Gciriku is a traditional Kavango kingdom in what is today Namibia. Its people speak the Gciriku language.
The Gciriku (Rugciriku: vaGciriku) are one of the many ethnic groups in Namibia with a population of 50,529 as of 2023. [1] The Gciriku mainly live in Ndiyona Constituency, Kavango East. A small number of Gciriku live in the southern part of Angola. Their language, Rumanyo (previously known under the name Rugciriku), [2] is also a Bantu language, spoken in the Ndiyona constituency and in Rundu.
The Gciriku are part of the Kavango migration group that originated in the parts of central Africa and the Great Lakes. In the early 1900s, the Gciriku became the first tribal group in the Kavango area to accept European missionaries. The Missionaries were given land and settled in an area now known as Nyangana (Kangweru) - Mamono.
Hompa Nyangana (1874-1924) was a fierce critic of all European influence, and particularly that of missionaries. Six Catholic mission journeys into the Kavango ended unsuccessful during his reign. Only after the seventh journey did missionary and later Archbishop Joseph Gotthardt manage to establish a mission station at Nyangana in 1910 and at Andara in 1913, using the severely weakened position of the King after the VaGciriku-Lishora Massacre of 1894. [3]
The VaGciriku speak a language called Rugciriku. The language is also part of the school curriculum and the subject is called Rumanyo. Most people refer to the language as Rugciriku rwaMuduva (Muduva's Rugciriku). The language has a few clicking but it is not similar to the San language.
The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango or haKavango, are a Bantu ethnic group that resides 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. The Kavango Region of Namibia is named after the people.
Kavango was one of the thirteen regions of Namibia until it was split into the Kavango East and Kavango West Regions in 2013. Its capital was Rundu.
Rehoboth is a town in central Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located 90 kilometres south of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several natural hot-water springs. It receives sparse mean annual rainfall of 240 millimetres (9.4 in), although in the 2010/2011 rainy season a record 731 millimetres (28.8 in) were measured. In 2005, it had a population of 21,378 later increased to 28,843 in 2011, according to the 2011 Namibian Population and Housing Census. In 2023, it had increased further to 40,788 people.
Kavangoland was a bantustan and then later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Kavangos, in South West Africa, intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Kavango people.
Rundu is the capital and largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River about 1,000 metres above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted 36,964 inhabitants; and for the 2011 census it has climbed to 63,430.
The Oorlam or Orlam people are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony to Namaqualand and Damaraland.
Gciriku, or Dciriku, is a Bantu language spoken by 305,000 people along the Kavango River in Namibia, Botswana and Angola. 24,000 people speak Gciriku in Angola, according to Ethnologue. It was first known in the west via the Vagciriku, who had migrated from the main Vamanyo area and spoke Rugciriku, a dialect of Rumanyo. The name Gciriku remains common in the literature, but within Namibia the name Rumanyo has been revived. The Mbogedu dialect is extinct; Maho (2009) lists it as a distinct language, and notes that the names 'Manyo' and 'Rumanyo' are inappropriate for it.
Nkurenkuru is a town on the south-western banks of the Kavango River. It is the capital of the Kavango West Region of northern Namibia, located 140 kilometres (87 mi) west of Rundu. It is also a former mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society.
Oshikuku is a town in Omusati Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of Oshikuku Constituency.
Andara is a village in Mukwe Constituency in the Kavango East region of north-eastern Namibia. Located 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Rundu, it is inhabited primarily by the Hambukushu people.
Rundu Urban is an electoral constituency in the Kavango East region of Namibia. It covers the urban area of Rundu, the region's capital and one of Namibia's largest cities. The constituency also covers parts of the Sauyemwa, Safari, Tutungeni, Katutura, Donkerhoek and Kehemu neighborhoods. It had a population of 20,953 in 2011, up from 19,173 in 2001. As of 2020 the constituency had 35,740 registered voters.
Sebastian Kamwanga was a Hompa (king) of the Gciriku, one of five kingdoms of the Kavango people in northern Namibia, from 1985 to 1999. His royal seat was situated at Mamono. He sat in the Legislative Council and the Executive Council of Kavangoland from 1973 until Namibian independence in 1990 when Bantustans were abolished along with the South African apartheid occupation of South-West Africa.
Joseph Gotthardt was a Catholic missionary and later Bishop and Archbishop in South-West Africa. He was the first to set up missions in the Kavango Region and in Ovamboland, became the first Vicar Apostolic of Windhoek.
Nyangana is a village in the Ndiyona Constituency in Kavango East Region of north-eastern Namibia, situated 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Rundu. The Roman Catholic mission of Nyangana is located in the village.
Rundu Secondary School is a government school in Rundu in the Kavango East region of north-eastern Namibia. It has been founded in 1967 as part of the Odendaal Plan and was at that time the only secondary school in Kavango Region.
Odibo is a village in the north of Namibia close to the Angolan border known for its Anglican mission St Mary. It belongs to the Oshikango electoral constituency in the Ohangwena Region. Odibo is also an Archdeaconry in the Diocese of Namibia.
Tondoro is a settlement in the Kavango West region of northern Namibia, and the administrative centre of the Tondoro Constituency. It is located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-east of Nkurenkuru, and it is inhabited primarily by the Uukwangali people.
Shambyu is a Catholic mission and a village in the Shambyu kingdom in Kavango East, Namibia. It is located 34 km east of Rundu.