banks of the Okavango River about 1000 m above sea level. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season were measured.Rundu grows rapidly...

. Nkurenkuru has a population of around 7.650 inhabitants and is homestead of the local Uukwangali
Uukwangali
Uukwangali is a traditional kingdom of the Kwangali people in northern Namibia. Its capital is Nkurenkuru, its Hompa is Daniel Sitentu Mpasi.- References :*...

 kings and until 1936, also was capital for the entire region. Since then, the seat of the regional government was moved to Rundu, due to its strategically more central location.

On the opposite, north-eastern banks of the river lies Cuangar
Cuangar
Cuangar is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola. The town lies on the Okavango River, opposite the town of Nkurenkuru, Namibia....

 in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

 and the two towns are linked via a nearby border post. Today, Nkurenkuru is the second town of the Kavango region, after Rundu.

History

The history of Nkurenkuru (formerly also Kuring Kuru), Kwangali language
Kwangali language
Kwangali, also known as RuKwangali and SiKwangali, is a Bantu language spoken by 85,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Angola...

: „the old place”, is closely linked with the history of the Kwangali people, the westernmost of the five kingdoms of the Kavango
Kavango
The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango, reside on the Namibian side of the Namibian–Angolan border along the Kavango River. They are mainly riverine living people, but about 20% reside in the dry inland. Their livelihood is based on fishery, livestock-keeping and cropping...

 people.

The currently oldest deliverances date around the middle of the 18th century, when Uukwangali queen (hompa) Mate I. and her people left their former area of settlement on the Kwando River near Mashi and moved about 500 km to the west into an area near Makuzu 17°29′0"S 18°28′0"E, around 20 km to the northwest of Nkurenkuru. Successor of Queen Mate I. became hompa Nankali (1750-1775). During her reign tensions arose with neighboring people and the Kwangali moved from Mazuku first to Sihangu near Mukukuta and then further to Karai (nearby today's Cuangar). Likely during the reign of hompa Siremo, Nkurenkuru was founded in 1820 and became homestead of the kings under Queen Mpande
Mpande
Mpande , uMsimude owavela ngesiluba phakathi kwamaNgisi namaQadasi, as he was praised, was king of the Zulu nation from 1840 to 1872, making him the longest reigning Zulu king. He was a half-brother of Shaka and Dingane, who both preceded him as kings of the Zulu...

 in 1880.

On December 30 1886, Portugal and Germany signed a bilateral agreement, in which the borders between Angola and South-West Africa
German South-West Africa
German South West Africa was a colony of Germany from 1884 until 1915, when it was taken over by South Africa and administered as South West Africa, finally becoming Namibia in 1990...

 were defined along the Okavango River. The tribes of the Kavango people, who at this time settled on both sides of the river, were informed about this new territorial setting only afterwards. On the north side of the river, the Portuguese started with the construction of a number of forts; among others Fort Cuangar, directly opposite of the residence of the Kwangali kings. On the south side, a number of military and missionary expeditions were carried out along the river. On August 17 1909, Berengar von Zastrow, for the German administration, and King Himarua (1886-1910), for the Uukwangali hompas, signed a protection agreement (Schutzvertrag) with general authority for the government in Windhuk and land ownership of the kings. In response to those forts on the northern side of the river, the German administration opened a police station in Nkurenkuru on June 17, 1910, which over the following years mainly assumed representative tasks. With the outbreak of World War I and a murdered German delegation at Naulila
Naulila
Naulila is a town in Cunene Province in southern Angola, located on the Cunene River which separates Angola and Namibia.Naulila was the scene of fighting between Portuguese Angola and German South West Africa during the early stages of World War I. On October 19, 1914, a German military column...

, the police station was used to launch an attack on Fort Cuangar on October 31, 1914, in which all present 30 Portugugese and Angolan soldiers were killed. With the end of the war the station was closed and first replaced by a temporary British occupation and from April 1921 onwards by a permanent governor for the newly established Kavango district. The new local government resulted in an extended political presence of the new League of Nations mandate
League of Nations mandate
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League...

 government of South-West Africa, but already in 1936 the administration was moved to Rundu
Rundu
Rundu is the capital of the Kavango Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola on the banks of the Okavango River about 1000 m above sea level. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season were measured.Rundu grows rapidly...

, which was also chosen as the new district capital. Consequently, during the following 50 years Nkurenkuru fell into increasing insignificance. During the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...

 (1975-2002) Nkurenkuru became home for a base of the South African Defence Force
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force was the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994. The former Union Defence Force was renamed to the South African Defence Force in the Defence Act of 1957...

 and in 1988 the Nkurenkuru high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

was founded.

Since independence of Namibia in 1990 and in particularly since an ongoing decentralisation
Décentralisation
Décentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....

 policy, Nkurenkuru has gained some investments. In 2006 Nkurenkuru was declared a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

and second urban center of the Kavango Region.

Economy and traffic

Compared to many other cities in Namibia, Nkurenkuru is still underdeveloped. Like many towns in Northern Namibia, Nkurenkuru suffered from a bad infrastructure and the political unrest in neighboring Angola. Until then, the economy of Nkurenkuru was characterized by small farmers with only few general services: next to a post office, two schools, a small hospital and a petrol station, Nkurenkuru had only few other shops.

Since independence in 1990, Nkurenkuru gained only slowly from national infrastructure improvements. Only with an ongoing decentralisation policy of the government, which is to counterbalance rural migration, Nkurenkuru gained more economic prosperity. With the proclamation as a town, Nkurenkuru receives means for the establishment of a municipal administration and additional means for infrastructure and public services, which also led to more workplaces. Among the largest projects currently under way are the asphaltation of the river road to Rundu
Rundu
Rundu is the capital of the Kavango Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola on the banks of the Okavango River about 1000 m above sea level. The place normally receives an annual average rainfall of , although in the 2010/2011 rainy season were measured.Rundu grows rapidly...

 as well as an irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 project for a more efficient agricultural use of the surrounding farmland. Since then, additional private investments have also followed - like the opening of additional shops and banks (e.g. Bank Windhoek) and the opening of lodges and guest houses along the river (e.g. Sunshine River Guest House).

Nepara Airfield (ICAO Code: FYNP), a former base of the South African Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...

, lies around 20 km southwest of Nkurenkuru and is used as a commercial airport for Nkurenkuru. About 35 km to the northwest lies the Katwitwi border post, from which a road leads further to Menongue
Menongue
Menongue is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango Province in Angola.It is the terminus of the southern railway from Namibe.-History:Menongue, formerly Serpa Pinto, was originally named for Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, a late 19th-century Portuguese explorer of the interior of...

 in Angola.

Schools

  • ELCIN Nkurenkuru High School
  • Nkurenkuru Combined School
  • Nkurenkuru Junior School
  • Nkurenkuru Junior Primary School

Famous people

  • Hompa Daniel Sitentu Mpasi, King of Vakwangali
  • Anastasia Mbunze Murangi, Last born of Queen Kanuni KaHaruwodi
  • Sirkka Ausiku, State Secretary, Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare
  • Rosalia Nghidinwa
    Rosalia Nghidinwa
    Rosalia Annette Nghidinwa is a Namibian politician. A member of the South West Africa People's Organization, Nghidinwa has been a member of the cabinet of Namibia as Deputy Minister of Labour from 2000-2005 and Minister of Immigration and Home Affairs since 2005. She has also been a member of the...

    , Minister of Immigration and Home Affairs
  • Frans Moses Kalinga, Kavango wood craver (Standard Bank
    Standard Bank
    The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited is one of South Africa's largest financial services groups. It operates in 30 countries around the world, including 17 in Africa.-History:...

    Biennale Award 1999)
  • Heiki Hausiku Ausiku, First Major of Nkurenkuru (2006-2010)
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