Olukonda is a settlement in the

Oshikoto Region Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. Further major settlements in the region are Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and Oniipa. , Oshikoto had 112,170 registered voters. Ge ...

in the north of

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 ...

. It is the district capital of the Olukonda electoral constituency. During colonial time of

German South West Africa German South West Africa () 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. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

the missionary station and settlement was known as the ''Capital of the North''. Olukonda has been the place of the first missionary station to the

Ovambo people The Ovambo people (), also called Aawambo, Ambo, Aawambo (Ndonga, Nghandjera, Kwambi, Kwaluudhi, Kolonghadhi, Mbalantu, mbadja), or Ovawambo (Kwanyama), are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily modern Namibia. ...

, founded in 1870 by Finnish missionaries. In the 1880s Martti Rautanen, nicknamed ''Nakambale'', became missionary at Olukonda and initiated the building of a church in 1889, and a missionary house in 1893. Both the church and the mission station buildings are still existent and have been declared National Monuments of Namibia in 1992. Together they are now known as the ''Olukonda National Monument''. The missionary station houses the ''Nakambale Museum'', and the church, although not anymore in regular use, is infrequently utilised for wedding ceremonies. Rautanen and his family are buried nearby. There is a rest camp close to the National Monument, financed by the

Government of Finland The Finnish Government (; ; ) is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility an ...

. With more than five schools now and a new Regional councillor, Darius "Mbolondondo" Shikongo, Olukonda became a very large and developed village. There is a clinic now close to the Nakambale Museum and also the ''Lyaangula Centre'' named after a pastor Efraim Angula with an office for gender equality. Olukonda is the birthplace of Namibia's president

Nangolo Mbumba Nangolo Mbumba (born 15 August 1941) is a Namibian politician who was the fourth president of Namibia from 2024 to 2025. He became president after the death of Hage Geingob, under whom he had served as the second vice president from 2018 until h ...

References

Populated places in the Oshikoto Region Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission mission stations in Ondonga National Monuments of Namibia {{Namibia-geo-stub