A regional, eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model (OGCM) is applied to the Atlantic Ocean upwelling system off Namibia. At the surface, the model is seasonally driven by measured modern (World Ocean Atlas) and reconstructed glacial temperature and salinity (GLAMAP project). The wind field is consistently taken from an atmospheric general circulation model forced by the same temperature field. Along the open lateral boundaries, the regional model is driven by temperature, salinity, and sea surface height obtained from a coarse-resolution OGCM subject to the aforementioned sea surface forcing. We assess possible glacial-to-modern changes of the sources, the amounts, and the characteristics of the upwelled water masses, and discuss the respective implications for the supply of the different nutrients to the upper ocean.