The Namibia Collection
The Finnish National Collection contains some 400 publications printed for the Ovamboland, today Namibia, from 1876 to the 1980s. Most of the publications are religious books, but there are also books on local languages, for example, primers, grammar books, fiction and stories, in addition to periodicals.
The national literature of Namibia counts its origins from the 1870s and was created by Finnish missionaries. The most important of these were Pietari Kurvinen and Martti Rautanen, who developed the written language from the local Ndonga dialect. The books were printed in Finland until the beginning of the 20th century. The first printed book is Pietari Kurvinen's Ndongan primer ABD Moshindonga (1876). In 1901 the missionaries in Oniipa obtained a printing press, but books were still printed in Finland and also in London and Cape Town. The first printed books in Oniipa are catechisms in Ndonga and Ukuanjama from 1902. Finnish missionaries have published books in Ndonga for more than 100 years.
In the Namibia Collection there are no books in Finnish on the missionary work or Namibia. The collection was collected through purchase and donations. The Library received the books printed in Finland as deposit copies.
Catalogues
- The material is catalogued in the database FENNICA. Older material is also in the old Fennica card catalogue.
Information
nl-service(at)helsinki.fi
