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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 resi ...
on Independence Avenue in downtown Windhoek, Namibia. 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 a ...
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 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 wa ...
. 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.


See also

* Windhoek *
Khomasdal Khomasdal is a suburb of Namibia's capital of Windhoek in the Khomas Region. Founded as Windhoek's residential area for Coloured people, Khomasdal still is primarily composed of Coloured people. In October 2006, the City of Windhoek announc ...
*
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 a ...


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