Kaukausib
river in Namibia

Kaukausib-River in German called Kaukausib-Mulde is a rivier (dry river) within the Diamond Restricted Area also called Sperrgebiet in the south of Namibia. The Kaukausib-Rivier extends through the Namib from south to north-north-west. It ends in the Namib Desert without reaching the Atlantic, or any other river. At the upper end of the Kaukausib Rivier there is a spring, which carries water throughout the whole year and is a drinking trough for various animals, especially for Oryx and Ostrich. The Kaukausib-spring is located 62 km southeast of Lüderitz and 40 km east of the Atlantic coast on 375 m above sea level (1235 ft).
In early days, on the march from Lüderitzbucht to Aus oxen were watered at the Kaukausib-well. The Germans write: ... und bald darauf war die Wasserstelle Kaukausib erfüllt von Lärm und Staub, von Gestampf und Ochsengebrüll.
In English it means:
... and soon the watering place Kaukausib was filled with noise and dust, with stamping and oxen bellowing.
“Kaukausib” enters the record as river in Namibia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kaukausib, river and Namibia can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Kaukausib” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kaukausib, river and Namibia provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q31862103. Authority coordinates are -26.883, 15.367. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1235.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Kaukausib” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.