Most of this country is a dry desert and the rest is very dry, except for the extreme north. The original inhabitants were the San (Bushmen) and settled Bantu speaking people in the north.

Peoples are: Khoikhoi, Herero, San, Ovambo, Kavango. A German missionary society arrived in 1840, followed by colony in 1876. The missionaries had wanted Britain to annex it to prevent tribal war but the British government refused except for Walvis Bay which was made British territory in 1876 (Until March 1994 it was a South African enclave). The Germans therefore took it in 1884. German settlers came. There were massacres of the Herero following a revolt in 1904, which may well amount to genocide. Evidence has been found that the Kaiser's government ordered the extermination of the Herero and others to make way for German settlers. During the first world war the evidence was seen in huge mass graves of Herero who lost 80% of their population during German rule. Diamonds were found in 1908 and have been worked ever since.

South Africans fighting as part of the British Empire conquered the territory from Germany in world war one. It was given to them as a Mandate at the Peace Conference. The UN formally ended the Mandate in 1964.

There is still a community of German settlers there. (During the Hitler period many of them appear to have been Nazi sympathizers).

At the end of the first world war the territory was given by the League Of Nations as a Mandate to South Africa which had invaded the German colony on behalf of Britain. When the United Nations took over from the League in 1945 and renamed the Mandated Territories as UN Trustee Territories, South Africa refused to report on South West Africa and tried to incorporate it as a fifth province. South African policies of Apartheid were introduced to the territory. In 1966 the UN revoked the trustee status and ordered South Africa to withdraw. A UN administrator was appointed, though South Africa refused to recognize the UN's administration or allow him to operate.

SWAPO (South West Africa Peoples Organisation) was founded in 1960 and fought a guerrilla war against the South Africans from bases in Angola.

Independence came in 1990 and also membership of the Commonwealth. Perhaps this was the first sign of change in South Africa, as the negotiations took place under the regime of P.W.Botha, who did not allow any change in South Africa itself. Probably the military calculated that it was no longer possible to hold Namibia and that the move was a strategic withdrawal.

There was a question of what would be the country's relations with South Africa after the ANC took power? A southern Africa community or federation seemed a possibility. However, a much looser grouping of states is the most that has happened in the Southern African Development Community (SADEC).

Herero

Ovambo

Afrikaans

German

English

David Olusoga-The Kaiser's Holocaust The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism Was the German colonising behavior even worse than that of other European colonisers? How far did the activities of the colonial government feed the later Nazi philiosophy? Review by Piers Brendon

Independent 1990

In theory Namibia is a Multi-party state, though the ruling party, South West Africa People's Organisation is suspected of wishing to have a one-party state and the president, Sam Nujoma, has been accused of a dictatorial attitude.

He seems to have been an ally of the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.

In late 2002 there were signs that the government would seize the farms belonging to the European (German and Afrikaners) settlers, copying the policies of Zimbabwe.

Namibia has a small population and resources of diamonds and uranium and other minerals. In principle it could become a rich nation.

However, there is some evidence that in the years before independence the South African-controlled mineral extraction companies increased the extraction rate in order to get as much out as possible before the independent government took power. De Beers Anglo American is so large a part of the economy that they probably control much of what the government can do. Only if it is broken up in South Africa itself will this change.

40% unemployment.

Namibia is named after the Namib desert, one of the driest and most ancient deserts in the world. It has a unique ecology of animals and plants adapted to living off the mists which come off the sea.

The ruling party SWAPO tortured dissidents while in exile. Have they stopped now they are in power? There is some evidence they do.

It is possible that a warming of the Benguela Current may cause more rain to form from the Atlantic and affect the western parts of the country.