The Namibia Collection
The Finnish National Collection constains some 400 publications printed for the Ovamboland, today Namibia, from 1876 to 1980ies. 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 Namibian national literature counts its origins from the 1870ies and was created by Finnish missionaries. The most important of them 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 got a printing press, but books were still printed in Finland, and also in London and the Cape Town. The first in Oniipa printed books are catechisms in Ndonga and Ukuanjama from 1902. The 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.
Literature
- Puupponen, Tuovi, Namibian kansalliskirjallisuuden alkuvaiheita. - Opusculum Vol. 2 (1982): 4, s. 175-193.
Information
nl-service(at)helsinki.fi
