Hochland Park (also ''Hochlandpark'', seldom ''Highland Park'') is a residential suburb in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, the capital of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It is named after the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''Khomas Hochland'', the central-Namibian plateau area in which Windhoek is situated. Hochland Park is situated adjacent to the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

and borders the suburbs of Tauben Glen and

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

in the east, Dorado Park in the north,

Windhoek West Windhoek West is a suburb of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to th ...

in the west and Pioneers Park in the south. Originally designed as a whites-only area it is today an affluent residential area for Windhoek's upper middle class, both black and white.

History and political importance

Hochland Park was established in the late 1960s at the place where Windhoek's

Old Location The Old Location (or as it was known then the Main Location) was an area Apartheid, segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park. Histor ...

, a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

for black residents, used to be. Blacks were evicted from this township by force when central Windhoek grew too close to the area. A new township,

Katutura Katutura (Otjiherero for ''The place where people do not want to live'') is a township of Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the Old Location, which af ...

, was established far away from the city centre. The eviction faced severe resistance by the black community. On December 10, 1959, apartheid police attacked a protest gathering, killing 11 people and wounding 44. This day became known as the "Old Location uprising". It was one of the events leading to the foundation of

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

Peter N. Stearns and William Leonard Langer. ''The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged'', 2001. Page 1070. by forcing community leaders from the

Ovamboland People's Organization The Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) was a nationalist organization that existed between 1959 and 1960 in South West Africa (now present day Namibia). The aim of the organization was to end the South African colonial administration, and the ...

into exile, among them

Sam Nujoma Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...

, who later became Namibia's founding president. The Old Location uprising is the reason for the declaration of December 10,

Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

, as a Namibian national holiday. In 1968 the Old Location was officially closed and whites began to settle. Today, blacks who participated in the liberation struggle and became economically successful after independence often make a political statement by taking up residence in Hochland Park, the area they had been chased away from by the whites. Many ministers and high government officials and the inspector-general of the Namibian police today live in Hochland Park.

People from Hochland Park

* It was were the late

Angelika Muharukua Angelika Kazetjindire Muharukua (12 January 1958 Opuwo, Kunene Region – 1 October 2017) was a Namibian politician. An ethnic Herero from northwestern Namibia, Muharukua joined the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1979. She was ...

, former Governor of

Kunene Region Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...

resided before her death. *

McHenry Venaani McHenry Venaani (born 8 September 1977) is a Namibian politician and the president of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with sixteen seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. Venaani has be ...

, president of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) formally known as the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...

Street names

Street names in Hochland Park are named after birds, just like in the adjacent suburbs of Tauben Glen and Acacia, reflecting the languages spoken by the white community at the time of the establishment of the suburb. Approximately a third of them are

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(Goshawk Street, Kingfisher Road),

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

(

Hamerkop The hamerkop (''Scopus umbretta'') is a medium-sized wading bird. It is the only living species in the genus ''Scopus'' and the family Scopidae. The species and family was long thought to sit with the Ciconiiformes but is now placed with the Pe ...

weg, Kestrell Straat), and German ( Raben Road, Falkenweg), respectively.

References

{{coord, 22, 34, 26, S, 17, 04, 01, E, region:DE_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Suburbs of Windhoek Apartheid in South West Africa

History and political importance

People from Hochland Park

Street names

See also

References