Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T12:42:36.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Himba Epochs*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Gordon D. Gibson
Gordon D. Gibson*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Institution
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In contrast to most other nonliterate African peoples, the Himba and Herero -- pastoral Bantu peoples of southwestern Africa -- have developed quasiannual chronologies based upon important episodes and occasional conditions of the region in which they live. For example, to establish the time of a personal or family event, a Himba may refer to the epoch of the disarming or the epoch of the locust invasion as readily as we refer to 1917 or 1923. Such a chronological system is naturally of interest to the student of African history, for it is a key to the events that are considered important by the Himba themselves. But beyond this, a system of ordered epochs is also of value for demographic and other sociological studies in which the ages of individuals are important for, while the Himba, like most non-literate peoples, do not enumerate the years of their lives or the years that have passed since crucial events, many are able to provide the names of the epochs of their birth, marriage, childrens' births, and so forth. It remains, then, for the investigator merely to correlate the epochal names with our numbered years in order to determine, with a fair degree of approximation, individuals' current ages and their ages at their life crises -- data which are important for certain kinds of detailed sociological research. In essence this procedure is simple enough, but establishing a sufficiently accurate correlation between the Himba epochs and the numbered years has proved to be a difficult task and one requiring a variety of approaches. The nature of the Himba epochal chronology and the method employed for correlating it with the years of the Christian calendar are the subjects of this paper.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 4 , 1977 , pp. 67 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The author is grateful to the Instituto de Investigação Científica de Angola for sponsorship and for material aid of his fieldwork in Angola. Other support for fieldwork in both Angola and South West Africa was provided by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institutes of Health of Washington D.C. The writer also appreciates the hospitality and assistance offered by many friends of all colors in both countries, and especially the privilege of making his bases at the Missão Católica do Chlulo. While accepting full responsibility for any shortcomings of this paper, the author wishes to thank William C. Sturtevant and Joseph C. Miller for their critical reading of an earlier draft.

References

Alfredo de, Albuquerque Felner 1940. Angola: Apontamentos sôbre a Colonização dos Planaltos e Litoral do Sul de Angola. 3 vols. Lisbon.Google Scholar
João de, Almeida 1912. Sul d'Angola. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Angola, 1845+ Boletim Oficial do Governo da Provínoia de Angola. Luanda.Google Scholar
Angola, . Serviço Meteorológico. 1945+ Observações Meteovológicas de Superfície em Angola. Luanda.Google Scholar
Antunes, , Fv. F. 1883. Cartas do superior da missão portugueza de Huilla, P.F. Antunes a Fernando de Almeida Pedroso. Boletim da Soaiedade de Geographia de Lisboa. Vol. 4(10): pp. 470–476.Google Scholar
Anonymous 1911. Jahresberichte über das meteorologische Beobachtungswesen im südwestafrikanischen Schutzgebiet vom Juli 1908 bis Juni 1910. Mitteilungen aus den Deutsehen Sahutzgebieten. Vol. 24: pp. 113–126.Google Scholar
Anonymous 1912. Jahresbericht über das meteorologische Beobachtungswesen im südwestafrlkaneschen Schutzgebiet für die Zeit vom 1. Juli 1910 bis 30. Juni 1911. Mitteilungen aus den Deutsahen Schutzgebieten. Vol. 25: pp. 56–71.Google Scholar
Belo de Almeida, António Júlio 1935. Campanha do Humbe de 1891. Boletim da Soaiedade de Geographia de Lisboa. Ser. 53(11 and 12): pp. 407–432.Google Scholar
Belo de Almeida, António Júlio 1936. Campanha do Humbe em 1897-1898. Boletim da Sooiedad de Geographia de Lisboa. Ser. 54(11 and 12): pp. 527–588.Google Scholar
Belo de Almeida, António Júlio 1937. Meio Séaulo de Lutas no Ultramar. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Bonnefoux, Benedicto M. 1940. Diaionário Oluynaneka-Português. Huíla, Angola.Google Scholar
Brincker, H. 1886. Wörterbuah und Kurzgefasste Grammatik des Otji-Herero. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Brincker, H. 1894. Zur etymologischen Deutung des Namens ‘Ov-Ambo’. Globus, Vol. 66: pp. 207–208.Google Scholar
Casimiro, Augusto 1922. Naulila. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Dannert, Eduard. 1906. Zum Rechte der Herero, inbesondere über ihr Familien-und Erbrecht. Berlin.Google Scholar
Dorst, Jean, and Dandelot, Pierre 1970. A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa. London.Google Scholar
Estermann, Carlos. 1960-1961. Etnografia do Sudoeste de Angola. Vol. I: Os Povos Não-Bantos e o Grupo Étnieo dos Ambós. (Memórias, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.) Lisbon.Google Scholar
Estermann, Carlos. 1960-1961. Etnografia do Sudoeste de Angola. (2nd. ed.). Vol. II: Grupo Étnico Nhaneca-Humbe. (Memórias, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.) Lisbon.Google Scholar
Estermann, Carlos. 1960-1961. Etnografia do Sudoeste de Angola. (2nd. ed.). Vol. III: O Grupo Étnico Herero. (Memórias, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.) Lisbon.Google Scholar
Estermann, Carlos. 1976. The Ethnography of Southwestern Angola. (ed. Gibson, Gordon D.). Vol. I: The Non-Bantu Peoples; The Ambo Ethnic Group. New York.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. 1939. Nuer Time-Reckoning. Africa, Vol. 13: pp. 189–216.Google Scholar
Fernandes de Oliveira, Mário António (Comp.) 1968. Angolana: Doeumentação sôbre Angola. Luanda. 2 vols.Google Scholar
Ford, James A. 1962. A Quantitative Method for Deriving Cultural Chronolgy. Washington.Google Scholar
François, H. von 1896. Noma und Damara. Magdeburg.Google Scholar
Guerreiro, Manuel Viegas 1958. Boers de Angola. Garcia de Orta. Vol. 4(1): pp. 11–31.Google Scholar
Hahn, Carl Hugo 1857. Grundzüge einer Grammatik des Hereró nebst einem Wörterbuche. Berlin.Google Scholar
Heidke, P. 1919. Die Niederschlagsverhältnisse von Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Mitteilungen aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten. Vol. 32: pp. 36–186.Google Scholar
Irle, J. 1906. Die Herero. Götersloh.Google Scholar
Lang, A., and Tastevin, C. 1938. La tribu des Va-Nyaneka. (Mission Rohan-Chabot, Angola et Rhodesia, 1912-1914. Vol. V.) Corbeil.Google Scholar
Lecomte, E. 1898. A peste bovina em Angola. Portugal em Africa. Vol. 6: pp. 41–44.Google Scholar
Lenssen, H.E. 1966. Chronik von Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Windhoek.Google Scholar
Luna de Carvalho, Joaquim Maria 1893. Expedição ao Humbe. Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa. Ser. 12(2): pp. 121–138.Google Scholar
Machado de Faria e Maia, Carlos Roma 1941. Na Fronteira Sul de Angola. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Mayo, , The Earl of 1883. A journey from Mossamedes to the River Cunéné, S.W. Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, n.s., Vol. 5(8): pp. 458–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Padrel, Lourenço Justiniano 1892. Expedição ao Humbe. Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa. Ser. 11(12): pp. 811–847.Google Scholar
Pereira do Nasclmento, José 1898. Explorações geográphica e mineralógica no Districto de Mossamedes em 1894-1895. Portugal em Africa. Vol. 5: supplement.Google Scholar
Colónias, Portugal Ministerio das. 1910/1914+ Anais Meteorológicos das Colônias.Google Scholar
Ribeiro Cabral, Ramiro C. 1948. 0 soba Chifunga, senhor das chuvas. Mensário Administrativo, No. 6, Feb. 1948: pp. 29–30.Google Scholar
Roçadas, José Augusto Alves 1910. Relatório de Campanha dos Cuamatos no Sul de Angola em 1907. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Roçadas, José Augusto Alves 1919. Relatório sôbre as Operações no Sul de Angola em 1914. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Eric. 1934. Os Boers de Angola e o seu destino. Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa. Ser. 52(1 and 2): pp. 3–14.Google Scholar
Rowe, John H. 1955. Time perspective in ethnography. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers. No. 12: pp. 55–61.Google Scholar
Schinz, Hans. 1891. Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika. Oldenburg und Leipzig.Google Scholar
Silva, António J. da 1953. Chronologia nhaneca. Portugal em Africa. 2d Ser., 10(57): pp. 154–166.Google Scholar
Sousa Dias, Gastão (editor) 1938. Artur de Paiva. 2 vols. Lisbon.Google Scholar
Sousa Dias, Gastão (editor) 1957. A Cidade de Sá da Bandeira. Sá da Bandeira. (As cited in: Portugal, Missão de Inquéritos Agrícolas de Angola. Recenseamento Agrícola de Angola, II: Terras Atlas de Huila. Luanda, 1964. P. 32.)Google Scholar
South Africa. 1919–1940. Report presented by the Government of the Union of South Africa to the Council of the League of Nations Concerning the Administration of South West Africa. (Annual.) Pretoria.Google Scholar
South Africa. Weather Bureau. 1941+ Annual Report for South West Africa. Pretoria.Google Scholar
South Africa. Weather Bureau. 1949. Report of the Drought Investigation Commission of South West Africa, June 1924. Pretoria.Google Scholar
South Africa. Weather Bureau. 1963. Average Monthly Rainfall South West Africa. (Climate of South Africa, Part 7.) Pretoria.Google Scholar
South West Africa. 1915+ Offical Gazette. Windhoek.Google Scholar
Valles, Edgar. 1963. A organização internacional da luta contra o acrídeo vermelho; 15a. reunião. Gazeta Agrícola de Angola, Vol. 7(11): pp. 681–683.Google Scholar
Van der Merwe, P.J. 1951. Ons Halfeeu in Angola (1880-1928). Johannesburg.Google Scholar
Vedder, H. 1934. Das Alte Südwestafrika. Berlin.Google Scholar
Vedder, H. 1938. South West Africa in Early Times. London.Google Scholar
van Warmelo, N.J. 1951. Notes on the Kaokoveld and its People. (South Africa, Department of Native Affairs, Ethnological Publications No. 26.) Pretoria.Google Scholar