Namaqualand is a dry area along South Africa’s western coast. It is best known for the display of more than 300 varieties of wildflowers that bloom each spring. Few people live in the region. It is named after the Namaqua subgroup of the Khoikhoi people. The region stretches from the Swartland district in the south to the Orange River in the north. Namaqua National Park lies in the region, near Springbok.
Namaqualand has an extreme climate. There is little rainfall because the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic Ocean washes the coastline. At most, the area receives about 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain a year. From 1895 to 1898, no rain fell at all. Port Nolloth, on the Atlantic coast, is one of South Africa’s driest places. It receives only about 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain a year.
In the 1850’s, the discovery of copper brought many miners to the area. In 1925, the world’s richest deposits of alluvial diamonds were discovered at Alexander Bay at the mouth of the Orange River. Alluvial diamonds are those found in sand and gravel deposits of stream beds.
