Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop is the administrative capital of the Karas Region in southern Namibia, established in 1866 when the first Rhenish missionary arrived to work with the Nama people, and named for the German industrialist Johann Keetman who funded the mission. Its population was 27,862 at the 2023 count, and its economy centres on Karakul sheep farming in a hot desert climate with only about 159 millimetres of rainfall a year. The town lies near two quiver tree forests, the Giant's Playground rock formation, and fossil sites for the extinct reptile Mesosaurus, and is among the sunniest places on Earth with roughly 3,870 hours of sunshine annually.