Klaas Afrikaner ( Nama name: ǃGaruhamab, born before 1760, died after 1800) was the second Captain of the

Orlam The Oorlam or Orlam people (also known as Orlaam, Oorlammers, Oerlams, or Orlamse Hottentots) are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony (today, part of South Africa) to Namaqualand and Dam ...

Afrikaners, first in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, then in

South-West Africa South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portu ...

. Klaas became leader of his tribe after his father Oude Ram died in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

at around 1760. Under his leadership the Afrikaner Clan left the Cape in the 1770s and moved northwards into the area that is today southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. This happened at first with the consent, possibly even under the order, of the South African Cape Government. Later he is credited as one of the founders of Namibia's first systematic settlement in an engineering sense,

ǁKhauxaǃnas ǁKhauxaǃnas (Khoekhoegowab: ''passively defend people from an enemy'', Afrikaans / Dutch language, Dutch name Schans Vlakte: ''fortified valley'') is an uninhabited village with a ruined fortress in south-eastern Namibia, east of the Great Kar ...

. This settlement was built as a hidden retreat and a fortress to fend off possible pursuits by the Cape authorities, indicating that by then he had lost whatever mandate he might have had to execute military actions in South-West Africa. At around 1800 he handed over the

chieftain A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of weste ...

ship to his son

Jager Afrikaner Jager Afrikaner ( Nama name: ǀHomǀaramab, baptized Christian Afrikaner (?) at ''Roode Zand'' near Tulbagh, South Africa – 18 August 1823 at Blydeverwacht, South-West Africa) was the third Captain of the Orlam people in South West Africa ...

References

18th-century births 19th-century deaths Politicians from the Western Cape Nama people Namibian politicians Cape Colony politicians {{Africa-hist-stub