Namibia

Namibia is an arid country in Africa. As such it was formed as German South-West Africa in 1883. In 1919 it was removed from Germany and given as a League of Nations Mandate to the Union of South Africa. Following a decade-long insurgency during which the SWAPO terrorists were aided by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the South Africans withdrew from South-West African and it gained independence on 21 March 1990.

History

Germans in Namibia

Curt von Francois Monument in Windhoek (2018)

The region of Namibia, named after the Namib Desert, was originally settled by Bushmen hunter-gatherers, with the related Khoikhoi arriving later (both are of Capoid race and are often grouped together as the "Khoisan"). Bantus of Negroid race arrived only in the past millenium.

The Capoid racial strain also survives in diluted form in certain adjoining tribes. Centuries of proximity caused certain tribes of Bantu speech to absorb Khoisan racial elements. As such, some of the Bantu tribes have varying degrees of Khoisan admxixture. The most notable mixed tribes are Nelson Mandela's Xhosa and to a lesser extent the Zulu.

In the late 1800s, Namibia became a German colony. It was seized by the British Empire in 1919, and eventually annexed by the Republic of South Africa. It gained independence from South Africa in 1990.

When World War I brought an end to German colonial rule in Namibia, much of the German population stayed on. The German community, which had managed to deal with colonial administration, faced new challenges when the region became a South African mandate under the League of Nations in 1919. One of these was the issue of Germanness, which ultimately resulted in public conversations and expressions of identity.

Namibia shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south. Its capital city is Windhoek (German: Windhuk). The name is Afrikaans and comes from “Windecke” or “windy corner”. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.

See also

• Herero
• Khoisan

Sources

• Legum, Colin, Africa: A Handbook to the Continent, Anthony Blond Ltd., pubs., London, 1961, South-West Africa pps:362-370.
• Sutton-Pryce, Ted, Zimbabwe: A Model for Namibia?, Academia publishers, Pretoria, 1989, ISBN: 0-86874-389-5
• Burke, Terence & Bigalke, Ilse, editors, RSA Policy Review, Pretoria, Oct 1989, pps: 29-37: "South Africa's Interests in Namibia" by Willem Retief. ISSN: 1-12-764X

External links

Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia.com: Namibia