Coloured

The origin of Coloured people in South Africa goes back to the days of early settlements at the Cape of Good Hope when many of the European men intermarried and interbred with Khoisan women. In those days there were virtually no women of European descent and of marriageable age in the Cape or its hinterland, and as a result, men of European descent also interbred with the female offspring of the slave laborers from the East.

Children born, of slaves automatically became the property of the slave owner and thus it was that many of those born as a result of this miscegenation, were exposed to the Christian religion and the culture of their “owners”. Most Coloured people have Afrikaans as their home language.

Discrimination denied many of these people the right to participate freely in social and economic activities and as a result, many moved away from the Cape. Being ostracised as they were, the Coloured people developed their own culture. Much of the success in the early development of the fruit growing, wine and textile, construction and fishing industries can be attributed to the invaluable contributions made by the Coloured people. Most of them in Namibia can trace their origins back to the Cape.