Shark Island concentration camp in the context of "Nama people"

The Herero and Nama genocide or Namibian genocide, formerly known also as the Herero and Namaqua genocide, was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama people in German South West Africa (now Namibia) by the German Empire. It was one of the earliest genocides to begin in the 20th century, occurring between 1904 and 1908. Between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama were killed in the genocide.

In January 1904, the Herero people, who were led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, who were led by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule. On 12 January 1904, they killed more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja. In August 1904, German General Lothar von Trotha defeated the Ovaherero in the Battle of Waterberg and drove them into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died of dehydration. In October 1904, the Nama people also rebelled against the Germans, only to suffer a similar fate. The first phase of the genocide was characterized by widespread death from starvation and dehydration, due to the prevention of the Herero from leaving the Namib desert by German forces. Once defeated, thousands of Hereros and Namas were imprisoned in concentration camps, where the majority died of diseases, abuse, and exhaustion.