Karibib was a waterhole known to the Herero under the name Otjandjomboimwe. Expecting business opportunities arising from the railway construction work between Swakopmund and Windhoek, Eduard H�lbich, merchant at Otjimbingwe, bought the waterhole and 20,000 hectares of land surrounding it from Herero headman Zacharias Zeraua. The deal was finalised on 7 January 1895, the purchase price was 22,500 marks (?), two ox wagons, and 742 pounds 5 shillings that Zeraua had incurred in debts in H�lbich's shop in Otjimbingwe.
H�lbich then opened a branch at Karibib in 1897 or 1898. In 1900, the settlement had a population of 10 (and an unknown number of Blacks that were not counted). Karibib began to grow quickly when on 30 May 1900 the railway construction reached the newly founded place. 1 June 1900 marks the day of the official foundation of Karibib at the occasion of the first train arriving from Swakopmund. The railway station was built, a medical practice, storage facilities, a prison, and living quarters were erected, and the population rose to 274. This development disadvantaged the settlement of Otjimbingwe; ox wagons that before would travel via Otjimbingwe on the Alter Baiweg (Old bay path) would now take the route through Karibib.
When the railway workers moved on towards Windhoek in 1902, business quieted down. In 1904 the place became again important as a railway hub for ferrying troops in the Herero and Namaqua War. Its status was upgraded to that of a county, and governance was extended to include Omaruru. At the end of the war in 1907, Karibib counted 316 white residents, and the remaining Herero land was expropriated and offered to white farmers. Karibib was declared a municipality in 1909, and Eduard H�lbich was its mayor.
In 2008, proposals surfaced for a new cement works
