Namaqualand is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Olifants River in the south, the Bokkeveldberg in the east and the Orange River in the north; in the northeast the escarpment is less pronounced and Namaqualand extends over it to just before Pella in the Bushmanland. The region is named after the Nama, and translated means “land of the people of the tongue.” Sometimes refered to as Klein-Namakwaland, with Groot-Namakwaland the region north of the Orange River up to the Namib Desert. The Namaqualand is subdivided into three subregions, namely:
- The Richterveld, located in the northwest, bordering the Orange River; it is named after the Rev. W. Richter, inspector at the Rhenish Mission Seminary of Barmen, Germany. The name is commonly misspelled with a connecting -s-, as in Richtersveld.
- The Hardeveld, because the ground is hard and rocky; the borders are the Olifant River in the south, the Kliprandstreek and the Knersvlakte in the east and southeast, Garies in the north and the Sandveld in the west.
- The Knersvlakte, bordered by the Hardeveld in the west, the Olifants River in the south, the Bokkeveldberg in the east and the Kliprandstreek in the north.