Keetmanshoop ("Keetman's hope" in English) is a town in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and founder of the city.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was known as Nu-gouses, which means "Black Marsh" and indicated the presence of a spring in the area. In 1860 the Rhenish Missionary Society founded a mission there to spread their faith to the local Nama. The first missionary, Johann Georg Schröder, arrived in Keetmanshoop on April 14, 1866, which is now marked as the founding date of Keetmanshoop. The mission station was named after the German trader Johann Keetman who supported the mission financially, but never actually visited the place himself.
