This study presents a view of Owambo kingship, its constitution and development in pre-colonial and German colonial times. It offers a contribution to our understanding of the symbolic world of the Owambo of old, and to the discussion on how political power was constituted in Africa and more widely. The voice of local Owambo, most of them men born around the turn of the last century, is heard throughout these pages. Their witness is complemented with other voices that broaden the perspective – those of early foreign travellers before 1870 and of missionaries, who, from the 1870s onward, lived with, commented on and intervened in the power politics of Owambo kings. The voices of modern scholars of foreign and Namibian origin are also heard off ering their contributions to and interpretations of the nature of political power in Northern Namibia in olden times.