Future Pasts

This map is compiled through spatialising references to Damara / ≠Nūkhoen in historical texts by (mostly) European (male) explorers, hunters, traders, missionaries and colonial officers from the late 1700s onwards. Each placemark on the map represents written mentions of people encountered  for which the name and context clarifies them as Damara / ≠Nūkhoen. The map thus provides an indication of pre- and colonial dwelling localities of Damara / ≠Nūkhoen.

Clearly the map is limited by the extent of travel by the writers – for example the area north of the Brandberg / Dâures remains more-or-less a blank in terms of historical record until the late 1800s – as well as the biases the writers bring to their encounters and observations. Nonetheless, the map provides some idea of the localities of past presence of those identified as Damara / ≠Nūkhoen.