Zoo Park is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

on Independence Avenue in downtown

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 ...

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 also a focal point of social life in the city The African Magazine:Earliest evidence of human habitation in the heart of the capital city Windhoek revisited
The current park is landscaped and features a pond, children's playground and open-air theatre.

History

Pre-history

The remains of an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

from between 5,000 and 20,000 years ago were uncovered in 1961, making the elephant kill there one of the earliest known such events in human history.

Colonial

The area then known as Schutztruppe Memorial was designated by the German colonial authorities in what was then

German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

in 1897. It was created to honor the German soldiers who died in the war against Namaqua leader Hendrik Witbooi. The land was transferred to local control in 1911, when it was expanded. Cafe Zoo, which is still in operation, opened in 1916 after the coming of South African military control. From 1960 to 1963, the park was reshaped to accommodate the widening of modern Independence Avenue and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

St. (then Kaiser Strasse and Peter Müller Strasse). In 1967, the park was renamed in honor of Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. In February 1989, with independence and majority rule just 13 months away, the park was renamed to its current title.

Independence

In August 2006, a suggestion by the group Africawise Namibia suggested the park be renamed in honor of Pan-Africanist

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

References

Parks in Namibia Urban public parks Buildings and structures in Windhoek Geography of Windhoek 1897 establishments in German South West Africa {{Namibia-geo-stub

History

Pre-history

Colonial

Independence

See also

References