History History

The San (Bushmen), the first inhabitants of southern Africa, lived mainly by hunting and gathering, moving in small groups over vast territories. It is difficult to date the arrival of the first San in Namibia precisely, but some of their rock paintings discovered in the Namib desert are said to be more than 20,000 years old (one painting is dated to 27,000 years old, at the site of Apolo, near the Orange River, in the south of the country)

The Nama, a subgroup of the Khoi-Khoi, came from the northeast and settled in central Namibia as far as the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch settlers in the Cape called them the Hottentot. The so-called "red men" (Awa-Khoin) are today estimated to number 80,000, mainly grouped in the Hardap and Karas regions

The Damara (or Nû-Khoi, meaning "the black people"), probably originating from western Sudan, settled in the country, where they were subordinated to the Nama. While the physical appearance of the Damara tends to link them to the Bantu (peoples originating from West Africa), their language is a dialect close to that of the Nama and their culture differed in every respect from the Bantu way of life based on agriculture and livestock

Some Bantu tribes, originally from the Great Lakes region of East Africa, migrated to southern Africa. The most important group was the Owambo, who reached the Okavango River and settled north of Etosha Pan around 1450. Their traditional techniques enabled them to develop maize cultivation, but also metal and woodworking, the use of the iron hoe and cattle breeding. Divisions among the Owambo led to the establishment of different tribes, each with a political identity and a specific territory. These divisions ended in the mid-sixteenth century when the Owambo settled on the fertile plains north of Etosha Pan. The Owambo still represent the majority ethnic group in the country (44% of the population). Owamboland has a high population density, with an average of 20 inhabitants per square kilometer, reaching in some places 60 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The Kavango settled on the banks of the Kwando River and then further west on the banks of the Okavango between 1750 and 1800. Their economy was essentially based on fishing. The South Africans called them the Caprivians, a name without any African connotation but borrowed from the German chancellor Caprivi who was in charge of establishing the strange borders of the Caprivi strip, which extends the Namibian plateau for hundreds of kilometers into the interior of Central Africa. Today, the Kavango number 140,000 people in a territory of 43,417 km2.

The Herero migration to central Namibia led to clashes with the Nama. In this way, the people of the region are able to live in the same way as the rest of the population. In the course of the war, these groups were forced to survive on hunting and gathering, a way of life that was extremely demeaning to pastoralists. The name Tjimba, meaning "aardvark" or "anteater", was given to them to emphasize the inferiority of a people who, like the animals, had to draw their sustenance from the soil. Impoverished, some Tjimba sought refuge to the north, in Angola, where they were nicknamed Ovahimba (beggars). They eventually settled in the arid mountains of northern Namibia, living off livestock and moving according to the needs of their herds. Today, there are about 6,000 Ovahimba in Namibia, with an additional 3,000 living in Angola.

Jacobus Coetse crossed the Orange River from South Africa and entered the interior of Namibia. This elephant hunter from the Cape opened the way for traders and missionaries from South Africa and Germany. The evangelizing work began in earnest at the beginning of the 19th century with the establishment of the first mission in Bethany

The Herero chief Maharero, seeing with concern the arrival of Afrikaner farmers, sent a protest to Cape Town to try to stop the influx. He asked for British protection. Despite Cape Town's interest in the territory, the idea was passed on to London, which was content to annex the port of Walvis Bay in 1878. It was finally Germany, late in the race to colonize Africa, which annexed the country at the Berlin Conference in 1884, and gave it its new name: South West Africa.

The Nama revolted en masse against colonial rule, soon joined by the Herero, who massacred 150 Germans during the January 1904 rebellion. The German troops took their revenge in August 1905, during a tragic battle at Waterberg led by Lothar von Trotha. It was one of the first genocides of the century. The Herero were forced to leave the Waterberg, which served as their base. They took refuge in the Omaheke. The German troops then occupied the water points of this desert, exterminating the Herero by the thousands and leaving them to die of thirst. Today, the Hereros are demanding compensation from the Germans, which Berlin has always refused to pay, citing the amounts paid to Namibia after independence. A first step in this direction was taken during the centenary celebrations of the battle when the German government asked for forgiveness for its crimes for the first time.
75 per cent of the Herero lost their lives, more than 3,000 were taken prisoner and about 12,000 fled to the arid Kalahari and Bechuanaland (now Botswana)

On August 26, 1905, the German government proclaimed draconian laws against the Herero (prohibition to buy cattle and land, compulsory carrying of passes, issued only to those who worked on white farms). Samuel Maharero, who died in exile in Botswana, was buried in Okahandja on August 26, 1923. This date, now recognized as Herero Day, brings together several hundred members of the community each year for a commemoration ceremony.

The discovery of diamonds at Grassplatz, east of Lüderitz, triggered a fever throughout Africa and as far as Europe

Germany decreed the southern part of the Namib Desert, between Lüderitz and the Orange River, Sperrgebiet, a strict no-go area. Diamond mining rights were then granted to the German company Deutsche Diamant Gesellschaft.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the South African army, under British command, invaded the German colony with the help of the African people, who saw this invasion as their only hope for liberation. The South African general Jan Smuts dealt the fatal blow to the Schutztruppe in May 1915, at Khorab (south of Otavi)

On December 17, 1920, the League of Nations declared South West Africa to be under a mandate, entrusted to His Britannic Majesty, but exercised in his name by the government of the Union of South Africa.

The influx of South Africans increased the white population to 28,000 (now estimated at 100,000) - one-tenth of the total population at the time - and the land that could be farmed was redistributed. A commission appointed to study the possibilities of work in the reserves created for the black population and to provide solutions for their reclassification recommended that all indigenous settlements be excluded from the areas reserved for white agriculture

For example, the Nama had only 170,000 ha, or one twentieth of their original territory. The meager vegetation no longer allowed them to feed their herds, and many of them accepted to work on the white farms or in the mines.

After replacing the League of Nations (League) with the United Nations (UN), the signatories of the UN Charter decided that a Mandate Commission would be established to look after the interests of the Trust Territories. All of the Mandate Powers agreed, except South Africa, which wanted to include South West Africa as a fifth province of its territory.

South Africa's new nationalist party effectively declared South West Africa the fifth province of the Union

The new policy introduced the principle of apartheid; relations between South Africa and the United Nations deteriorated, due to non-compliance with the mandate.
The struggle for independence began with the formation of the Owamboland People's Organisation by a group of Cape Town workers who had emigrated from South West Africa. Namibians in exile opened offices in eight foreign capitals (Moscow, Algiers, Scandinavia, etc.). SWAPO, among other opposition parties, was recognized by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the 1960s as the representative of the Namibian people.

On October 27, a resolution of the UN General Assembly ended the mandate of the League of Nations, stating: "South Africa has no right to the administration of the territory.... South West Africa therefore passes into the direct responsibility of the UN." The UN formed a council to administer the country, now called Namibia, until independence.

The UN Security Council unanimously decided to end the dialogue with South Africa and to take steps to achieve Namibian independence. SWAPO was recognized by the UN as the official representative of the Namibian people, and in 1978 a Western contact group drew up a plan for Namibian independence

Peace was confirmed when the new state adopted its first constitution on 9 February 1990. Under the supervision of foreign observers, the elections brought Sam Nujoma, the historic leader of SWAPO, to the presidency.

On March 21, 1990, Namibia officially became an independent state. The port of Walvis Bay remained a South African enclave until 1994.
With one of the most democratic constitutions in the world, Namibia is trying to follow the path of wisdom. It was the first nation in the world to include protection of ecosystems and sustainable use of its resources

Sam Nujoma cannot run for president again. The Namibian constitution provides for a maximum of two terms, and he has already served three, which has caused controversy. SWAPO has identified a new candidate for the presidential elections: Hifikepunye Pohamba, its former Minister of Agriculture. The two men are very close. The opposition spoke of a disguised fourth term for Nujoma. Nujoma stepped down in March 2005, but remained as party president. The November 2004 elections gave Pohamba a large majority, with 76 per cent of voters voting for him. In 2009, he was re-elected with over 75% of the vote.
The new government's tasks are numerous. On the one hand, it has to fight corruption, on the other hand, it has to achieve the objectives of Vision 2030. The latter aims to considerably improve the living conditions of Namibians by relying on three pillars: the economy, health and education. Continuing the fight against AIDS is central to this effort. Immediate results are needed in this area, which is not only a human catastrophe but also a drain on the country's economy

President Hifikepunye Pohamba receives the Chinese president during his tour of Africa. The exchanges between the two countries are intensifying. One of the big projects of the future is the realization of a nuclear power plant planned for 2015-2020. Currently, more than 50% of Namibia's electricity needs are supplied by South Africa, an energy dependency that is beginning to decrease since the interconnection between Zambezi and Zambia in November 2011.

The year was marked by presidential elections and the arrival of a new president, as Hifikepunye Pohamba was not eligible to run for a third consecutive term. It was therefore his Prime Minister Hage Geingob who ran for SWAPO with great success as he was elected in the first round with over 86% of the votes cast. He took office on March 21, 2015.

In November 2017, Geingob was elected leader of the SWAPO party and was widely re-elected in the November 2019 elections for a second five-year term. SWAPO retained a solid majority in the National Assembly (with 63 of 96 seats), maintaining a political hegemony that had been in place since independence. But for the first time, SWAPO lost 14 seats, reflecting public frustration and discontent, particularly with the persistence of some of the highest levels of inequality in the world. The unresolved issue of land redistribution to black "indigenous" populations remains central and still crystallizes all the debates on community divisions. President Geingob has to find a delicate balance between pressure from SWAPO cadres, a section of the electorate and a difficult economic context, in order to avoid provisions that could scare off potential international investors.

In May, after difficult negotiations, Germany officially recognized that it had committed genocide against the Herero and Nama and promised development aid of 1.1 billion euros over 30 years.

Increased diamond production and the start of a tourism rebound in late 2021 are fueling the recovery of the pandemic-stricken economy

President Hage Geingob died on February 4, 2024. He was replaced by his vice-president. The latter will lead the country until the next elections, scheduled for November 27, 2024.